Would you rather a serene seashore, quiet and calm, or a bustling beach with tons of locals and tourists hanging out? Maybe something in between would better suit your style. Whatever you choose, you just need to make sure you create the most appealing oceanfront in all of Santa Monica! Let’s get started!

What Is It?

A tile (card) placement game where players work to expand their beaches and streets to create an attractive oceanfront for visitors. While drafting feature cards and building out their individual boards, players will be trying to do some chaining / set collection of location tags to score various points on their cards and from the end game bonuses. Of course, as features are placed, people will arrive to the players’ boards in droves. Players will score points for those people if they can help them get to activity rings, where they want to spend their time, and for footprints that their VIP(s) leave behind on certain locations. At the end of the game, the player with the most appealing beach (who has earned the most points) wins!

Who Is It For?

  • Ages 12 +
  • 2 – 4 players (works at any count)
  • Fans of tile laying / chaining – has a puzzley feel

PROS

  • Aesthetics – Nice art; simple / clear symbology
  • Replay Value – Variety in feature cards (78), sand dollar abilities (8), starting features (6), and scoring objectives (3)
  • Components – Cute meeples with unique screenprinting; nice quality all around for all cards, cardboard, and wooden pieces
  • Theme – Works well with the game vibe
  • Rules – Well written and easy to learn from; good examples
  • Smooth game flow
  • Various ways to score points; all different strategies can lead to victory
  • Minimal player interaction – the card you want might get taken, but you still have 4 main options, plus sand dollar abilities if you have enough to pay for them. I’m actually a fan of games that don’t let other players mess up my plans a ton, so it’s a plus for me.

CONS

  • Box – Huge for what’s inside and the insert is not flush with the box
  • Minimal player interaction – I’m a fan, but I know not everyone is, so if you’re looking for more interaction, you might have to pass on this one.
  • Reference Cards – Don’t have super useful info on them; I wish they had reminders about the food truck / foodie bonuses

Final Thoughts

For me, this was a super calm game with some simple drafting and card placement that made a cute beach at the end! It has a bit of a puzzley feel as you choose the best cards and the best placement for them.

There are a lot of options for maximizing your points, and the game does a good job of giving you that chill beach vibe to connect back to the theme. I think it may be easy to overlook because of the simple cover art, but you should definitely give it a chance if you like drafting, tile placement, and chaining sets.

Additional Information:
My Final Rating – 7/10
Designer – Josh Wood
Artists – Jeremy Nguyen, Josh Wood
Publisher – Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG)
MSRP – $39.99
Website

*I was provided a copy of this game to do this review*

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