Oceans

To set up the game, place the reef and three ocean zones in the center of the playing area. Distribute fish tokens into these zones based on the number of players (e.g., 100 fish for a two-player game). Shuffle the surface cards to form the main draw deck and place it near the reef. If playing with the optional deep expansion, prepare the deep card deck and place it nearby. Each player receives a player screen to hide their collected population and a set of species boards. Place the starting bonus tokens (0 and 4) within reach.

The objective of Oceans is to accumulate the most population points by the end of the game. Population is represented by fish tokens, which players collect and place behind their player screens or on their species boards. Players achieve this by evolving various species with unique traits, allowing them to forage for food, attack other species, and adapt to the ever-changing marine environment.

A player's turn consists of three main phases: playing a card, feeding, and aging. First, play one surface card from your hand. You can use it to either evolve a new species by placing a species board and the card as a trait, or add a trait to an existing species (up to three traits per species). Alternatively, you can use the card to migrate fish from one ocean zone to another. Next, choose one of your species to feed. Feeding can involve foraging from the reef (if your species has a green foraging symbol) or attacking another species (if your species has a red attack symbol). Finally, all of your species age, meaning you move one population token from each species board to behind your player screen. If a species has no population left to age, it goes extinct. After aging, draw new surface cards to replenish your hand, potentially drawing deep cards if the Cambrian Explosion has occurred.

At the end of the game, players count their total population points. Each fish token collected and placed behind a player's screen is worth one point. Additionally, any fish tokens remaining on a player's active species boards are also counted as one point each. The starting bonus tokens (0 and 4) are added to the scores of the players who received them, balancing for turn order. The player with the highest total population points wins the game.

The game proceeds in rounds until all three ocean zones are completely depleted of fish tokens. Once this occurs, the current round is finished, and then one final round of play is conducted. After this final round, players proceed to the scoring phase to determine the winner. The depletion of ocean zones signifies the end of available resources, leading to the conclusion of the evolutionary struggle.