When afforded the opportunity to look at A.D.A.P.T. I of course jumped at it.
“A.D.A.P.T. is a whimsical and fast-paced card and dice game in which a few tiny Guppy Fish will Adapt any variety of aquatic body parts they can, as fast as they can, in order to do battle and become the last Masterfish in the sea,” details the rule set.
The objective of the game is rather straight forward; Spend experience to upgrade your Fish in whatever way necessary to survive, the Attack the other Fish, or trick them into destroying themselves. Play continues until there is only one, really strange and powerful, Masterfish alive in the Sea!
The idea here is that players, the game can accommodate up to six players if you combine two sets, start out as guppies.
Through the game you ‘adapt’ your fish, by use of cards and dice, adding all kinds of special abilities to your fish.
And getting bigger and tougher is critical, as you win by dealing more damage to your opponent’s fish than their health point number (yes it reminds of dozens of other games in that regard).
As a Magic: The Gathering player from that amazing games earliest days, there are obvious parallels to draw. You enhance your fish and the game is won and lost based on attacking to deplete health.
That these similarities exist are not a bad thing.
In this case creator John Wrot has a rather dynamic game in terms of the diversity one can achieve with their genetically changing fish, which progress from mere guppies to true chimera-like creatures.
As an example with the bonus packs and dice, though not required for play, engaging additions to your A.D.A.P.T. gaming experience are added.
They introduce...
• over 700-billion new combinations of bodies and parts.
• a host of new abilities including but not limited to: Grab, Withdraw, Oversize, Genetic Boost, and Targeting, (which give you a taste of what your changing fish may be able to do).
For me though, again based on Magic, Dungeons & Dragons, and similar games would have opted for creatures a bit darker and more menacing than tank fish.
Now I appreciate A.D.A.P.T., which is currently raising funds on Kickstarter, and appears set to achieve its goals, is rated for ages seven and up, so a ‘cuter’ theme is appropriate, but in doing that it would never attract my attention on a store shelf.
Still, for family play, getting young people involved, or those who rarely game, this has merit. Among my circle of friends my core gaming group might pass this one by, but some casual game friends would likely be convinced to give it a try before a game with trolls and basilisks.
Check it out at www.GateKeeperGaming.com
