In this game, an offshore rig by the name of DeepWell 4 has blown out and the rupture is spilling crude oil into the ocean at an alarming rate. Players form a response team and must work together, using individual talents to avert an ecological disaster, which threatens to contaminate marine life and devastate the ecosystem. Players need to collaboratively a) contain the oil flowing from the rig, b) remove what oil they can from the waters, and c) rescue the marine animals.
A cooperative game for 1-4 players, The Spill features a 4-way dice tower as the oil rig, which randomly drops oil dice onto the four quadrants of the game board. In this respect, the game is a reverse tower defense game, as players sail the perimeter trying to push back and contain the oil, remove dice from the water and save the sea life.
While, at the time of crowdfunding, there was no immediate real-life event that would be associated with the game, many players might interpret it in the context of the devastating, massively mediated Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.