Survive: Escape from Atlantis! FAQ
101 questions players ask · Updated Nov 11, 2026 · Full rulebook
Game Setup
- How do you shuffle and place the terrain tiles at setup without seeing their hidden sides?
- Can players look at their explorers' point values during the game?
- What point values are on each player's ten explorer tokens?
- How many boats does each player start with, and where do they go?
- Can more than one explorer stand on a terrain tile at setup?
- Which eight mountain tiles come with the base game?
- Do the sea serpents start on the board, and when do sharks and whales come into play?
- Can boats and creatures removed from the game come back into play?
Game Overview
- In what order do you play a red tile and take movement in a turn?
- Can you decline to move any explorers or boats on your turn?
- Must you move a sea creature when its face is rolled on the creature die?
- If the die shows a creature that is not on the board, do you roll again?
- Can you choose which creature to move, even one that does no damage?
- Can sea creatures share a sea space with each other, with boats and with swimmers?
- If a shark or whale moves several spaces, does it eat everything it passes through?
- What does a sea serpent do to swimmers and to a boat in its space?
- What does a whale do to boats and swimmers in its sea space?
- Can a shark and a boat with explorers share the same sea space?
- What counts as a vacant space for creature and tile moves?
- In what order are island tiles removed when the island sinks?
- Does the sea space in the middle of the island count as sea when choosing which tile to remove?
- What happens when a beach tile is walled in by forest or mountain tiles?
- When an island tile sinks with explorers on it, where do those explorers go?
Moving Explorers and Ships
- Can a swimmer enter a sea space and climb into a boat there in the same turn?
- After a swimmer climbs from the water into a boat, can the boat still move that turn?
- Can an explorer that has left the sinking island climb back onto it?
- Can an explorer move from one boat directly onto a boat in an adjacent sea space?
- Can a swimmer in the water board a boat in an adjacent sea space?
- Can you move a boat into a swimmer's sea space so the swimmer boards it in the same turn?
- How far can a swimmer move in one turn, and can several swimmers each move?
- Can one explorer on land move several spaces in one turn?
- Does jumping from a boat or land tile into the sea use up the swimmer's one sea-space move?
- Where does an explorer land when it jumps from a boat into the sea?
- Can you deliberately move your own swimmer or boat into a sea serpent, shark or whale?
- Does it cost one movement to step from a boat onto land, or from land into a boat?
Ships
- Can a boat move through a sea space that already holds another boat?
- Who controls a boat carrying explorers from several players?
- Can any player move an empty boat, and how far can a boat move in a turn?
- Can a boat carrying explorers move into a sea serpent or whale's space?
- Does a whale destroy an empty boat in its sea space, or one moved into it?
- Can one whale move destroy more than one boat?
- Can a sea monster move through a sea space that holds an empty boat?
- If a whale capsizes your boat during your own turn, can the freed explorers still move that turn?
- How many people can ride in one boat?
- What happens when there are no boats left on the board?
Reaching a Safe Isle
- How do explorers get onto a safe isle from a boat?
- How many movement points does a swimmer need to reach a safe isle, and can it swim next to the isle and step on in the same turn?
- Is a sea space next to a safe isle, such as a dock or a serpent space, safe for explorers?
- Can sea serpents block a safe isle?
- Once an explorer reaches a safe isle, can creatures or the Giant Squid still reach it, and can it move again?
- Can explorers disembark on any safe isle, or only the one in front of them?
Using Information from a Terrain Tile
- What happens when you flip a Shark, Whale or Ship tile when removing a terrain tile?
- When a whirlpool is revealed, does it remove land tiles, the volcano, or explorers on adjacent land?
- Does a whirlpool stay on the board after it resolves?
- How many start-of-turn tiles can you play, must you play one, and when in the turn?
- When can you play a red-outlined tile you have collected?
- Can you play a defensive red-cross tile on your own turn?
- Does an anti-shark defensive tile protect every swimmer on the sea space, including other players' swimmers?
- Can the anti-shark tile be played when the shark did not move into the space, only was already there?
- If a boat is moved into a sea space with a whale, can the anti-whale defensive tile be played?
- Can any player play the anti-whale tile to save a boat they do not control?
- Can the red tile that moves one of your boats 3 spaces move an empty boat?
- Can a sea creature moved by a red-outline tile land on a space with boats or swimmers, or go farther than its usual speed?
- Can a Dolphin tile move a swimmer onto a safe isle or onto land?
- Can a Dolphin tile move a swimmer through a shark or sea serpent space?
- Can a Dolphin tile move an explorer that is still on land, or one in a boat?
- Can a swimmer moved by a Dolphin tile still make its normal one-space move that turn?
- Does playing a start-of-turn tile, such as a dolphin or boat-moving tile, use up one of your three movement points?
- What happens when a tile says to place a boat but none are left in the supply?
- Can a dolphin or tailwind tile's one-to-three space movement be split between several swimmers or boats?
End of Game
Two Player Games
Survive: Escape from Atlantis! – The Giant Squid Mini ExpansionExpansion
- When a whale tile brings in a whale, is a Giant Squid placed as well?
- Where is a Giant Squid placed, and does it take an adjacent explorer straight away?
- When a whale would move, by a creature die or a tile, can you move a Giant Squid instead?
- If a Giant Squid is moved zero spaces, can it still take a passenger from a boat in its sea space?
- Does a Giant Squid take explorers who walk or swim past it, or only when it moves?
- Can a Giant Squid take swimmers in the water, or does a swimmer in its space count as safe?
- What can a Giant Squid attack, who chooses the target, and does it stop after attacking?
- After a Giant Squid is moved by a tile or a dive, can it take an explorer on an adjacent land tile?
- Can a defensive whale tile or a stop-whale tile also remove or stop a Giant Squid?
- Can a swimmer climb into a boat that shares a sea space with a Giant Squid?
Survive: Escape from Atlantis! – Dolphins & Dive Dice Mini ExpansionExpansion
- With the dive dice, how far can a sea creature move?
- What does a D result on the blue dive die do?
- What happens when the dolphin face is rolled on the dive dice but no dolphin is on the board?
- Does a dolphin move with its protected swimmer, and does a dive roll carry the swimmer along?
- Does moving a protected swimmer together with its dolphin cost an extra movement point?
- Can a dolphin protect a boat, or only swimmers?
- When a dolphin appears in a space with swimmers of two players, who decides which one it protects?
- Does a dolphin protect swimmers as soon as it arrives, and can a dive roll switch its protection?
- If a whale capsizes a boat in a sea space with a protecting dolphin, who decides which swimmer the dolphin protects?
- Are dolphins removed by a whirlpool like other sea creatures?
- Can the dive dice move an empty boat as well as the normal movement points?
- What do the blue dive dice show, and what does a dolphin tile replacement mean?
- Does a protected swimmer stop a sea serpent, shark or whale that moves through its space?
- Must a dolphin stop where it can protect a swimmer, and must it protect one when it stops?
- When a dolphin, sea serpent and boat share a sea space, what resolves first?