Kelp: Shark vs Octopus

About this board game

Kelp: Shark vs Octopus is a 60-minute, two-player asymmetrical board game set in a South African kelp forest, where a Pyjama Shark hunts a Common Octopus through a tense game of hide and seek.

Each creature follows a distinct path to victory, with gameplay reflecting the behavior of its real-world counterpart. The Octopus relies on cunning and adaptability, moving around the board by playing cards while managing hidden and revealed blocks. Camouflage, deception, bluffing, and manipulation are central to its attempt to stay out of reach.

The Shark takes a more direct approach. Patrolling its territory, it searches for the elusive Octopus by rolling dice and using special abilities to mitigate luck. This creates a predator-versus-prey contest in which the Shark’s determined pursuit meets the Octopus’s ability to conceal its intentions.

Kelp: Shark vs Octopus combines deck-building and dice bag building with hidden information and tactical movement. The two roles feel meaningfully different, giving both players their own tools, priorities, and ways to pressure the opponent.

• Shark victory: Successfully attack the Octopus.
• Octopus victory: Survive until the Shark is exhausted.
• Alternative Octopus victory: Eat all four seafoods.

With its mix of bluffing, manipulation, dice, cards, and asymmetric objectives, this 2024 game turns a kelp forest into a battlefield of patience, pursuit, and deception.