This is one of those roll and move Lego games that is tougher to build than to play. :-)
Players control submarines and move around a grid representing the ocean, where they are racing each other to collect treasure. Atlantis Treasure uses one of Lego’s great modifiable dice: the game's best feature. When a compass sign comes up, a player can place out one of the compass markers which will route in that direction any submarine that comes into contact with it. In this way, players can boost their own chances of collecting treasure or hinder their opponent by blocking their progress. Players can also fire torpedoes, which can help clear their path, but, once fired, torpedoes can only be replenished by returning to the submarine’s home base.
This is not one of Lego’s most interesting or innovative games. Indeed, my account probably makes the gameplay sound more engaging than it actually is. Children may find it distracting for half an hour or so, but it falls into an awkward gap of being too fiddly for younger children while being insufficiently meaty to hold the attention of those who can cope with the components.
As with other games in the series, Lego commendably invites children to repurpose the components and adapt the game, but the children who I have seen play Atlantis Treasure did not find the basic game or its components sufficiently inspiring to prompt them to put any effort into attempting a redesign. It doesn’t help that, unlike most of the other games in this series, Atlantis Treasure does not come with a batch of micro figures: there is just one in this game - a Neptune figure used merely as a decorative statue in the centre of the board. The submarines are also relatively uninspiring because they are vertical constructions, presumably representing conning towers, albeit with oddly sited torpedo tubes.
Being Lego, however, nothing goes to waste. The grid is made up of a decent quantity of useful long plate bricks and Lego enthusiasts will have no difficulty pressing them into service in a build. It just won’t probably be in use as a board game.