Dive Through Transparent Cards, and Smash Up Tiny Evergreen Goblins

Dive Through Transparent Cards, and Smash Up Tiny Evergreen Goblins
Board Game: Dive
• In Sept. 2020, I wrote about Rush Out!, a real-time game then due out in October 2020 from Belgian publisher Sit Down! That title, like so many others, has been delayed, with the new scheduled release date being May 2021.

Releasing ahead of it in February 2021 is the Sit Down! title Dive, a 1-4 player game from Romain Caterdjian and Anthony Perone that features an entrancing cover by Alexandre Bonvalot. Dive was teased at SPIEL.digital 2020, but it features game components that can't be easily simulated on Tabletopia or other digital game spaces. Here's an overview:
Quote:
Beyond the last continent on the remote island Windbark, diving is an ancestral tradition. During a rite of passage celebrated at the summer solstice, divers compete to retrieve the sacred stone of the village. The elder throws it from the top of the cliff, and the stone leads the contenders for the title of "hero" down to the depths of the ocean, aided in their quest by friendly sea turtles and manta rays.

However, to retrieve the stone, they will need to avoid upsetting the sharks that inhabit the ocean...

Dive plays simultaneously for all player divers, who start the game facing a shuffled stack of 36 transparent "ocean" cards. You have your own diver board and a set of five air tokens that are numbered 1-5 on both sides, with a shark on one side of each token.

Board Game: Dive
Mock-up of the components

Dive explores the notion of perception, the ability of the divers to observe the ocean through a deck of transparent cards and to benefit from their observations. At the start of each round, you look into the "waters" before you to see how far you want to dive, with five levels being the maximum you can go (since you have five tokens). You then place the tokens on your board:

—If you think a shark is at a certain level, you need any tokens on this level to be shark side up — and if you goof, calling "shark" when no shark is present or vice versa, then you remove all tokens from your diver board at this level and at deeper levels. You're done for the round.

—If you think a certain level has a sea turtle or a manta ray, you might want to stack tokens on this level because whoever places the highest sum advances 1-2 spaces on the descent board (for a sea turtle) or moves onto the player token directly in below them on the descent board (for a manta ray).

If you've finished evaluating a level for sharks, sea turtles, and manta rays, and anyone still has an air token on their board, you explore the next level. Once no one has any air tokens for the next level, the round ends, and everyone advances on the descent board equal to the number of levels that they successfully dove. Once you reach space #16 on the descent board, you can't use a manta ray to catch up to anyone, and if you fail the shark/no shark question for a level, you don't advance at all during that round, regardless of how many levels you first dove through successfully.

Dive includes rules for solitaire play in which you compete against the village chief, and you can optionally play a competitive game with animal companions that give you a one-time bonus.
Board Game Publisher: Alderac Entertainment Group
• In April 2019, U.S. publisher Alderac Entertainment Group announced that it would reduce the number of games that it releases annually, and the company has seemingly scaled back — but to close out 2020 and lead into 2021, AEG has announced seven mini-expansions for games in its catalog:

Tiny Towns: Tiny Trees, Nov. 2020
Mystic Vale: Evergreen, Nov. 2020
Space Base: Biodome, Dec. 2020
Valley of the Kings: Necropolis, Dec. 2020
Smash Up: Goblins, 2021
The Captain Is Dead: The Problem with Priggles, 2021
Cat Lady: Kittens, 2021

AEG is also returning older promotional items to its catalog, such as Trains: Saitama & Texas and Trains: Bay Area & China, which were released at Gen Con 2014 and 2015, and Smash Up: Titans, which was originally available only as part of the Smash Up: Titan Event Kit in 2018.

Board Game: Tiny Towns: Tiny Trees
Board Game: Mystic Vale: Evergreen
Board Game: Space Base: Biodome
Board Game: Smash Up: Goblins
Board Game: Valley of the Kings: Premium Edition – Necropolis

Given the state of the market right now, with stay-at-home gamers discovering older titles that they've never played before and newer titles not picking up buzz since conventions largely don't exist, it makes sense for AEG to release expansions for its proven sellers.

Board Game: Sheepy Time
• One new title that AEG has announced is Sheepy Time, a game for 1-4 player from Neil Kimball, with charming art by newcomer to the game industry Zoé Plane.

Here's an overview of this press-your-luck game due out in Q2 2021:
Quote:
You are one of the Dream Sheep, the sheep that people count in order to drift off to Dreamland! Each time you jump the fence, you help your person fall asleep easier — but the Nightmares that haunt these dreams threaten a rude awakening...

On a turn in Sheepy Time, you play one of two cards in your hand to move around the circle, potentially activating neat effects, while jumping the fence each time you complete a lap to put yourself in position to earn more points. When refilling your hand, however, if you draw a Nightmare card, you have to activate the Nightmare — and if it crosses your path, your human may be scared awake, which means you'll earn no points this round. How far do you dare push your Zzzs to prove you're the dreamiest sheep of all!
Board Game: Sheepy Time

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