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Finspan is often described as the simplest of the big 3 'Span releases. It also happens to be the one that I enjoy the most. Some starting fish being printed on the board, the top to bottom activation, and a myriad of ocean fauna makes starting easy and ramping up even easier. While I was excited about an expansion for Finspan, I also was a bit worried that adding more would make the ease of use lesser.
With new cards, a basic overlay and three different types of coral, Sharks and Reefs is a simple add. It's complexity is also minimal enough that you can add it into a introduction game without fear. Some new powers have been added, like placing coral via cards or adding coral during a activation of a column by spending a resource. One new power that isn't instantly intuitive is some sharks will scatter a school of fish when they are played. For those who are not familiar with Finspan, schools of fish are created when three fish are in the same area and are worth more points-wise than three single fish. The shark scatter power makes those schools into four single fish that move to different, adjacent areas. So, you net one additional fish when this happens but then it is up to you to recombine them into schools (and moving fish requires a specific action that is not all that easy to get). After a few games, you'll find that timing playing the scatter once you have seeded the adjacent areas with at least two fish is the way to go, since it allows you to create schools without all of the pesky moving actions.
With many expansions, you can simply ignore the added content if it isn't to your taste. That really isn't really possible with Sharks and Reefs. The reef portion is simply worth too many extra points to not engage with. However, I found that even if I didn't focus on it, I could still score the majority of it with minimal effort. I went out of my way during a few games to focus on everything but reefs, but in the end, a few simple plays let me get the full reef bonuses for two of the three reefs. This is because the majority of reef powers seem to be of the “All players get X for their reef” variety. My daughter, Piper, always tends to thank a player when they do something the benefits everyone, so that highlighted that aspect of Finspan, and this expansion, for me.
My final score for this expansion shows the middle ground feelings I have for it. On one hand, I don't ever expect that I will want to remove this expansion when I play Finspan. At the same time, I wouldn't call it a “Must Have” in order to play the base game. What it adds is fun and interesting but not vital. More cards (especially more cool sharks) is always something I will dig. The coral weaves into the core gameplay but mostly in a “It's a new requirement to play a fish/card” sort of way, which isn't solely satisfying. And the all or none scoring aspect of having a full reef built means even more of the gameplay is making sure of the timing when trying to get everything you want to do finished when playing Finspan.
The Sharks and Reefs expansion excels at growing Finspan “Up” without bloating it “Out.” It's a maturing, if you will. Even if the 12 year old in me kept wanting to call it Sharts and Queefs. Probably the same 12 year old mind that used the Red Dwarf Quote in the title of the review.
A review copy of this release was provided by the publisher. Therewillbe.games would like to thank them for their support.
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