Windpool

The Windpool Islands have re-emerged from the depths, bringing long-sunken relics back into the light. Many report curious events surrounding these isles, spreading tales of whimsical winds and glowing whirlpools. With age-old maps in hand, adventurers must glide through the waters to uncover these relics and witness the wonders for themselves. To survive, they will need to weather treacherous storms, thieving adversaries, mysterious displacements, and greedy krakens. If not careful, their spoils will be scattered to the wind!

Details:

Windpool is a turn-based treasure-hunt game where players move ships from island to island in search of relics. It uses a unique wind mechanic to let players move much farther than normal if the wind is in their favor. This allows for some surprisingly epic turns. Even better, players get to spin a spinner every turn to change the direction of the wind.

Each player has their own hand of "map" cards that tell them which islands they need to visit. Upon visiting a map's island, the player collects a relic. The player with the most relics tends to win. When claiming relics from an island, the player also flips the island over to trigger an event. These events include picking the wind direction, washing up on a random island, and creating whirlpools. Using these events to your advantage is a key strategy in Windpool, and players won't know what they're going to trigger until after they collect their relic.

To add to this, players may attempt to steal relics from their opponents, although only the poor can steal from the rich. Other obstacles, such as hand swaps and thieving krakens may arise during the course of the game.

Ideology:

Windpool prides itself on balanced gameplay that let's even the farthest behind players catch up by the end. It tries to provide a good mix of strategy and surprise, while not rewarding obsessive, razor-sharp cruelty or allowing constant happenstance to determine games. It aims to be brisk, easy to learn, and visually delightful.