Blooming Sea Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Objective
• Components
• Setup
• Gameplay
  • 1. Tile Placement
  • 2. Scoring
    • Coral Reef Points
    • Fish Points
  • 3. Replenish Tile
• Game End
• Variant
  • Aquarist Mode

Overview

Coral reefs form wonderfully diverse aquatic ecosystems, home to all kinds of marine life. However, due to climate change and overfishing, coral reefs are endangered.

In Blooming Sea, you are an environmentalist working to rebuild the coral reefs. Help them bloom again with your own hands!

Objective

Score points by placing corals of the same color together to build/expand coral reefs and creating new habitats for fish. The player with the most points wins.

Components

• 1 Game Board (double-sided)
• 4 Player Markers
• 4 Score Markers
• 48 Tiles (each Tile contains 3 corals)
• 12 Fish Tokens (Fish Tokens have no functional differences in the base game)
• 12 "50" Tokens
• 4 Reference Tokens (Reference Tokens are for Aquarist mode only; see the Variant section)

Setup

1. Choose a side of the Game Board to play on and lay it out on the table.
2. Each player picks a color and takes the matching Player Marker and Score Marker. Return any unused Player Marker(s) and Score Marker(s) back to the box.
3. Each player places their Score Marker on "0" of the scoring track along the Game Board's edge.
4. Shuffle all Tiles, then create a pile with the coral side facing down.
5. Each player draws one Tile from the Tile pile into their hand.
6. Place 1 random Fish Token on each numbered square on the Game Board.
7. Place all the "50" Tokens next to the Game Board.
8. The player who has been to the beach most recently starts the game.

Setup for 2 Players: the rulebook shows a pictorial setup diagram for a 2-player game. The diagram's numbered callouts correspond to the eight setup steps above; no additional rules are given in text for it.

Gameplay

The play proceeds in clockwise order, beginning with the starting player. On your turn, complete the following actions in order:

1. Tile Placement
2. Scoring
3. Replenish Tile

1. Tile Placement

Place your Tile on three empty squares on the Game Board.

Coral Reefs: Two or more adjacent corals of the same color are called a coral reef. Diagonally placed corals are not adjacent.

Example: Purple corals are adjacent, so they count as a coral reef. Yellow corals are not adjacent and therefore do not count as a coral reef.

2. Scoring

After placing your Tile, calculate how many points you score from coral reef(s) and/or fish token(s), and move your Score Marker along the scoring track according to the number of points you scored.

• Each time your Score Marker circles the scoring track and reaches or passes "0", take a "50" Token.

Coral Reef Points

If you make or expand a coral reef with your Tile, you score points equal to the number of corals of that coral reef.

Color of the reef does not matter when scoring coral reef points. You score points even for coral reefs that are not your color!

If you make or expand multiple coral reefs at the same time, you score points for all of those coral reefs.

• You do not score any points for single corals.

Examples:

1. Alex makes a coral reef of 2 yellow corals, and scores 2 points.
2. Bella expands the yellow coral reef, and scores 3 points.
3. Chris makes a green coral reef (3 corals) and an orange coral reef (2 corals) with his Tile. Chris scores a total of 5 points.

Fish Points

When all four adjacent squares of a Fish Token are occupied, determine which player scores the fish points.

First, each player counts the corals of their color adjacent to the Fish Token. Then, if any of those corals are part of a reef, count all the corals in that reef as well (regardless of who placed the Tiles of the reef).

The player with the most corals of their color scores points equal to the number on the Fish Token's square (5 or 7 points, depending on the side of the Game Board). Then, discard the Fish Token from the Game Board.

• In case of a tie, no one receives the fish points.
• In a 2-3 player game, ignore all non-player colors when scoring fish points.
• A Fish Token can be scored even if not all adjacent squares are occupied, as long as no new Tile can be placed on the remaining adjacent square(s).
• The numbered squares are not considered as empty squares even after the Fish Tokens are scored.

Examples:

1. There are 3 green corals (single coral and a coral reef with 2 corals), 2 orange corals, and 1 yellow coral around the Fish Token. So the green player scores the fish points.
2. This Fish Token is scored even though the square below it is empty, because a Tile cannot be placed there. There are 2 yellow corals, 1 orange coral, and 1 green coral around the Fish Token. So the yellow player scores the fish points.
3. There are 2 green corals, 2 purple corals, and 1 orange coral around the Fish Token. Since green and purple are tied, no one scores the fish points. However, if purple is a non-player color, green scores the fish points.

3. Replenish Tile

Draw a new Tile from the Tile pile into your hand. Then, end your turn.

Game End

The game ends immediately when the last Fish Token is scored. The player with the most points wins. If there's a tie, the tied player who would take their turn first wins.

Variant

Aquarist Mode

All rules apply as usual apart from the fish points.

During setup, place the Fish Tokens on the numbered squares randomly or after discussing with other players.

When Fish Token(s) is scored, the fish points are based on the type of fish instead of the number on the numbered square.

• Clownfish: 8 points
• Yellow tang: 6 points
• Blue tang: 7 points
• Whitetail: 5 points