Boardgame recommendation: Survive!

Hey Geekshelfers!  Just wanted to do a quick recommendation of my latest boardgame purchase:  Survive! Escape From Atlantis.  This is an older boardgame which was just recently reprinted by Stronghold games and they've done an AMAZING job.

The game starts with all the players picking out random tiles and laying it down in the middle of the ocean to create the starting map.  The players then take their 10 pawns and alternately lay it down on a hex.  The tricky part is that underneath each pawn is a value between 1 to 5 and once you lay it down, you can no longer look underneath it!

A two player game begins!

The objective is to get your pieces to safety onto one of the four islands on the corner of the gameboard.

2 green and 2 yellow players get to safety by boat.

At the beginning of your turn, you move any combination of your pawns/boats up to 3 spaces.  You then pick any hex (preferably one with someone's pawn) and "sink" it.  The hexes all have different symbols on the bottom, some of which puts different sea creatures into play.  The picture below, for example, tells you that once you sink that tile, a Whale goes on that space.

a Whale enters play!

Whales are dangerous because if they're in a space with a boat, that boat sinks !  These poor guys used to be in a boat until the whale destroyed it....Now they're considered swimmers.

the whale destroys the boat!

After "sinking" a tile, you roll the monster die to see which sea creature to move.  In addition to the whale, there are also sharks (which eat swimmers but can't destroy boats), and Sea monsters (which sink boats AND kill swimmers).

The game ends when all the remaining pawns are taken to safety or the volcano tile is drawn (which then sinks the ENTIRE island!)

The volcano explodes.  Game over!

When all is said and done, all the players tally up the values on their surviving pawns and whoever has the most points wins!

15 points for Yellow!

Another view of the board at the end of the game!

Survive! comes from me with a high recommendation.  It's very easy to teach, family friendly, and plays in under an hour.

With the right gaming group, It can get EXTREMELY competitive and cutthroat with everyone yelling and screaming bloody murder at each other!  Now THAT'S a boardgame!

For more information on Survive! Escape From Atlantis, please visit Boardgamegeek.com

Happy Gaming, everyone!