I didn’t take any pictures of us playing Captain Sonar tonight, which was bad, but there was a reason: I wasn’t allowed to peek.
Captain Sonar is a tabletop game where two teams playing submarine crews hunt each other across maps. Naturally, you don’t know exactly where the other sub is, so you have to use dead reckoning, the placement of islands on the maps, and the occasional sonar or drone launch to track it down to a general location. Then you hope your engineer has been able to keep the weapon systems working long enough to take it out.
It’s best played on a long table, with the teams on either side of a folding barrier that runs between them. There are four positions on each team: the Captain, who orders the sub to move and deploys the various useful tech; the First Mate, who readies all the tech — torpedoes, mines, sonar, drones, and silent running; the Radio Operator, who listens in on the commands the enemy captain gives; and the Engineer, who keeps the boat and all her systems running.
You could play with as few as two people, with each of them manning all the positions on their side. Eight may be too many, as the First Mate job doesn’t really have much going for it. We played with six, with the captain on both sides doubling as the First Mate.
We’ve been looking for games where we can include my granddaughter. I was a little concerned that she would be somewhat overwhelmed by the whole thing. She and I both started off as Engineers, and we both ended up as Captains. Radio Operator, the role that narrows down the position of the enemy sub, was key.
We got sunk a few times with my son in the Radio Operator role, and again with me in that position. But once I was Captain and Kasul was Radio Operator, that was the stuff. When Kasul signalled that he knew where they were, I sent the sub into silent running, popped up behind them, and stuffed a torpedo into their props. In the next game, we were maneuvering for another fatal blow when they fired first.
These games were all played on the basic tutorial maps, with few islands to get in the way — or hide behind — and using the Sudden Death one-hit-kill mode.
We also played turn-based. One side would take a turn, then the other side would take a turn. But that’s just how it starts. The real-time battle is ahead of us, where each side moves as quickly as it likes until one captain or the other signals for everything to STOP because they are about to fire a torpedo.
It’s a party game, but it’s a party game where kids can play, and you don’t have to get drunk, but you really want to have fun in a game that keeps everyone fully engaged. There is nobody on their phone during a game of Captain Sonar.
I don’t have any videos of us playing it, but this video of the Dice Tower crew playing captures the fun.
