You and your family have placed your orders, and you have the kids’ attention before the meal comes. Play this game to make the wait seem shorter! The youngest player goes first.
You are pearl divers, risking your lives for your livelihood. Which of you will earn enough money to dive another day?
- 2 or more players; 10 minutes per player
- Components: 9 cards;
- a bag of oyster crackers (or other markers)
Turns
Each round of play consists of diving for oysters to try and find pearls.
The current player shuffles the 9 cards face down and flips one card face up. They can flip a card to dive further or resurface:
- Flip a card – As flipped, each card should be arranged diagonally to represent diving deeper down the sea floor.
- If they now have a set of cards shown in the footer of this card, they must resurface, they get 0 oysters this turn, and their turn ends (they pass all the cards to their right).
- Otherwise, if they want to dive deeper, they flip another card and follow its instructions, and so on.
- Resurface – If they elect to resurface, they get one chance for a pearl for each card they explored. For each card they explored, they discard it to the bottom of the draw pile in the order they wish, then draw the top card of the draw pile. If the drawn card has an oyster with a pearl on it, they found a pearl. Take an oyster cracker (or other marker).
The game ends when a player has recovered 7 pearls or when dinner arrives, in which case the player with the most pearls wins!
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