Into the Blue
Into The Blue Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 1 game board
- 15 Treasure tokens: 5 Main Treasure tokens and 10 Secondary Treasure tokens
- 60 shells: 12 per player
- 5 Chest tokens
- 6 dice
Setup
- Place the game board in the middle of the table.
- Place the 15 Treasure tokens on the designated spots of the board. The tokens on the left side are the Main Treasure tokens, those on the right side are the Secondary Treasure tokens.
For a 2 or 3-player game, return 1 Secondary Treasure token (on the right side of the game board) per level to the box: you won't need them for the game.
- Randomly place the Chest tokens on the bottom of the board, with their value hidden from sight.
- Each player takes 12 shells of their chosen color.
- Place the dice into the lid of the box and keep them accessible to all players.
The last player to have swam will be the starting player. You are now ready to start the game!
Playing the Game
In a game of Into the Blue, players will take turns rolling the dice in order to create sequences of numbers that allow them to place their shells on the various diving depth levels. The goal is to control over as many levels as possible. A perfect dive will allow you to claim the most beautiful treasures, but take too many risks and you might come back empty-handed!
Players take turns in a clockwise order.
During your turn, roll 6 dice into the box lid. You can choose to reroll as many dice as you want up to two times. Place the dice you want to keep in front of you and roll the other dice into the box lid again.
After three rolls, the result cannot be modified again.
Note: each roll is independent. If you chose to keep some of the dice after the first roll, you may still reroll any of these dice on your third roll.
Then, rearrange your dice from the lowest to the highest result. The only dice that will make up the diving sequence are those that follow an uninterrupted series starting with 1 (1, 2, 3, etc.).
Depending on your roll there can be different outcomes:
Successful Dive
The final result creates an uninterrupted sequence of numbers starting with 1. If you miss a number from the sequence, all higher dice are lost.
Choose one number from the sequence and place as many of your shells as there are dice showing that number on the corresponding level of the board.
During the game, players establish their presence on each level by stacking their shells in this way.
Example: Scott just finished his three rolls and has obtained the sequence 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 5. He can therefore place one of the following: 2 shells on level 1; 1 shell on level 2; 2 shells on level 3. Because he lacks a 4, the die showing a 5 is lost and the sequence is interrupted, which makes it impossible for him to place any shells on level 5.
Example: Alice chose to only roll the dice twice and has obtained the sequence 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4. She can place one of the following: 1 shell on level 1; 1 shell on level 2; 3 shells on level 3; 1 shell on level 4.
Unsuccessful Dive
If your final results do not include a 1, all six dice are lost and the turn passes to the next player.
Perfect Dive
If your final results include a complete sequence (1-5 plus a chest symbol), you managed a perfect dive. Do not place any shells on the board. Instead, you choose one of the Chest tokens from the bottom of the board and keep its value secret from the other players. The Chest tokens have different values (5, 6, 6, 7 and 8), and allow you to immediately take another turn.
Note: when you manage a perfect dive, you must take a Chest token. You cannot choose to place shells on the board instead.
End of the Game and Final Scoring
There is two different ways to trigger the end of the game:
- A player place their last shell on the board. The other players will be able to play one last turn before the game ends.
Note: if a player needs to place shells and they don't have enough, they place the remaining ones and trigger the end of the game.
- A player manages to retrieve the last Chest token (with a perfect dive), and only in this case, the game ends instantly and the other players do not take one last turn.
Then, the Treasure tokens are distributed among the players as follows:
- The player with the most shells on one of the levels receives the Main Treasure token for that level.
- The player with the second most shells on that same level receives the Secondary Treasure token.
- For 4 and 5-player games, the player with the third most shells on that same level also receives a Secondary Treasure token.
Proceed likewise with each diving level, starting from the lowest level all the way up to level 1.
If a player does not have any shells on one of the levels, they will not receive any Treasure tokens for that level.
Ties
In case of a tie on one of the levels, the tied player with the most shells on the preceding level (above the current level) will win the tie and receive the disputed Treasure token.
If there is still a tie, continue checking the preceding levels until you check them all, if needed.
When tied players have the same number of shells all the way up to level 1, the player with more unplayed shells wins the tie.
If the tie persists, then the player who took their last turn earlier wins the tie.
Example: Sarah (green) and Scott (blue) are tied on level 4, but since Sarah has more shells than Scott on the preceding level (level 3), Sarah receives the Main Treasure token of level 4 and Scott the Secondary Treasure token.
Example: Jim (yellow) and Alice (red) are tied on level 3. Since they are also tied on levels 2 and 1, the player with more unplayed shells will obtain control over level 3. Unfortunately, both have 2 unplayed shells and the tie persists. Scott triggered the end of the game, followed by Sarah, Alice and finally Jim taking their last turns. This means Alice will receive the Main Treasure token for level 3 and Jim the Secondary Treasure token.
When all Treasure tokens have been distributed, each player sums their values. The player with the highest total will be the winner. In case of a tie, players share the victory.