Thalassophobia 2020

Thalassophobia: A deathly fear of the ocean’s depths, and for good reason. You are a diver exploring an underwater grotto when your oxygen tank springs a leak. With only six minutes of air left in your tank, can you navigate this oceanic labyrinth and return to the surface in time?

SETUP Gather all Blinks together into a single cluster. They should appear as murky, dark-blue waters. To begin, long-press a single Blink to turn it into a Diver. Now the clock is ticking, and the game has begun!

GAMEPLAY When you begin a game, one of your Blinks will turn white, representing your current position on the board. Your air tank, represented by the number of lights on your Blink, has enough air to last for 6 minutes.

The player’s air tank counts down from 6 minutes to 1

Any Blink adjacent to your current position will be visible, showing either open water or entangling seaweed.

The player can see the Blinks immediately adjacent, but the rest are murky

Move to an adjacent open water Blink by clicking it. When you do so, new Blinks will be revealed, and the Blinks you are no longer adjacent to will begin to fade into murky darkness.

By moving their position, the player lights more of their surroundings

As you explore, you may see a glimmer of light either in open water or on some seaweed - move onto that space to ascend towards the surface.

Keep in mind that these chances are fleeting, and can only be spotted if a space is visible, so it’s best to explore as much and as quickly as possible. If you find yourself trapped, you can always rearrange your Blinks to find a way out.

WIN CONDITION Your goal is to get all the way to the surface and avoid drowning, which requires you to ascend a total of 6 times. Make it all the way to the surface within 6 minutes, and you win the game!

—description from the publisher