An original bag-building game by James Barrett

Salvage
Divers

Dive deep. Mind your air.

Draw chips from your bag to descend a sunken wreck, weighing every risky breath. Push too far and your tank runs dry — but the deepest divers bank the most.

📖 Read the Rulebook ✂️ Print & Play How It Plays Board Game Arena — Coming Soon

About the Game

How deep will
your air take you?

Salvage Divers is a bag-building push-your-luck game of wreck diving. Each round, every player descends at the same time — drawing chips from a personal bag, moving deeper, and spending a limited air supply on every risky draw.

Depth is Reputation, your score, and you keep it even on a dive that ends in a bust. Treasure isn't points — it's currency, spent between dives on gear, permanent upgrades, and crew that let you dive further and safer next time. Over six expeditions the wreck grows more dangerous, and the diver who reads the risk best comes out ahead.

2–4 Players ~40 Minutes Ages 10+ Push Your Luck Bag Builder
2–4
Players
6
Expedition rounds
12
Chips to start
3
Markets to shop
The Diver's Dilemma
Insure your find now and raise your own risk for the rest of the dive — or leave it and gamble everything on a safe return. The same choice carries different weight every time.
Read the Full Rules

How to Play

Draw. Decide. Descend.

Step 1
Descend
Draw chips one at a time from your bag. Each moves you deeper; Air Cost chips also drain your tank. Stop whenever you like — or push for one more.
Run the tank dry and you bust: an immediate, costly ascent.
Step 2
Insure or Gamble
At each treasure checkpoint, insure the find now (and raise your risk), leave it for a safe return later, or surface and bank everything you passed.
Insured treasure is yours even if you later bust.
Win Condition
Bank Reputation
Every two spaces of depth earns Reputation — your score — bust or not. Spend your treasure in the markets, then dive again, further than before.
Most Reputation after six rounds wins.

The Bag

Twelve chips to start. Then you build.

→
Fin Kicks
×4 · free movement
Pure forward motion at no cost to your air. The safe backbone of every bag.
O₂
Air Cost
×7 · worth 1, 2 or 3
Move you forward and spend air equal to their value. Four worth 1, two worth 2, one worth 3 — the risk you manage.
＋
Dive Buddy
×1 · restores air
Moves you for free and gives back the air cost of the largest Air Cost chip you've drawn this dive.

Every dollar you spend in the markets adds new chips or upgrades to your kit — and from Round 4 on, the wreck slips an extra Air Cost chip into every bag, three by the final dive.

The Markets

Three markets. Spend between every dive.

Permanent · chips
Gear
  • Reinforced Fins I–III$5 · 10 · 13
  • Rebreather I–III$14 · 19 · 21
  • Spare Tank$17

Chips added to your bag for good. Buy any number of copies.

Permanent · diver
Advancement
  • Starting Depth +2$16
  • Tank Capacity +1$19

Upgrade the diver: start deeper or carry more air. Capacity caps at +3.

One dive only
Crew
  • Navigator$7
  • Quartermaster$6

Specialists for your next dive: a free first breath, or a save from one bust.

Get the Game

Dive in.

Free
📖
The Rulebook
Read the complete rules — setup, the dive, treasure checkpoints, the danger ramp, all three markets, and end-of-game scoring. Everything you need to learn the game.
PDF · Full rulebook
📖 Read the Rulebook
Free
✂️
Print & Play
Make the whole game at home. Nine ink-friendly pages — chip cards, a diver board, tokens, site cards, and rules. Print the chip sheets on label paper, stick them to cards, and dive. Built for 2–4 players.
PDF · Full print & play kit
✂️ Download the Kit
Coming Soon
🎲
Board Game Arena
An online version is in development for Board Game Arena — play 2–4 players in real-time or turn-based, with simultaneous dives and full rules enforcement. Currently in Studio; check back soon.
boardgamearena.com · Release pending
Read the Rules →