Aqua Garden

First new game to be played for the year is Aqua Garden. This one I got from the Dragonflight GameCon auction last year. I remember this one because I found it funny that there were two copies up for auction. I bid the first one because it was on my personal wish list, and somehow no one else went for it so I got it at the minimum price. Yet when the second one came around, both of which were shrink wrapped copies, that one had a small bidding war. Guess people realized it was their last chance at it?

Aqua Garden is a really small game where you go around a turn track, collecting either fish to add to your aquarium or adveterisement income based on the fish you've collected. There are placement and capacity rules for fish with the goal of racing for common goals for points and bonus fish. You're also managing a little rondel which dictates what aquariums you can modify as well as bonus income when you make a full rotation. After a certain number of rounds, the game will end and you'll score based on your aquariums and if you met any public goals.

The production here is really nice, the fish meeples being the big draw here. They remind me of Meeple Source and their level of quality with the colors and screen printing. For solo its really easy to play: you get 3 rounds of picking 5 groups of 3 fish, so it becomes a little bit of a puzzle. Going around the track and choosing when to get advertisement money, which you only get once per game when playing solo, feels like a race against the clock to try and get as much completed.

Unfortunately I don't have any of the expansions for this, so I can't really remark on those. The base game does feel very barebones and I'm not sure how much expansions would help in that regard. I know Mike from The Dice Tower rated it very favorably and given the positive word I had heard about it is what put this game on my radar initially. I'll say the fact that I got it as a deal at the convention auction is a good thing.

It would be nice to maybe see how well it plays with other people and see if those in my playgroup enjoy it enough to keep it. Having played it once, it does feel like an easy to teach game. For now, my initial impression is that its a fine game with a great production, but may not have enough staying power when compared to other games of similar weight range in my library, even with its smaller footprint.

Played a 2 player game with my husband, his thoughts were that its a nice and light game, exactly what he was looking for a relaxed experience that doesn’t take up too much time.