How to Play Finspan: Sharks & Reefs

Game Objective

In Finspan: Sharks & Reefs, players dive deeper into the Finspan marine ecosystem. The goal is to nurture colorful coral reefs in each of your ocean’s three dive sites. Healthy reefs allow you to play powerful reef fish, unlock fish abilities, and score end-game bonuses. Meanwhile, sharks spread schools of juveniles (to form even more schools elsewhere) and leave food scraps that any fish in your ocean can consume.

Setup

To set up the game, follow these steps:

1. Shuffle the new fish cards into the fish deck.
2. Shuffle the new starting fish cards with the other starting fish cards.
3. Replace the original achievement board and score pad with their new versions.
4. Shuffle the new achievement tiles with the original tiles.

After standard Finspan setup, perform the following:

• A. Place the coral tokens into the general supply.
• B. If using the B side of the achievement board, randomly select 1 tile per corresponding space. It is important to ensure the week number rows of the chosen tiles match the rows on the board.
• C. Each player places either side of a coral reef overlay onto their ocean mat, covering the existing twilight zone ().
• D. Each player receives a Sharks & Reefs player aid.

Game Flow

The game progresses in weeks. At the end of weeks 1 through 3, the following steps occur:

End of Week (Achievement Board Side B):

1. Score this week’s achievement tile.
2. The player (or players) who scored the most points from this week’s achievement tile also scores an additional 3 points.
3. Retrieve all divers.
4. Rotate the first player token clockwise.

End of Week (Achievement Board Side A):

1. Score this week’s achievement.
2. Retrieve all divers.
3. Rotate the first player token clockwise.

After the above steps (for both board sides), activate any “END OF GAME” abilities on fish in your ocean (in any order). Then, proceed to scoring.

Actions and How to Play

Gaining Coral

You can grow your coral reefs by using coral from diving, as well as from fish abilities. A dive site can never have more than 6 coral.

• Whenever your diver moves to your coral reef overlay during a dive, if that dive site has fewer than 6 coral and if you discard the indicated item (egg, juvenile, or card), then you may place 1 coral from the supply onto the reef at that dive site. You may do this at most once per dive.
• Whenever you gain coral as a benefit from a fish ability, you do not need to pay anything for it. Simply gain the coral from the supply and place it onto a coral reef (as instructed by the card).

Coral Icons

The colors of the coral icons on fish cards (blue, purple, or green) indicate the dive site where coral must be present (as a requirement) or where coral may be placed (as a benefit). The multicolored coral icon () indicates “any dive site.”

Coral Requirements

Reef fish require 1 or 2 coral (as specified on the card) already present at the dive site before you play them there. Reef fish can only be played in the Sunlight Zone (as shown on their card). Whenever a fish card indicates a coral requirement, that coral must be present at the same dive site (unless stated otherwise). The indicated requirement is a minimum; you may have more coral than needed to play a reef fish or gain a benefit.

New Fish Abilities

Some fish have two-part abilities with coral requirements. When activating one of these abilities, begin by choosing whether to gain the first benefit. Then, if you meet the coral requirement, you may gain the second benefit. If you do not meet the coral requirement, you may still gain the first benefit. Similarly, if you choose not to gain the first benefit, you may still gain the second (if you have enough coral at that dive site). However, you only gain the second benefit after gaining or declining the first.

Ability Icons

• Cost: Play this fish for free (it has no cost).
• Choose a fish from your hand with the shown characteristic (if any) and play it for free (do not pay its cost).
• Discard a school token from your ocean, then place 1 juvenile into each of four different spaces. If you do not have a school token to discard, place 1 juvenile.
• A fish in your ocean consumes a smaller fish from your hand (tuck it underneath).
• Requirement: You may only play this fish into a dive site that has at least the number of coral shown.
• Benefit: If there are fewer than 6 coral at the indicated dive site, place 1 coral from the supply there (at no cost).

Commonly Forgotten Rules

• If you gain the benefit of “retrieve a card from your discard pile” and your discard pile is empty, gain the top card of the deck.
• If you choose to gain a “play a card” benefit (usually to a specific location on your ocean mat), you must pay the card’s cost and follow its placement rules.
• For dive site benefits (at the top of each zone), you gain the benefit once (not once per fish) if you have at least 1 fish in the dive site within the same zone.
• You may place a played fish on top of a smaller fish (card or forage) by choice or to satisfy a consumption cost. In other words, as long as the fish you are playing is larger than the fish you wish to play it on, you may play it there. This is most often done to cover the pre-printed forage fish, which are not worth points by default (which is why they do not have the same white background as fish cards).

End of Game and Scoring

The game ends after Week 4. After activating any “END OF GAME” abilities on fish in your ocean (in any order), scoring is performed as follows:

1. END OF GAME points.
2. Points printed on visible fish.
3. Eggs and/or juveniles: 1 point each.
4. Schools: 6 points each.
5. Fish rows: 1 point each.
6. Corals: 1 point each + bonus points for complete reefs.

The coral tokens in your ocean are worth 1 point each at the end of the game. If you have a complete reef of 6 coral at a specific dive site, also gain the bonus points shown on the overlay for that dive site: Score 6 points for blue (left), 8 points for purple (center), and 5 points for green (right). These bonus points vary based on the difficulty of gaining coral at the different dive sites.

Tips for Winning

• Focus on Reef Building: Prioritize growing your coral reefs, as they enable playing powerful reef fish, unlock fish abilities, and provide significant end-game bonuses, especially the complete reef bonuses.
• Manage Fish Abilities with Coral Requirements: When activating two-part fish abilities with coral requirements, carefully assess if you can meet the requirement to gain the more powerful second benefit. Remember that you can gain the first benefit even without the coral, and the second benefit can be gained independently of the first, provided the coral is present.
• Utilize Larger Fish Placement: Remember that you can place a played fish on top of a smaller fish, including the pre-printed forage fish that are not worth points by default. This can be a useful tactic for optimizing space or satisfying consumption costs.