Reef Project Components Overview and Impressions

Reef Project is yet another beautifully detailed game from Board and Dice, and after looking at a number of their games – Windmill Valley, Minos, Books of Time – it has become very apparent that we should only expect the best when it comes to a Board and Dice production. While this game has a lot more cardboard components, and perhaps lacks the big flashy pieces or ideas of the other games, it’s still an impressive production.

When I say it lacks the flair of other titles, I don’t actually mean that in a bad way. There is some flair here for sure, it’s just not my favorite Board and Dice production. Minos has the amazing screen printed player pieces, Books of Time has the great little binders and pages, and Windmill Valley has the outstanding spinning player boards. Reef has its items as well, namely the little player boats and the reef balls – they just aren’t my favorite.

Rest assured, saying it’s not my favorite doesn’t make it bad in any way, shape or form! The production here is fantastic. The reef balls are detailed enough to give them a nice look and feel, and the little player boards are great as well. But the production quality doesn’t stop there!

All the cardboard used in Reef Project – and there is a lot! – is outstanding. The pieces are nice and thick, feel incredibly durable, and even with a ton of handling they won’t really show signs of wear in the average person’s playing lifespan. Nice dual layered boards provide slots for both reef balls and crew pieces, which slot nicely into their correct positions, and come out as easily as they go in.

The central board is wonderfully detailed, with dedicated spaces for cards, tokens and more. I’m always going to love a game where more often than not, things are being placed on the board in designated spots as opposed to “near the board.” Near the board is fine, but the extra detailed production with spots for almost everything is my preferred way to not only set up a game, but to teach and play it as well. The player boards are phenomenal as well, using the flip system to create a dual layered board that you can slide unique sheets into to make each player’s area feel different. I prefer the flip style boards that create a dual layered board system as you don’t have to worry about warped boards. The card quality here is more than acceptable, and unless you plan to play this dozens of times, I’m not sure sleeving your cards is necessary here. I certainly do not plan on doing it, as sleeving cards can get really expensive! I think Board and Dice have done a great job choosing a more than adequate card quality for this experience.

Overall, I’m really impressed with the Reef Project. As I stated earlier, it’s not my favorite Board and Dice production, but that doesn’t make it bad. For a company that is knocking it out of the park time and time again with these releases, even the “worst” of the best is pretty damn good!