Published Jul05 2024 by Cerise Talis.
Update (Jul07 2024): Included print-and-play asset templates. Added to the Inspirations list. Tweaked a few pixels on the board, resolving asymmetries. Replaced screenshot with photo.
Update (Jul13 2024): Clarified what happens to resources at forks. Added a rule which duplicates clay at dams. Added to the Playtesters list.
Update (Jul15 2024): Added a link to the Air Board Game online version. Made player count, playtime, and materials numbers exact.
Update (Jul21 2024): Added an Example Round with pictures and descriptions. Added missing round tracker step. Clarified cave flooding behavior.
Update (Sep05 2024): Removed the board, and reworked setup accordingly. Reworked ordering to remove Terrain Phase. Changed player order mechanism. Reduced the game length to six rounds. Changed swamps to marshes, and tidied text to remove forests. Removed the photo and Example Round for the time being. Added to the Playtesters and Inspiration lists.
Tussling beavers gnaw, scoop, and dam their way to deep cavern clay.
This geometric worker placement game tasks players with constructing and managing a complex river network.
Whoever collects the most clay wins! The beavers will be very happy to patch up their leaky homes with precious cavern clay.
Player Count - 2 to 4
Playtime - 30 to 120 minutes
Originally made for Thinky Puzzle Game Jam 4.
Playtesters:
Inspiration:
Give each player 4 beaver meeples. Whoever most recently said "hi!" to a beaver is the first player; order proceeds clockwise.
Set the round tracker token to 1.
Every river tile has a number of pips on its marsh side.
Place all tiles river-side up. Place a single river tile, then...
Repeat four times total. Done correctly, the river should turn seven times.
Scuba Beavers consists of six rounds. Every round, complete all three phases in order: the Placement Phase, Resources Phase, and Cleanup Phase.
On their turn, a player either places a beaver or passes.
Choose one of three actions to take: Forage, Build, or Secure.
Foraging generates resources by creating new tiles or utilizing existing tiles.
Beavers cannot forage in a location that would create a 2×2 patch of tiles.
To determine which new tile to create, note that water flows left-to-right and top-to-bottom.
Pay 3 wood to build a dam on any dam-free river tile. Place a beaver on top of the new dam.
To secure a dam:
At the beginning of a player's turn, if they have no unplaced beavers, they are forced to pass. Otherwise, they may voluntarily pass.
A passed player may not take any actions until the next Placement Phase.
Give the last player to pass the first player token. They'll take the first action next Placement Phase.
At this point, all unflooded caves exposed to the flow of water become flooded caves.
Place resources on occupied tiles.
Then, repeat these steps until all resources are removed from the board:
Resources move in a fashion determined by the terrain below.
Resource movement also follows a hierarchy of terrain.
Caves → Marshes → Rivers
When a resource encounters a fork, it duplicates, with one copy flowing in either direction.
If the number of beavers at a dam is less than half the number of resources at that tile, the dam breaks (is removed from the board), and resources flow past.
If the dam doesn't break, the player whose beaver is on top of the dam must allocate these resources.
For each beaver on the tile, its corresponding player receives 0, 1, or 2 resources of the allocator's choosing. All resources must be allocated.
Give allocated wood and stone to players. Allocated clay is duplicated on the spot: given to players, but also flowing past.
Return all beavers to their players.
Transform all marshes into rivers.
Each player receives an allotment of wood: 1 wood, or 3 wood minus the number of standing dams, whichever is greater.
Increase the round tracker's value by 1.
Scoring begins when one of two conditions are met in the Placement Phase:
Once scoring begins, each player counts their clay. Whoever has the most clay wins! Ties are possible.