So, I’m already home from Gen Con 2026, and we had some friends over for the day, and it seemed like a great time to look at a few of the new games.  Today, I’ll talk a bit about two of the games from Mattel that we tried out.  Mattel is probably best known for its many different version of UNO, but they do occasionally produce games of interest to hobby players – last year, Spirits of the Wild was a big hit here.  This year, I was happy to see that they had re-done a very cute family game Mr. Diamond – originally done by Ravensburger last century, but most recently done in Japan in 2024 by Jelly Jelly.  I had played that Japanese version a few times, but I was never able to get a copy.  If you’re still at GenCon, you’ll find Mattel in the middle of the dealer hall at Booth 1035.

Deep Sea Diamond Dive

• Designer: Gunter Baars
• Publisher: Mattel
• Players: 2-4
• Age: 6+
• Time: 20 minutes
• Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4bJib83
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

Dive into fun with Deep Sea Diamond Dive, the action-Packed, quick to learn kids game where players race to grab gems and score points! Pick a gem. Watch out – some are stuck! Use the gems to complete Treasure Cards for points! Special Steal Cards add another fun twist – take an opponent’s card!

To set the game up, you first have to have a very steady hand and place the gem stickers on top of all 42 Gem Stands.  Then, take 16 of them and affix them to the board.  They will be there permanently.

Then, for each game, you take all the rest of the Gem Stands and place them on the board in a random pattern.  Everyone closes their eyes and the board is rotated slowly so that no one knows the orientation.  Trust me, though you’d think that you’d be able to remember which pegs are fixed after a few games – it’s just not gonna happen…

Shuffle the treasure cards and flip up three of them on the table.

How to play:

• Choose a gem to grab.  But, choose wisely! Some are stuck, and you won’t know which until it’s too late.  If you have picked a fixed one, your turn is over.  Also, use caution – if you ever touch more than one gem stand on a turn, you turn is immediately over.
• If you picked a free gem, add it to one of the three Treasure Cards. If the card isn’t full, take another turn and try to grab another gem!
• If you are able to complete a Treasure Card, by filling all the circles on it, you keep the card for points—but that ends the turn.
• Some of the Treasure cards are Steal Cards. These definitely shake things up! If you fill one of these up, you take a Treasure Card from an opponent and claim their points!
• The first player to get 7 GEMS WINS!

My thoughts on the game

So, this is one of those games that looks too simple for gamers – but man, it’s always been a hit here.  It’s always a loud game with laughter and a little bit of stress from the memory aspect of the game.  In fact, as it uses memory, this is one of those games where younger kids actually tend to do better than the adults.

As far as strategy goes, it is as simple as it looks – try to remember which gems are fake (fixed to the board), choose other ones, and be the first to collect 7.  On any given turn, you do have the choice of which card to put your gem on – but this is also usually straightforward.  If there is a card that is already partially done, it’s likely that you’ll keep adding to it.  Of course, near the end of the game, if you need to catch up, you might go for the highest valued card or a Steal card as your turn ends once you collect a card.   At that point, you might need as many points as possible.

This one was a big hit with our friends and we played three games in quick succession.  I can definitely confirm that it is impossible to remember which pegs are fixed at the start of the game. I would recommend playing on a stable small table as the plastic tray can be easily jostled by a clumsy player, and if this happens, the gem stands can move about and then people get extra clues they shouldn’t.  

The game is meant for mass market, as with most Mattel games, but the big upside of this is that I’ve seen it for as little as $14.99 online, and that’s a solid price for this game.

Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4bJib83

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The other “new” Mattel game that we played was Skip-Bo – which admittedly isn’t new at all as the game was invented before I was even born!  The Internets says Skip-Bo first came around in 1967.   

The game itself is quite simple. Each player is dealt a stockpile of 30 cards. The winner will be whoever manages to empty their stockpile first. Cards are played onto four shared building piles in numerical sequence from 1 to 12. On each turn, a player draws until they have five cards in their hand, and then plays cards from: their hand, a top card of their discard piles, or their stockpile. At the end of their turn, a player must discard onto one of their four personal discard piles. Strategy involves the organizing of cards into the discard piles, care in not setting up the next players for good plays, knowing when to play from which option, and especially the timing of playing a valuable “Skip-bo” wildcard.  

This new edition of the game does add beginner rules to help newbies get started a bit faster.  First, the players have smaller stockpiles (10 or 15 cards) and the game can start with the build piles and personal discard piles seeded with cards. This prevents the inevitable waiting period at the start of the game as someone needs to get a 1 or Skip-Bo to start a build pile.  As we had a number of people that had never played, we tried this beginner version and it was a great way to learn the basics without simply drawing and discarding all the time at the start.  (Now if someone could fix Milles Bornes!)  

It’s amazing how some card games have passed the test of time.  It’s been a hot minute since I played Skip-Bo, but it didn’t take long to remember how to play – and like UNO, the Mattel stalwart, it’s a game that everyone can enjoy.

Until your next appointment,

The Gaming Doctor