Schooled

Overview

We are thrilled to bring you the ultimate underwater showdown! In Schooled, it’s survival of the smartest in a world where strategy is king and fish are fierce. Build your school, outsmart your rival, and stake your claim in the watery depths.

This is no ordinary swim — it's a battle for dominance in the food chain. Protect your team, unleash bold moves, and watch as the tides turn in your favor... or against you. Will your fish thrive in the deep, or will they become someone else’s dinner?

Only one school can rule these waters — a 2-Player strategy game where you’d better school-up or get schooled — dive in to dominate the depths!!

About the Game

Welcome to Schooled—the ultimate underwater strategy showdown! Inspired by nature’s own survival tactic, where fish band together in schools for protection, this head-to-head 2-player battle challenges you to build and protect your own aquatic army.

In Schooled, you command a unique school of fish on a vibrant game board that represents a dynamic water habitat. Each fish you deploy isn’t just a piece on the board—they’re your strategic assets, each with a personality and tactical edge. From the sneaky strike of Tiny Terror to the unwavering defense of Steady Finn, every fish plays a crucial role in your quest for dominance.

The rules are simple but the strategy is deep: take turns positioning your fish, outsmart your opponent, and aim to have the most surviving fish when the final piece hits the water. But there’s more—bonus points await those daring enough to venture into deeper waters, where risk and reward collide in epic fashion.

Easy to learn yet brilliantly challenging, Schooled invites you to dive into a fast-paced, fish-eat-fish battle where every move counts. How will you outmaneuver your rival and rule the underwater realm? Get ready to make a splash—your school awaits!

Game Play

Schooled is a fast-paced, 2-player complex strategy game where each fish matters and every move can tip the balance of survival. Here’s how your underwater battle unfolds:

Setup

• Board Layout: The game board represents a vibrant water habitat with shallow and deep water zones. Deep water areas offer bonus points at the end of the game, but are more exposed.
• Teams: Each player chooses a team—Blue or Yellow—and receives 18 game tokens comprising six uniquely designed fish.
• Initial Placement: There are two game board sides to choose from, a symetrical one and an asymmetrical. Players begin with their fish off the board, ready to be deployed in strategic fashion to buld a school and attack the opponent's fish.

Turn Structure

• Alternate Turns: Players take turns. On each turn, you either add a new fish to an empty space on the board or you remove a dead fish from the board.
• Strategic Placement: Placement isn’t random—it’s all about building a protective school. Cluster your fish to leverage the safety of numbers, but also be mindful of riskier deep water spots that can earn you bonus points.

Placement & Engagement

• Unique Abilities: Each fish has a strength and value that brings tactical flair and strategic decisioning to the contest. Whether it’s the smallest fish that can take down Mr. Big on the board or a fish small in power, but much larger in surviving value, your fish’s abilities determine how they engage and mutually support each other within the school.
• Triggering Conflict: When your fish are placed adjacent to an opponent’s fish, special abilities trigger a kill and also a build strength to your school, while reducing the opposing school. Use these interactions to thin out your rival’s forces while protecting your own.

Endgame & Scoring

• Final Deployment: The game reaches its climax when the last fish is placed on the board.
• Survival Counts: Victory is determined by tallying the total points of each surviving fish in each school.
• Deep Water Bonus: Fish positioned in deep water zones score extra points, rewarding those bold enough to take risks.

Victory

The player with the highest combined score of surviving fish and deep water bonus points wins, proving they have the sharpest strategy and the strongest school in the underwater realm.

Prepare to dive in, plan every move, and outsmart your opponent in this epic and often tense fish-eat-fish battle. How will you school your opponent and rule the waves?

Download the Rules

Meet the Players

Components & Artwork

The Fish Game Tokens - 3 of each for a total of 18 per side. The skeleton fish represents the killed and overturned fish.

There are two game boards available: one that's symmetrical and offers lots of deep water bonus spaces and a second side that is asymmetrical and tends to result in more complex game play, as a result.

Opposite side of the game board

The Box and the 4 page Ruleset

Why We Made Schooled

At Analog Game Studios, we live for the thrill of creating games that challenge your mind, spark your imagination, and bring people together through fun and friendly competition. After years of developing innovative board games, we knew it was time to return to Kickstarter with something truly special—and that's how Schooled was born.

Inspired by nature’s ingenious strategy, where fish band together in schools for protection, foraging, and efficient movement, Schooled transforms this natural marvel into a head-to-head, 2-player strategic showdown. Every fish on your team is a vital asset, and every decision you make can change the tide of battle in this fish-eat-fish world.

Our visionary game designer, Cecil Oakton, has always believed that the best games are built on deep strategy wrapped in engaging storytelling. Drawing on his passion for puzzles, tactical gameplay, and creative design, Cecil poured his heart and soul into Schooled. His goal was to craft a game that’s as intellectually stimulating as it is entertaining—a game where every move is a calculated risk and every victory feels earned.

At its core, Schooled is a celebration of creativity, resilience, and the joy of overcoming challenges. We wanted to create an experience that not only honors the beauty of natural strategy but also invites players to think, plan, and laugh together. Join us on this underwater adventure, where your school of fish isn’t just a team—it’s your ticket to mastering the art of survival in a beautifully chaotic world.

Dive in, strategize, and show us how you'll school your opponent!

Pledge Levels

The Schooled and King of Indecision bundle reward was introduced at the suggestion of one of our backers, to help get Schooled funded. As a result of this terrific suggestion you can now back Schooled PLUS get a copy of a past favourite, the amazing King of Indecision 2-5 player game by Joe Slack and at a huge discount with free shipping too 👀. For more information about King of Indecision, just go to:

https://analoggamestudios.com/king-of-indecision/

Shipping is arranged and charged separately at the end of the Kickstarter campaign during the Pledge Manager phase when backers have the opportunity to submit their delivery address and select games from some of our other gems.

Below is the shipping cost in Canadian dollars along with the approximate equivalent charge in US$ and includes sales/VAT taxes for each country. For more countries, please access the complete list of countries we ship to through the link below. 

Stretch Goals

At Analog Game Studios, we believe in delivering a complete, high-quality experience from day one. We’ve designed Schooled to be the best it can be right out of the box—every component, every detail, every extra touch has been meticulously crafted and perfected with our premium production standards.

Rather than adding artificial stretch goals that might give the illusion of future improvements, we chose to include everything you need for an epic game experience from the very beginning. This way, when you back Schooled, you know you’re getting a polished, fully realized game that reflects our commitment to quality and transparency.

As a bonus, the box is identical in size to our other games: Gnomes at Midnight, Latte Throwdown and Torus, so if you backed any of them, they'll look great on the shelf together.

We’re excited to bring you a straightforward, brilliantly executed, top quality board game without any gimmicks. Join us and dive into an underwater battle that’s already packed with all the features and finesse we promised—no extras needed!

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