Ocean Crisis

About this board game

Ocean Crisis is a cooperative environmental board game for 2–5 players, with a playing time of about 60 minutes. Players become defenders of the ocean and work together to stop the formation of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, also known as the Ocean Waste Island.

Each turn, new ocean waste appears in rivers, along seashores, and in the ocean. Players place their workers to choose between waste clean-up and environmental activity. A die determines whether a piece of garbage is cleaned up, while road tiles can be placed to launch environmental activities.

Waste continues to move as the crisis unfolds. At the end of every turn, garbage flows downstream along the river, and the ocean current board spins randomly. This movement can bring waste from the ocean to the seashores or carry it from the seashores toward the Garbage Patch.

Environmental activities focus mainly on prevention and long-term solutions. Players can add skills such as recycling or reusable products, research a type of garbage to reduce waste, or design an ocean clean-up machine that can be sent out to remove ocean waste on its own.

• Cooperative play for 2–5 players
• A six-turn battle against increasing ocean waste
• Worker placement, die rolls, road tiles, and changing ocean currents
• Six environmental side missions and scenarios, including dolphin rescue, sea turtle nesting, and shark defender

If the players survive six turns without the Great Pacific Garbage Patch forming completely, they win together—for now. Released in 2019, Ocean Crisis presents ocean protection from an ecological point of view, combining clean-up efforts with preventative environmental action.