How to play
The game is five dives. At the start of a dive everyone is down, and cards are turned over one at a time.
- 🦪 Pearls are shared equally among the divers still down. Any left over stay on the card.
- Dangers (an eel, a crab, a jellyfish, a pike and a snapping turtle, three of each) are harmless the first time. If a second one of the same kind turns up, the dive ends at once and everyone still down drops every pearl they carry. One card of that danger then leaves the game.
- 👑 Treasures: one joins the deck each dive. It only goes home with a diver who swims up alone. Treasures are worth 5, or 10 in the last two dives.
After each card, everyone still down chooses in secret: keep diving, or swim home. Everyone who swims home shares the pearls left lying on the cards, banks everything they carry, and is safe until the next dive. The dive ends when everyone is home or a danger comes up twice.
After five dives, the most pearls (treasures included) wins.
Tips
The game shows the chance that the next card ends the dive. Swimming home with others is safe but splits the leftovers; going home alone when there’s a treasure on the path can win the game. Don’t hold out for one more card too often: a bust loses the whole dive.