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Get up on this.
How many souls were sold at the inception of this game? “We could make a nautical themed card game where the illustrations are these amazing origami representations of everything in the game. (1)” “We should make it very quick/breezy (2), genuinely fun (3) and work well at all player counts (4)” “And, get this, we can call it Sea Salt and Paper! (5).” By my count, that is like 4.25 souls (I'm well versed in selling your soul for puns: You usually never have to spend more that a quarter of a soul, even for the best of them).
Sea Salt and Paper's here and it's a set collection card game with some nifty twists that keep it fresh. But, Sea Salt and Paper, there were a few times you got me so, I don't know what I'm doing. There are two situations that I think everyone is going to come across when playing that are not fully clear in the instructions. Firstly, on your turn you can draw one card from either of the discard piles or draw two cards for the deck and discard one. Your inclination is, the first time you draw two cards from the deck that, combined, would allow you to take an action is to immediately play them out on the table, which you can't. Instead, I explain it like this: Draw two cards from the top of the deck. Discard one and then take your turn. But, of course, there will be many times, when you don't have Duos to play, where you literally don't do anything else on your turn: Your turn was drawing the cards.
Cards that you can play in front of yourself for immediate effect are called Duos. For instance, if you have a swimmer and a shark, you can play them in front of you to take a card from another player while singing “Fast as a Shark” by Accept.
*** Objection your honor, I believe the proper pop culture call out is the theme from “Jaws.”
Counselor?
I present exhibit “A” from Demons (1985)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6A0dBvCSYQ
Hmm...a double pop culture reference? Overruled. I'll allow it.***
Other duos allow you to go though a discard pile and take a card, draw a card from the top of the deck, or take another turn. Since Duos are played in front of you and other scoring cards are kept in your hand, they are the only real indication of what you opponent has point wise. And it's not a good representation by any means.
The second rules hiccup happens when someone calls “Last Turn.” This is the “Push It Real Good” I referred to in the title. There are two ways to end a round. You can call “Stop” and everyone scores what they have in front of themselves and what they have in their hand. Or, you can gamble and call “Last Turn” where everyone else gets one more turn. When this action is successful (the player who called Last Turn has the most points), the game states that the other players will only score their colors. What that means they only score one point for the color they have the most of. The part that makes it confusing is that, in the “Stop” situation, If you have a Mermaid, you score one point for each color you have the most of. In the “Last Turn” situation, Mermaids are not required and you simply score one point for whichever color you have the most of. But, it's hard to keep these actions separate in player minds since they both do almost the exact same thing only at different times.
The Stop/Last Turn choice helps to elevate the game. Once you reach seven points (in your hand and on the table) you can choose to end the round. My wife, Jessica, always says “I have no idea why you choose to select Last Turn.” Well, sweety, in a two-player game, I'm losing by 15 points. I just drew a card that means I have 12 points for this round. If I have any hope of catching up, I need to restrict you to only scoring your color bonus. I mean, what are the odds you are going to have the two sailor cards that are worth five points if you have both and the modifier card that give you three points for each sailor you have? About 100 percent. Right-o, Don't mind me, I'll be over here scoring my color bonus of 2.
I only bring up the rules issues so, if you have it or or planning on getting it, you can have them straight and just enjoy this fun little game. That is made even easier with the Color ADD system that is uses. Even if you aren't color blind, the symbol on each card to let you know what color is it is great for low lighting situations. I have the latest edition which I purchased directly from Pandasaurus. I personally think the card stock is a bit thin which, apparently, is the exact opposite problem others had with the earlier Pandasaurus edition. But, for the price (about $13.00 U.S.) I'm totally fine with it. I just know that if we keep up our pace of plays, I'll eventually want to replace it.
What a game, what a game, what a mighty good game.
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