25th Century Games Diatoms Board Game – Artistic Tile Placement Strategy Game for 1–4 Players - Create Stunning Mosaics from Algae - Mensa Select Award Winner | 2026 Origins Award Nominee

I love this game. Can be played solo also. Lots of ways to play. Never a dull moment

More strategy than expected. Lovely game. Pleasing to handle and look at your creations. Theme is educational.

A Beautiful Game with a Surprisingly Strategic Premise I play this game with my teenagers and my 11-year-old, and we all love it! The gameplay revolves around collecting different microscopic algae, represented by tiles in various shapes and colors. What makes this game truly engaging is the variety of scoring strategies. As soon as we finished our first game, we immediately wanted to play again to experiment with different approaches. The ability to create stunning mosaic patterns with the diatoms adds an artistic element that enhances the experience. One of my favorite details is how the pieces are stored in petri dishes—it’s such a clever and thematic touch! A picture alone wouldn't do this game justice, so I took a few short videos to capture how iridescent and visually striking the pieces are.

I received this game as a gift (though it was on my wish list). I very much enjoy the game play -- a bit puzzle-like when placing your watertiles, then more paying attention to sets of shapes and colors. We played two days in a row. My husband and I both improved our scores on the second play through as we started noticing more things we could do. The theme of the game is spot on, and the iridescent colors are pretty. One downside: on some of the "pointy" shapes (triangles, stars), the cardboard is already delaminating or the iridescent outer layer is coming unglued. Not cool after only two games with two adults. Still would recommend, but trying to think of ways to unobtrusively glue layers before they get too undone.