Survive Escape from Atlantis Review

Survive Escape From Atlantis 30th Anniversary Edition

The object of Survive: Escape from Atlantis is to escape from a sinking island with as much treasure as possible before the land vanishes altogether. Sound familiar? Maybe a bit like Forbidden Island?

Only Survive is different because it is NOT a cooperative game. In fact, you get to take great pleasure in sinking your opponents, or having them eaten by sharks. Sound good?

(My daughter is a huge fan of this game because she can kill off her siblings without getting in to too much trouble…. they tolerate her, because they can do the same to her!)

(Actually, I kind of like the game for the same reason)

How to Play Survive Escape from Atlantis

Set Up

You being by setting up the board with the hexagonal land tiles… there are flat tiles for beach, slightly thicker ones for trees, and thick ones for mountains. These represent the various layers of the island. And you just follow the guide to get it set.

Each player gets 10 Meeples of one color with numbers on the bottom of them. The numbers indicate their value… how much treasure they’ve carried off the Island. You may look at the bottom as you set the meeples on the island… but not after that until the game is all over. You also get two boats. Set the Meeples each on their own hex space scattered around the Island however you like, and then place your boats anywhere along the shore.

Notice the different levels?

Object of Survive: Escape from Atlantis

Meeples in place… boats docked

You want to get as many of your Meeples off the Island and on to the corner land spaces as possible. In the end, the numbers on the bottom of the Meeples are counted, and the high score wins. So… place your Meeples with care, then don’t let them get eaten!

A Typical Turn:

On your turn you may make three moves… ie. Move one Meeple 3 spaces or move three Meeples one space, or move the boat three spaces… you get the idea. The number shall be three. You want to get the guys in the boat… and the boat off the island and to the corner. You can share another player’s boat. The player with more Meeples in the boat controls it…

After you move your pieces, you remove a land piece from the island. This is done in order… first all the beach pieces, then trees, then mountains. If someone is on the piece, they fall in the water (Meeples are apparently buoyant.) Look at the bottom of the piece, then do what the symbol indicates. Place a shark (that will eat the swimming guys), maybe a whale (that will destroy a boat) or move a Sea Monster. Some pieces are “do this now” pieces, others can be saved for later in the game. There are even whirlpools that drag everyone down the their watery grave….

Will you meet a shark? a Whale? A Sea Monster?

Finally, you roll the die to see if any of the monsters should move. This is your chance to mess up the other guy.

Then the turn moves to the next player.

Game ends when everyone is done moving their guys to land… or the Volcano erupts, whichever comes first.

Then you count up how many points you’ve collected by adding the numbers on the bottoms of the meeples….

What I Like About Survive Escape From Atlantis

I know some of you will understand when I say that one of the things I really like about this game is the components. The game board is strong, sturdy, well-illustrated. The sharks, whales and sea monsters are all wood, and feel good in your hand. Best of all, the land tiles are made of wood of varying thickness corresponding to their elevation on the island. Very cool. The Meeples are plastic… wah wahhhhh… sort of a disappointment, but they fit cunningly well on the boats, so all is forgiven.

Wooden pieces …

The other thing I like about this game is how easy it is to learn, and how easy it is to teach non-gamers. This is one of those gateway games… it requires some thought and strategy, but you don’t need to be a mastermind of game play to get it right.

Who Can Play Survive: Escape from Atlantis

The box says 8 and up. Now, if your kids are like mine, and are very comfortable with gaming, there is no reason not to start earlier. As I said, this is also a good gateway game for new game players. Keep in mind though, you can play this game with some serious strategy… know the point values of your pieces, know if you can sacrifice one to make a play against an opponent, and have fun sending in a sea monster on your best friend.
There are also a few expansions available to add new elements to the game, and to add more players. You must have the basic game though.

For 2-4 players
Game lasts around 45 minutes.