Date toured: October 2007

I managed to get onboard the 164-foot motoryacht Mine Games just one month after she launched from the Trinity yacht yard in September 2007. I’m not going to lie: My expectations were high. Mine Games was built for the man who previously owned the 145-foot motoryacht Atlantica, which was in charter for quite some time. If ever there is a yacht owner who should know how to build a yacht to appeal to the charter industry, it’s this one.
And so I stepped aboard fully expecting to be wowed, which, for the most part, I was. World-renowned interior designer Patrick Knowles landed the job of outfitting this yacht’s interior, and from what I saw, he spared no expense—which helps to explain the $200,000-per-week base rate.
The marble and onyx, in particular, are quite impressive onboard Mine Games. First, there is a lovely, light-green slab of onyx used for the top of both the sky lounge bar and at least one of the guest bathrooms, where it rims an engraved crystal sink. As if that’s not stunning enough, the marble inlays in that bathroom floor are repeated in grander style both in the main saloon’s foyer and in the formal dining room (look beneath the chairs in the photo at right). The craftsmanship, as well as the design, is fantastic.
And while the interior is so elegant as to be borderline ornate, there are some fun features onboard this yacht for charter guests to enjoy. On the sundeck, for instance, there’s a 52-inch flat-screen television that you can watch after swimming up to the bar from within the hot tub.
Should you prefer to have your fun in the ocean, Mine Games has its crew scheduled for training during the entire month of November in an effort to become the first motoryacht offering a personal submarine as a charter toy. Several yachts have tried this before without success, so I’m hopeful that Mine Games can pull it off. Stay tuned through management company International Yacht Collection.
I had a chance to speak briefly in the galley with chef Chris Rossitto, who worked onboard Atlantica for about 15 months before coming aboard Mine Games with Atlantica’s captain, as did one of the stewardesses and the bosun. (That’s what I like to see: Experienced crew moving up to better yachts.) Rossitto told me that he creates a written menu to review with charter guests before he even goes shopping to provision the boat, just to make sure he knows what they want. His specialties are northern Italian and Asian cuisine—the owner loves sushi—but “I do whatever is going to accommodate the charter guest the most. It’s nice when they like wine. We do wine pairings with the food here on the boat.”
My one quibble with Mine Games is her cabin layouts. The master suite is on the main deck, arranged in two levels so that the bed, on the top level, faces forward out an array of windows. The idea is that you can see the view while laying in bed. That’s a stunning idea for seeing the scenery, but unfortunately, the windows look out over the bow where the Sea Doos are carried, so it’s like having a view of an outdoor garage.
The rest of the guest cabins are on the bottom deck, two with king-size beds, one with a queen-size bed, and the last with twin-size beds. The twin cabin has a Pullman berth, which is common onboard yachts—but so does the queen cabin. It’s a strange-looking sleeping arrangement, one that virtually requires a couple to share their cabin with a small child in order to make use of the bunk.
I’m sure the owner has his reasons for that cabin design, of course, and hopefully there will be charter clients with similar needs as well as a taste for highly elegant décor. Contact any reputable charter broker to find out what dates are available.—Kim Kavin