Diatoms review ⏤ What’s in your water?

In the heart of the Victorian era a new art form is emerging mixing science and color. Arranging single-cell algae into mirrored patterns showed the power of new microscopes hitting the shelves. Can you arrange your diatoms to create the most beautiful mosaic?

Diatoms is a new abstract pattern building game from publisher 25th Century Games and designer Sabrina Culyba. In Diatoms, 1-4 players build a pond of hexagonal tiles to collect “diatoms” to add to their microscopic mosaic. Each placement works towards fulfilling game end scoring goals and the player with the highest score at the end of the game wins!

Gameplay

Each player begins the game with a blank dual-layered player board featuring three concentric circles and a variety of cut-outs. Each cut-out can hold two different shapes of diatom tile. Each player will also begin with two random pond tiles and a reference guide.

On a turn, players will draw a new pond tile from one of two stacks and add it to the pond. Each side of a pond tile may feature one of the five colors associated with the diatom tiles. When placing a tile players must match all sides by color, with blank sides allowed to touch any color. After adding the tile, if a juncture of three tiles is made, players may collect diatom tiles based on the colors. Using the lens tool, players will evaluate the six sides that make up the juncture. Groups of colors will be counted and will award players a specific diatom tile corresponding to the color and number of sides.

• Circle - one side
• Oval - two sides
• Triangle - three sides
• Square - four sides
• Star - five sides

If a tile relating to the specific pattern has run out, players can break down the tile into smaller diatoms matching the total value of the original tile. If a player has all six sides of the same color, they can break down the diatoms received into as many pieces adding to six. If a player completes two corners with their placement, then they will evaluate each corner individually.

Once diatoms are collected, a player has until their next turn to place them on their board. Each game has three evergreen end-game scoring conditions:

1. Total Diatoms by Color: Players will count their diatoms of each color and compare the number to a chart. Getting eight or more diatoms of one color earns a player 40 points.
2. Mirrored Pairs: Players will evaluate each circle along three axes. If players have a matching color or shape, they will score five points. If they match both shape and color, each pair is worth 15 points.
3. Different Shapes by Circle: The more unique shapes a player has in each of the three circles will give the player more points. All five shapes gain a player 40 points.

After learning the game, players can also add in a guest judge card. Each guest judge has a green and a pink side giving players a new scoring condition. The green side gives points to all players who participate, while the pink side may add a penalty for not attempting or having the lowest score.

Acquired diatoms must be placed each turn before a player's next turn. The only reason a diatom tile wouldn’t be placed would be that there are no legal spots. The game continues until all players have completed 8 turns in a 3-4 player game and 10 turns in a 2-player game. Players will use included scoring cards to evaluate their mosaics with the highest score winning the game!

Careers Solo Variant

Since the world of creating Diatoms is such a niche subject area, why not make a career out of it? This solo variant has the player working through 36 different commissions that get progressively harder. For example, the first commission in the game has players only placing diatoms in and completing the central ring, using the shapes available but disregarding the colors. In commission two, some spaces require a specific shape and or color for certain spaces. Since players are only allowed to place tiles in the specified areas of the board, any collected diatoms that cannot be placed are placed in a castoff tray (unused petri dish lids) with each commission allowing a different number. Each castoff tray can hold up to six diatom points, meaning it could hold a 4-square and a 2-oval or six 1-circles, or even a 5-star and a 1-circle. If players run out of spaces in their dish, they lose the round. To collect diatoms, players will place pond tiles from their hand or the tops of either of the two stacks. Players will earn stars based on the number of star diatoms that can be placed in the castoff dishes once the commission is completed. Each commission will also earn career advancement points. The careers workbook allows players to track their progress and as players earn more career points, their renown in the diatoms community increases.

Private Tutor Solo Variant

In this variant, players will play a regular game of diatoms using only 10 water tiles and one of the easygoing guest judges. At the end of the game, they can collect a career advancement for every 100 points earned above 200. A score of 380 would therefore earn one career advancement and a score of 410 would earn two.

Overall Thoughts

The production of this game is fantastic! From the tiles to the boards, everything pops with color and is well designed by Sabrina Culyba and Nim Ben-Reuven. The diatoms have an iridescent finish that makes them pop off of the dual-layered player boards. The mosaic created by the end of the game is a unique work of art! The game is also very color-blind friendly. Each color has a unique pattern that is printed on the diatom and pond tiles to add another layer of distinction. The cardboard tiles included in the game are high quality and thick. Even though there is an option to buy replacement wooden tiles, this is one of the games I probably wouldn't due to the high quality included in the base game. The diatom tiles are stored in five “petri dish” containers matching the theme with the storage solution. The only thing that didn’t hit a home run with me was the player aid. While very thematic, in the style of a field manual, it made it harder to reference questions with scoring during my first few plays. After I understood the game, the player aid wasn’t necessary. I almost felt that the score sheet was a better player aid than the manual. 

The game itself feels like a warm hug. I am constantly looking for games that give me a bit of strategy, a shorter play time, and an easy entry point for weeknight gaming. A three hour euro doesn’t always work when you’ve been dealing with adolescents and teenagers all day. Diatoms is a game that I can teach in 5-10 minutes and get people in the game quickly, adding small variations with the guest judges as they pick up the rules. Each mosaic is a new work of art! The Career solo mode is a fantastic addition to the overall game. As a puzzle solver, I love that I can sit down with a new commission and spend some time strategizing to get the puzzle solved in the least amount of tile placements and as little castoff as possible.