2025Sabrina Culyba, David Culyba
- Videos
- 3
- Creators
- 3
2 - 4 players20 - 40 minLight weight

2025Sabrina Culyba
Mainly reviews. Diatoms is covered on BoardGameVideo.com by 16 reviews, 2 how-to-play guides, 1 recorded sessions, 6 unboxings, and 3 other videos.
From BoardGameGeek
Diatoms is a puzzly tile-placement and pattern-making game in which players create their own microscopic mosaic, based on an obscure Victorian art form. Hidden in the water all around us are tiny lifeforms known as "diatoms". These microscopic algae cells come in a variety of exquisite geometric shapes and patterns. Their outer layer is made with silica, giving them a glass-like quality. Here at the Society for the Microscopic Arts, we collect these diatoms and delicately arrange them on slides into beautiful, tiny mosaics. As part of your induction into the Society, you will each create your own entry for today's Exhibition of Microscopic Mosaics. In Diatoms, you compete with your fellow players to collect and place diatom shapes into a mosaic form. You take turns placing tiles representing algae colonies. From that placement, you earn diatoms of different colors and shapes. You then strategically place these diatoms on your personal board, taking care to consider how your arrangement will be scored at the end of the game. In the base scoring, you'll want to achieve matching colors, shape variety, and symmetry along your mosaic's central lines. Each time you play, you may also have a "guest" judge card that brings a unique scoring criterion to the game. Diatoms also includes a solo variant in which you collect diatom tiles as in the main game, while trying to create a mosaic that fulfills specific requirements from mosaic commission prompts. -description from publisher
Diatoms has 28 videos from 22 creators: 16 reviews, 2 how-to-play guides, 1 playthrough, 6 unboxings and 3 other videos. They date from 2023 to October 2026.
To learn the rules, start with "How to Play Diatoms" by Bitewing Games, which runs 6 min.
For an opinion before you buy, start with "Diatoms Review: Quick Take with Tom Vasel" by The Dice Tower. 14 creators have reviewed it. To see it played, watch "Diatoms Solo Playthrough – Learn & Play in One Video!" by Gaming Caravan.
If you like it, try Uh Oh, Dino!, Yarrr Har Hunt and Uh Oh, Dino!: Meteors & Meat-Eaters, also by Sabrina Culyba, or Flamecraft Duals, which shares several of its mechanics.
8 of 22
2025Sabrina Culyba, David Culyba
2 - 4 players20 - 40 minLight weight
2020Sabrina Culyba, David Culyba, Hazel Culyba
2 - 5 players10 - 20 minLight weight
2026Sabrina Culyba, David Culyba
2 - 6 players20 - 50 min
2025Manny Vega
1 - 2 players30 - 45 minLight weight
From BoardGameGeek:
Diatoms is a puzzly tile-placement and pattern-making game in which players create their own microscopic mosaic, based on an obscure Victorian art form. Hidden in the water all around us are tiny lifeforms known as "diatoms". These microscopic algae cells come in a variety of exquisite geometric shapes and patterns. Their outer layer is made with silica, giving them a glass-like quality. Here at the Society for the Microscopic Arts, we collect these diatoms and delicately arrange them on slides into beautiful, tiny mosaics. As part of your induction into the Society, you will each create your own entry for today's Exhibition of Microscopic Mosaics. In Diatoms, you compete with your fellow players to collect and place diatom shapes into a mosaic form. You take turns placing tiles representing algae colonies. From that placement, you earn diatoms of different colors and shapes. You then strategically place these diatoms on your personal board, taking care to consider how your arrangement will be scored at the end of the game. In the base scoring, you'll want to achieve matching colors, shape variety, and symmetry along your mosaic's central lines. Each time you play, you may also have a "guest" judge card that brings a unique scoring criterion to the game. Diatoms also includes a solo variant in which you collect diatom tiles as in the main game, while trying to create a mosaic that fulfills specific requirements from mosaic commission prompts. -description from publisher
Designer
Sabrina Culyba
Artist
Nim Ben-Reuven
Publisher
Ludoliminal
Categories
Mechanics