Beacon Patrol Board Game - Cooperative Coast Guard Adventure! Tile Placement Strategy Game, Fun Family Game for Kids and Adults, Ages 8+, 1-4 Players, 30 Minute Playtime, Made by Pandasaurus Games

I brought this to a regular Meetup group Friday game night. It went over surprisingly well with all different types of players. We played a four person game. It had the feel of working on a puzzle together. There were points where we were all debating the best moves for each of us, especially towards the end. The artwork is very minimalist but it looks very nice when all completed. This was a fun cooperative game. Beacon Patrol is also very simple. I could explain the rules in just a minute or two. This game is perfect for a group of people who want to work through a "puzzle" type game together.

Cool little co-op game, bought it at Geekway to the West. It's just enough strategizing to not hurt your brain, and I like the windmill/dock addition. Played it through several times, still haven't "beat" it.

I'm still not sure how I feel about Beacon Patrol. The aesthetic of the game lured me in, but I'm still getting used to the format. Beacon Patrol is more of a cooperative game, similar to solving a puzzle, but the learning curve tested my attention span. The publisher, Pandasaurus, provides gameplay instruction through a multi-page manual and links to an influencer video on their website. We also found several additional board game sites that reviewed the game. The videos are the best for me, as I learn best through visual instruction. The game also includes handheld player reference cards for quick gameplay references. I felt Pandasaurus made a valiant effort to provide a variety of outlets to understand the game better, but my brain was rigid in wanting to learn this new format. The game was slow to start, but I found myself disappointed once it ended. Now that I have had a round of experience, the game appeals to me more. One of the things my husband and I didn't love was the movement tokens; the tokens seemed redundant. There are also mini-expansion cards, which I only recommend using once you have the original format down.

A simple and fun game. The nautical theme is nice too.

It's a little luck dependent, but nevertheless, the overall experience is pleasing and puzzly enough for a light game. It does leave you with a sense of accomplishment, and the art is lovely. Great as a light game for couples or for families.

Son whose 4.5 years old loves the game. Lots of layers of depth of you want to maximize the points

This is a cute, fun game to play with your family. It was a little tricky for me to understand at first, but it comes with a guide to help you learn how to play the game. It's easy to set up and easy to put away and store. It's different than your typical board games like Clue, Trouble, Sorry!, ect. But I'm glad I added this to my collection.

My family is always on the hunt for cooperative games, and this one was a gift, recommended to the giver by a game store. And the store was right--it's nicely done, the theme works well, it's really enjoyable, and we all wanted to play again.Beacon Patrol is, simply, a tile-laying puzzle game in which everyone's on the same team. The goal is to "explore" as many tiles as possible, by surrounding each of their four edges with other tiles. Your boat moves with each tile you play, but your movements are limited by islands, so you have to lay tiles smartly to keep plenty of water routes open. Players can advise each other, build off the same tiles, and swap tiles.Although you work together, as the board grows throughout the game that becomes harder to do since you can only move a few spaces per turn. Players either end up going their own ways, or communicating and collaborating quite a bit to make the most of staying in the same area, and either method can work.Each turn, you can play one or more tiles to explore and expand the board. You can also move your boat or trade tiles with another player. We liked that turns could continue until you ran out of things to do, and yet turns didn't usually seem to take forever, as they often can in puzzle games.Points are counted at the end of the game based on which/how many tiles were explored. The higher your score, the better ranking you receive.We have not played the expansion that comes with the game yet, but are very pleased with the base game.The game lasted maybe around 30-40 minutes at a relaxed pace for 4 players (3 had not played before)--not too long, not too short. The playing pieces were high quality. We added to the fun by placing penguin game pieces from another game onto each tile that was fully explored, thus adding cute aquatic life to the experience and making it easier to count points.