How to Play

Reef

2-4 players 30-45 min 7.0 Board Game Geek Rating

Players build coral reefs by collecting cards that provide colored pieces and scoring patterns. Each turn, either draw a new card or play one from your hand, placing two reef pieces and earning points if your reef matches the card's pattern. The player with the most points when pieces or cards are depleted wins this strategic game.

Published 2018

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

Sort coral pieces

Separate coral by color and remove unused pieces based on player count: 2 players use 18 of each color, 3 players use 24 each, 4 players use 28 each

Distribute player materials

Each player receives 3 one-point tokens, a random player board (include the one with starfish), and 1 coral piece of each color

Prepare the deck

Shuffle the 60 cards and deal 2 face-down to each player, then set the deck face-down

Place starting coral

Players place their 4 coral pieces in the 4 center spaces of their board

Create card display

Flip the draw deck face-up, then draw 3 cards and place them face-up in a row

Determine first player

The player with the starfish board goes first

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Choose your action

Either take a card from the card display or deck, OR play a card to grow your reef and possibly score a pattern

Take from display

Select any face-up card from the three-card display for free

Take from deck

Place a 1-point token on the lowest point card in the display, then take the top card from the deck

Respect hand limit

If you have 4 cards in hand at the start of your turn, you must play a card

Play a card

Take both coral pieces shown on the card and place them anywhere on your board

Score patterns

Count how many times the card's pattern appears in your top-level coral in any orientation

Collect points

Take point tokens matching your scored patterns, which you may stack to conceal from opponents

Winning

How to claim victory.

Trigger game end

When 1 coral color runs out completely, the game ends after the current round so all players have equal turns

Alternate ending

In rare cases, the game ends immediately if the card deck runs out

Score remaining cards

After the game ends, all players may score each card remaining in hand for 1 pattern maximum each, even if the pattern occurs multiple times on their board

Resolve ties

The player with the most covered spaces on their board wins; if still tied, the player with the most stacks of 4 wins