Aqualin - Playthrough & Review

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This is "Aqualin," a board game designed by Marcello Bertocchi & published by KOSMOS in 2020. This video includes a rules overview.
BGG Listing: boardgamegeek....
Link to our 2-Player Playlist - • 2-Player Games
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[@BeforeYouPlay]

Sorry about the wrinkly shirt everyone! I started my day looking fresh... I promise!! 😆

[@RPG_Bliss]

Didn’t even notice lol. Y’all were looking great 😊

[@andyleggett18]

I forgive you.

[@peteremedy]

XD

[@alxabreu]

I'll let it _slide_ this time

[@halocrap]

Love seeing more 2P only games on the channel, great stuff and great video

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Glad you like them!

[@oooDORIENooo]

Nice little game. I have Qwirkle and just realised I can just use that to play this, as it has 6 different shapes in 6 colours. I feel the shapes will actually be easier to see than the species too 👍🏻

[@alxabreu]

Qwirkle Sea: the sliding game. Great playthrough! Made me order it and I have only you and myself to blame for it.

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Lol, hope you will enjoy it too!

[@Xenophiah]

at 17.32 monique could have moved the green starfish up and put the seahorse where the starfish was, creating a 4 seahorse... & 2 Starfish also sealing the 3 fish. Dunno if that could've helped the score any. Just an observation. Otherwise I love watching these gameplays! Thank you for the awesome teach!

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Ahh!! Good call, would have likely just created a bigger spread in score :-)

[@lisamarin8836]

Thanks for making this video! We have had a copy of this on our shelf for a while, and we are now motivated to get it to the table. I imagine that it will have a similar feel to Land vs Sea, which we bought after seeing your playthrough and really enjoy.

[@lenking8994]

Ha! Monique when she says "seventeen, Naveen". Thank goodness you showcased a two-player game! They don't fit my gaming circumstance so it means I don't have to buy it! Phew! Your enthusiasm and just fun often "sell" a game to me (I'm looking at you, Ginkgopolis and Hallertau = both bought immediately after you did a playthrough! BYP is easily my go-to watch for play-throughs and thoughts. Thanks guys for your time & sharing. Cheers.

[@soc0102]

Love your playthroughs!

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Thank you so much!

[@allbutgrey]

What a cool dueling game! Seems very travel friendly. Especially at a beach! Haa. So glad you played this I've never seen it!

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Thanks for checking out the video!

[@gerade_bp5797]

I watch some board game channels, but I really like your videos. The game goes kinda slowly, and with strategic comments are pretty much helps for understanding the game more. Also not so emotional (I mean only using beautiful words) players you are, yes lovely!!!!!

[@wimscheenen3535]

Nice playthrough. Should try to find it over here.

[@sharonlee9285]

Thanks for the play through on this one. I keep constantly changing my mind about it, but I think you guys, have once again, tipped me over to spending my money! I love it when you showcase lighter, filler games. I so miss Filler Friday 😢

[@banaa9463]

I can relate. I think the last three games I got were because of these two. 🤣

[@CandiceLikes]

Just got this for Christmas so I’m happy to hear it’s a good one!

[@andyleggett18]

Saw this one suggested on Amazon and was very tempted..it has a similar theme to a game I backed on KS called Octopus's Garden, but this one seems (based on this playthrough) a bit more like Hive, as far as the chess-like offense-defense quality of it. It seems pretty take-that-y, as evidenced by Monique's murderous mumblings every time Naveen slid that turtle over. XD

[@rudykurhajetz7370]

This is a great game! I wanted to try adding some random calamity to the game, because if one player locks in a 5 or 6 group the game is likely over. I made six 'effect' tiles that cause something to happen to the board and are played immediately upon reveal, after which normal turn order is followed. Ex. A hurricane tile, which pushes all tiles on the board all the way to the right. It made things much more chaotic in a 'best laid plans' way and really added some unpredictability.

[@denycast]

What do the other tiles do? And how did you made new tiles?

[@rudykurhajetz7370]

@@denycast I recreated the whole game with my own tiles so the new ones would be undetectable. More of a proof of concept than anything with play testing among family. I mean, I hand drew the tiles, it wasn't pretty, unlike the real game. The example I used above was actually suggested by someone else after play-through but I'd already had the tiles made and (I think) balanced, though if they arrive early in a game they're very anticlimactic. Can add them part way through, but then you had the issue of shuffling them around so they couldn't be detected in the tide pool. Could select from a bag but I like the tide pool concept. Some of the ones I DID use was an anchor which takes out anything in a column and puts them back in the tide pool, or a shark which takes out a row. One of the goals was to maintain an ending with all the tiles still occupying spaces on the board so most of the effect tiles do not stay, they do their action and leave the board. Column/row selection is determined by a dice roll. I kinda don't want to say all of them, despite it being more fun for me, the testers, and maybe for others, because in some crazy world I'm imagining, if the creators wanted to utilize it for a different edition, maybe I can get a credit as helping! Honestly, I don't care about money THAT much (famous last words!) but having helped in a game edit would be super cool.

[@jamesmorgan1967]

I just received a box yesterday with a few filler games I purchased and Aqualin was one of them! I love the chunky tiles and the simple rule set. Am going to be trying it out on Tabletopia shortly and with a friend in person this weekend. Thanks for posting such a timely (for me) review! (Naveen, better luck next time!)

[@BeforeYouPlay]

That is awesome, what perfect timing!?! Haha I'll beat her sometime down the road!

[@lucianocasanova1903]

YEEEEYYY PLAYTHROUGHS 😍 Finally hahahah ❤️❤️❤️

[@BeforeYouPlay]

LOL!!

[@play-it-or-not]

I have this game already in my collection and this video reminded my how good it is. The only downside is that the game can me mean especially when playing with kids. I have purchased a drawstring bag for this game from BGG store.

[@anwyl42]

they both seem so energetic today

[@BeforeYouPlay]

We got a full nights sleep lol!

[@thomaswilson7718]

Thanks that one looked so simple but was Really cool!

[@Crazee108]

I'm so keen to see you guys play photosynthesis 😲

[@chandramohan5105]

Looks simple, but a lot of thinking goes in here to win the game. Fun game for two.

[@TimChuon]

FIRST! Yassss super excited to see you two doing playthroughs again!

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Us too!

[@jeffhiatt1682]

what a fun and brutal little 2P game. i need to look into other Kosmos 2P games. We LOVE Targi, but it plays too long to just play at the spur of the moment. This looks like one to fill that "quick game" and yet still has some nice strategy. Happy New Year!

[@jenniferalmeida5627]

so close naveen XD you played very well

[@BeforeYouPlay]

Thank you!

[@palacsintaz]

Also playable with Qwirkle tiles (and a 6x6 board) but I think I will get the real game eventually, I like the sea critters. Now that I think about it, could also get three Aqualin sets to play sea-qwirkle!

[@terryskinner5436]

It looks really good but I was struggling with the colors. It doesn't seem very color blind friendly.

[@BeforeYouPlay]

The green and the blue is definitely rough!

[@JonTripp115]

Odds of me forgetting the name of this game and asking my FLGS for an "Aquafina": 70%

[@billie1438]

Can you guys do Botanik? (Unless you guys hate it.)

[@ekurisona663]

3:31 it's very early lol

[@Dizzula]

What game is that bag from? :)

[@BeforeYouPlay]

It's from a game called "Hive"!

[@Dizzula]

@@BeforeYouPlay Thank you :D

[@Hunt.LikeDavid]

For the Algorithm!!

[@musemonkgames2005]

Hello. I sent you guys a private message and email. Please let me know if/when you are available. Thanks! 🙂

[@diamondmeeple]

Not your type of game huh? I remember your top 100... lacking in abstracts...