Offshore

A family strategy game about a highly specialized industry.

The vast oil reserves off of the Norwegian shores is an environmentally controversial topic, but it undoubtedly remains one of the most important contributors to the country’s massive wealth. Offshore is a lightweight competitive strategy game about this highly specialized industry.

In the game, players build oil platforms in the North Sea. Opening a new oil field is, of course, not easy as it requires both technology and temporary co-operation between players. On your turn, you perform one of three actions:

Buy a technology tile
Export oil (selling it for points and money)
Open a new oil field and drill for oil

Opening a new oil field is the most complex action: Alone, or together with one other player, you must have the required technology and also pay the opening cost. Who should use which technology and how the cost should be split must be agreed upon between the players. The players then drill for oil in a small press-your-luck mini game: The players must decide how deep they want to drill, all the while avoiding too much pressure building up as this could result in a blowout. The combination of technology tiles used for opening the field will also influence the drilling in various ways.

The temporary co-operations and players’ shared interests in the drilling phases makes for an exciting game in which players share both successes and failures.