tabletoppingboardgames 
Ever dreamt of creating your own slice of the Great Barrier Reef? With Shallow Sea, you’ll get to design a vibrant underwater ecosystem, teeming with colorful coral, bright fish, and fascinating marine life right on your player board. Get ready to dive deep and build a reef that could rival the real thing!
👥 1-4 players, ages 14+
⌛ Playing time: 30-45 minutes
📝 Designer: Yeom C.W.
🎨 Artwork: Sophia Kang
🏢 Publisher: Bad Comet (prototype copy provided)
Check out Shallow Sea on Kickstarter
Gameplay Overview
Shallow Sea is played over 18 rounds, during which you’ll build up your reef with colorful corals, fish, and swirling sea creatures. Each turn, you’ll pick one fish from the pool and one matching tile—either coral or sea life—to place on your board. Coral tiles come in four colors, each with different values and up to four colored corners. You’ll place fish in the bubbles on the corners of these tiles, and when all the fish around a tile match the tile’s colors, you’ll flip it to its scoring side. Plus, you get to add a fish as a “completer” to mark it finished! Sea life tiles work a little differently; each tile has a specific goal, like forming a certain pattern with coral or fish colors around it, which must be achieved to flip the tile.
Whenever you flip a tile, you earn a seashell. These are valuable tokens that add flexibility to your turn, letting you refresh the pools of tiles and fish or move fish around your board to meet tricky color requirements.
The game wraps up when each player has just four open spaces left on their ocean board. You’ll score points from two ecosystem cards, which are revealed at the beginning to guide you on the best way to grow your coral reef. Any fish that didn’t complete coral tiles can still earn points by sitting next to completed coral, while partially completed sea life tiles score for tiles that contribute toward their goal. Once all points are tallied, the player with the highest score—and the most vibrant coral reef—wins the game!
Game Info
Shallow Sea is a tile-based puzzle game that brings together pattern-building and set-collection mechanics, all crafted by designer Yeom C.W., whom you might recognize from Bad Comet’s earlier hit, Wondrous Creatures (which we reviewed here). Once again, Bad Comet and Yeom C.W. are joining forces, this time for a Kickstarter campaign that promises to launch Shallow Sea into the hands of board gamers everywhere. The game is designed to be accessible and enjoyable for 1 to 4 players, officially recommended for ages 14 and up. But from our experience, younger players (10 and up) will likely find it just as engaging—and not too overwhelming in its 30-45 minute playtime. This shorter game duration keeps things moving along at a pace that suits families and younger players alike, which is ideal for anyone prone to wandering off mid-game!
Components, Production, and Artwork
Let’s talk about that gorgeous presentation, because wow—Shallow Sea is a visual treat. The bright, colorful reef on each player’s board, paired with the adorable wooden fish meeples (seriously, check out those tiny fish in the pictures!), makes this game a feast for the eyes. The tiles burst with colors too, with each type of coral and sea life beautifully illustrated by Sophia Kang. The game also comes with four blue player boards that serve as mini-oceans, each marked with a clear grid to make tile placement easy and intuitive. Sea life tiles have simple, recognizable icons, so you’ll always know exactly where to place things without squinting at your board.
Also in the box, you’ll find handy little cardboard seashell tokens, a double-sided scorepad (saving paper—nice touch!), and three well-made cloth bags for randomly drawing fish, coral, and sea life tiles, each with its own distinct color and lovely pattern. These bags not only look great but make it a breeze to refill the pool for players each turn. There are also various ecosystem cards, which come in two types and provide different goals every game. Although we’re reviewing a prototype, based on Bad Comet’s previous releases, like Life of the Amazonia and Wild: Serengeti, we feel confident the final production will meet the same high standards. If we had one small wish, though, it would be for a few extra ecosystem cards for even more variety. Still, with so many possible combinations already, that’s just a minor “wish upon a starfish.”
Gameplay and Strategy
Shallow Sea is perfect for anyone who loves a good puzzly challenge. The gameplay centers on thoughtfully arranging tiles and fish to build up your reef with color matches and meet tile goals. It’s a satisfying mix of careful planning and a bit of flexibility thanks to the seashell tokens, which give you the power to shake things up. Want to refresh the pool or rearrange fish to fit your strategy better? Just trade in a seashell or two to stay on top of the game without getting bogged down by overly complex rules.
The goal cards drawn at the start of each game nudge you in new directions and make each playthrough feel fresh, encouraging players to approach the puzzle from different angles. The pool of available tiles and fish does add some chance, but with seashells, you can tweak the options and make the best out of what’s available.
Positioning is key, and timing matters too. Chaining together completed tiles gives a big boost to your score, but it’s not always easy. Placing a fish on a completed coral tile, for example, can make it harder to finish another tile, so you’ll want to think ahead to keep those coral connections open. Plus, players each work on their own board but draft from the same pool, so there’s a bit of subtle interference if you’re eyeing the same fish or tiles as your opponents. It’s not a highly interactive game in the direct sense, so each player can really focus on their own reef-building masterpiece without much disruption—perfect for a relaxed, low-stakes vibe.
If you’re a fan of games like Calico, you’ll probably enjoy Shallow Sea as well. It shares that satisfying “puzzle feel” while giving you a little more freedom in how you place tiles. Unlike Calico, where design goal tiles have specific placements, Shallow Sea lets you place sea life tiles more flexibly, creating more possibilities to pursue different strategies. It also draws some comparison to games like Cascadia and Harmonies, where you’re balancing strategic goals with an open-ended approach.
Final Thoughts
With stunning visuals and approachable gameplay, Shallow Sea has an appeal that’s perfect for casual gamers and families alike. We had a blast putting together our colorful coral reefs, and it was surprisingly relaxing while still keeping our minds engaged. It’s the kind of game that draws you in with its beauty and keeps you playing with its clever puzzle mechanics.
The relatively light player interaction allows each player to focus on their own board-building experience, making it ideal for those who enjoy a bit of solitude in their gaming time. Yet, it’s dynamic enough to keep everyone thinking and making choices, creating that perfect balance of relaxation and mental engagement. Plus, who can say no to building a stunning reef and maybe sneaking in a “fin-tastic” joke or two?
📝 We received a prototype copy of the game from the publisher, Bad Comet.
