7 Islands

7 Islands Rulebook

Table of Contents

Game Overview

You are a captain heading a crew of pirates. At first, it is just a small band, but you will gradually expand it into a large company. The winner of the game is the one who has the most victory points when the game ends.

As a pirate, you will seek adventures on several islands, and your experiences happen on the unique "island boards." By landing on and exploring these islands, you will discover various benefits they each can offer. You can choose to enjoy those benefits all by yourself or share them with other players, as long as you make sure that you gain the most in the end.

You will choose one of the 7 islands represented on the boards. Each island has its own rules, so you can play by different rules each time you play this game. We recommend starting with the "The Island of Beginnings."

Game Set Contents

The game contains 243 cards, 4 island boards, 80 resource chips, and 40 markers.

Action cards

There are many types of Action cards that help you during your adventures as a pirate. They fall into 3 Categories: [Crew], [Item] and [Treasure].

The parts of an Action card are:

Cost: The value shows how much money you need to buy this card.
Coin: The value shows how much this coin is worth.
VP: "VP" stands for victory points, which represent a pirate's fame. The player with the most VP at the end of the game wins.
Food: How much Food you need to consume to use this card. Basically only Crew cards require Food.
Category: The Category this card belongs to.
Effects: The text of each effect explains what happens when you use it.

Victory Point cards

These cards represent a pirate's fame. They help you win the game by offering you VP.

Island boards

Boards representing the islands that pirates journey on. There are 4 double-sided boards, but during a game you only use 1 side. "The Unknown Island" is blank; create and play on your own island by writing what you want on it.

Resource chips

VP chips (red), Coin chips (yellow), and Food chips (green). The number on a VP chip shows how many victory points it gives you, the number on a Coin chip shows how much money it gives you, and the number on a Food chip shows how much Food it gives you.

In the text, resource chips are represented as colored numbers in accordance with their colors and the numbers on them.
Whenever necessary, you can exchange your resource chips for chips that are the same type (VP, Coin or Food) and have the same total value.

Transcription note: in this rulebook a resource chip is written as its type and value, e.g. "Coin 1" for the yellow chip showing 1, "Food 2" for the green chip showing 2, and "VP 3" for the red chip showing 3.

Markers

Markers to place on the boards. There are 10 of each color.

There is no limit to the number of chips or markers you can use. If you run out of them during a game, you can use other items instead.

Game Setup

Arrange the Arena

To each player, give 7 "Copper Coin" cards, 2 "Water" cards and 1 "Landing" card; these 10 cards form his starting deck. If there are less than 4 players in the game, put the remaining "Copper Coin" and "Water" cards back in the box.

Each player chooses a color and takes all the markers in that color. Put the unused ones back in the box.

You do not use all cards or all island boards during one game. The cards you use are placed in the center of the table so that everyone can reach them; sort the cards according to their names and place them in separate face-up piles. The area with these card piles and the island board is called "the Arena."

All the "Silver Coin", "Gold Coin", "Meat", "Landing", and "Exploration" Action cards and the "Medal" Victory Point cards are used in any game. The number of "Golden Medal" cards that should be in a game is the number of players plus 2 (use 4 in a 2-player game, 5 in a 3-player game, etc.). Return the remaining "Golden Medal" cards to the box.

Then, choose 8 of the other 16 types of Action cards and one side of any island board you like. Place the board with the chosen side up in the Arena, thereby making it your "island." Place all the cards of the chosen types in separate face-up piles, and put all the resource chips beside your island. Finally, return the remaining types of cards and boards to the box.

For the first game, we recommend choosing card types and an island according to "Your first adventure" on Page 8.

The Arena

Diagram key: island; Resource chips; Quests (1); Removed Card Area (2).

Quests. There are several "quests" on each island, and players put their markers on them. A quest is completed each time it has as many markers as it requires. When a quest is completed, the player who has his markers on it uses its effect.

If 2 or more players have their markers on the completed quest, they are all considered to have completed it; the current player uses the effect first, followed by the other players in clockwise order.

Removed Card Area. This is where cards go when they are "removed from the game" due to a card/quest effect. Once placed here, the cards are out of the game.

Prepare your hand

Each player shuffles his 10-card deck and places it face down in front of him. This area is his own "ship." He then draws 5 cards from his deck to begin the game.

The starting player is the player who most recently boarded a pirate ship. Alternatively, you can play rock-paper-scissors to choose one. The starting player takes the 1st turn of the game.

Players' decks should be kept face down so that no one can look at the cards in them. Also, they should keep the cards in their hands concealed from the other players.

Your Ship

You place your own cards, deck, etc. in front of you, and this area is called "your ship."

Deck Area. This is where your deck is placed. When you start a game, your deck has only 10 cards, but it will increase in size and strength as the game progresses. Keep your deck face down so that no one can see what the cards in it are.
Main Compartments (Play Area). This is where you place Action cards when you use them.
Cargo Hold. This is where you place your unused markers and resource chips you have earned.
Discard Pile. This is where you put used cards to discard them. Discarded cards are kept in a face-up pile as your "discard pile," and any player can look at them.
Hand. Your hand is a set of cards you can use. At the end of each of your turns, you draw cards from your deck to refill your hand to 5 cards. Only you can look at the cards in your hand.

How To Play

Game Flow

Players take turns, and each turn consists of the following 4 phases:

Start Phase. The player whose turn it is ("the current player") uses all his Start phase effects.
Action Phase. He can use as many Action cards in his hand as possible (not mandatory).
Buy Phase. He can then gain as many cards as possible from the Arena (not mandatory).
End Phase. The cards in his hand and those he used this turn are all placed in his discard pile. He then draws 5 cards from his deck and put them into his hand.

When the current player completes his turn by performing these 4 phases, the player on his left starts his turn. This process is repeated until the game ends.

When the Game Ends

The game ends if any of the following conditions exists at the end of a turn.

Four of the card piles in the Arena have been exhausted (or 3 in a 2-player game).
There are no "Golden Medal" cards in the Arena.
Any player has 20 victory points or more from his VP chips.

Once the game ends, all players calculate their victory points and the player with the most points wins.

Detailed Game Flow (What You Do on Your Turn)

The following explains in detail what you do when it is your turn:

1. Start phase

During your Start phase, apply all "Start phase" effects you can/must use by following their instructions.

These effects often come from the island's rules or quests.

2. Action phase

You can use as many Action cards in your hand as possible (not mandatory).

During your Action phase, you can use as many Action cards as you want. When you use an Action card, put it from your hand into your Main Compartments face up and declare that you are using it. You cannot use 2 or more cards at once but must use them one by one.

After putting the card in your Main Compartments, use its effect by following its instructions in order. Even if you cannot follow all the instructions, you can still use that card by following them as far as possible. The Action cards you have used stay in your Main Compartments.

There is no limit to the number of Action cards you can use during your Action phase.

Food. Some Action cards require a certain amount of Food when you use them. In order to use such a card, you must consume as much of your Food as the card requires by returning Food resource chips from your Cargo Hold to the Arena. If you cannot return enough, you cannot use the card.

3. Buy phase

You can buy as many cards as possible from the Arena (not mandatory).

When you start your Buy phase, calculate the total value of the coins printed on the cards in your Main Compartments (the cards you have used this turn). This is the amount of money you currently have, and you can buy cards from the Arena until their total cost reaches that amount. Put all the cards you have bought on top of your discard pile to "gain" them.

When buying cards, you can return as many of your Coin resource chips as you like from your Cargo Hold to the Arena and add the total value of those chips to the amount of your money.
There is no limit to the number of cards you may gain during your Buy phase.
Cards you gain are put on top of your discard pile, but as your discard pile will be reshuffled to form a new deck once your current deck is exhausted, the cards you gain will become part of your deck later.

Buying multiple cards. When you buy 2 or more cards, you need to pay for all of them by reducing the amount of your money by their total cost.

4. End phase

Discard all the cards in your hand and in your Main Compartments (the ones you used this turn), and draw 5 new cards from your deck.

Start your End phase by placing all the cards you used this turn and all the cards in your hand into your discard pile; you cannot keep any of those cards for a later turn. Then, draw 5 new cards from your deck to form your new hand. Similarly, you lose all your money; you cannot keep any of your money for a later turn either. Any remaining card effects are nullified, and your turn ends at this point. The player on your left now starts his turn.

[Note] If you have no more cards in your deck when you are supposed to draw a card, shuffle your discard pile to form a new deck.

Quests

Some Action cards let you place your markers onto a quest on the island.

Each quest has a completion requirement (the number at the bottom right of the quest). Whenever the number of markers on that quest reaches or exceeds the required number, the quest is complete.

Whether the markers come from one player or more does not matter as long as there are enough markers.

Each player who has one or more markers on the completed quest uses its effect and returns his markers from it to his Cargo Hold.

Multiple players on one quest. It may happen that a quest has multiple players' markers when completed. In that case, all of those players are entitled to use its effect, regardless of how many markers they each have on it. They use the effect one by one in clockwise order, starting with the current player.

Multiple quests completed at the same time. Some effects may let you complete multiple quests at the same time by allowing you to place more than one marker at once. If that happens, place all the markers first. Then, use the effects of the completed quests one by one, starting from the top left of the island board to the top right, and then from the bottom left to the bottom right.

Calculate your VP

Players keep taking turns until the game ends (see "When the Game Ends" above). Once the game ends, collect all the cards in your own deck, hand and discard pile, and total the victory points of the following:

all your cards
all your VP chips

Compare your total victory points with the other players'. The player with the most points is the winner. If 2 or more players are tied for the most points, the player among them who is the furthest from the starting player in order of turn wins the game.

Other rules

Revealing cards. Some card effects tell you to "reveal" a card. This means showing the appropriate card to all players so that they can find out what card it is. Unless specifically stated otherwise, the revealed card then returns to where it was before it was revealed (to your hand if it was there, to the top of your deck if it was there, etc.).

If your deck runs out while you are revealing cards from it, shuffle your discard pile to create your new deck. Then, resume revealing cards.

Action cards in use. As mentioned above, if your deck runs out of cards when you need to draw a card, you shuffle your discard pile to form a new deck. The same rule applies when your deck runs out in the middle of your turn due to the effect of an Action card, etc.

Whether it is in the middle of your turn or at the end, only your discard pile should be shuffled to form your new deck. In the middle of your turn, there may be Action cards in your Main Compartments because you used them during your Action Phase; they should stay there until they are placed in your discard pile in your End phase.

Cards that affect more than one player. Some card effects let you affect 2 or more of the other players at once. In such a case, those players do what the effect requires them to do in clockwise order, starting from the nearest affected player on your left.

It is similar to when a quest effect affects several players at once: the current player acts first (if he is affected), and then the other players follow in clockwise order.

"Attack" and "Response". There are some card effects labeled with the word "Attack." "Attack" effects target other players, and once they are used, the targeted players must follow their instructions.

However, if any of the targeted players have a card with a "Response" effect, they can use it out of turn in reaction to the "Attack" effect. When a player uses a "Response" effect, he reveals the card and follows the instructions of the effect (note that no Food is required to use "Response" effects). Whether or not the targeted players want to use a "Response" effect is decided clockwise around the table, starting from the current player.
Even when a targeted player has more than 1 "Response" card, he can only use 1 of them to respond to 1 "Attack" card.

When a card contradicts the manual. Whenever the text of a card contradicts this manual, follow the card text.

Glossary

Move: To move a marker from a quest onto another quest.
Steal: To take a resource chip from another player (not from the Arena).
Earn: To take a resource chip from the Arena and place it in your Cargo Hold.
Buy: To acquire a card by paying its cost with your money during your Buy phase.
Gain: To place a card you have newly acquired on top of your discard pile. You can gain cards by buying them or using card/quest effects.
The amount of your money: The amount of your money equals the total value of the coins printed on the cards in your Main Compartments (the cards you have used during the turn).
"Attack": Action card effects whose text is framed in red. They affect other players negatively.
"Response": Action card effects whose text is framed in blue. These effects can be used out of turn as a reaction to another player's "Attack."
The player who placed the most markers: The player who placed more markers than any other player to complete that quest on that occasion. When there are 2 or more such players, this applies to all of them.
Discard: Your discards are the cards you have used and discarded. They form your discard pile.
Hand: Your hand is a set of cards you have in your hand.

The Island

Each island board has its own quests. The number at the bottom right of each quest is its completion requirement. The "Difficulty" rating is shown on each board. Quest rewards are written below by type and value, as described in the Resource chips section above.

The Island of Beginnings (Difficulty: ★)

Tavern (requirement 1): Earn Food 1.
Bank (requirement 2): Earn Coin 1.
General Store (requirement 2): Draw 1 card.
Market (requirement 3): Draw 2 cards.
Nobleman's Mansion (requirement 3): Earn VP 3.

The Green-Shrouded Island of Illusions (Difficulty: ★★)

Chapel (requirement 1): Remove 1 card in your hand from the game.
Dwarves' Forest (requirement 3): Gain an Action card with a cost of 5 or less from the Arena (if you completed this quest with 1 or more other players and you are not the first to use this effect, you cannot choose the same card as they have already chosen).
Trading Post (requirement 3): Earn Coin 1.
Goblin's Store (requirement 4): Draw 3 cards.
Court (requirement 5): The player who placed the most markers earns VP 4. The player who placed the second most earns VP 2.

The Island of Proud Giants (Difficulty: ★★★)

Giant Underground Tunnel (requirement 1): Each other player must move one of his/her markers from one quest to another quest of your choice (you may choose different quests for different players but cannot choose this one).
Big Eater's Restaurant (requirement 3): Earn Food 3.
Giant Jungle (requirement 4): Gain an Action card with a cost of 6 or less from the Arena (if you completed this quest with 1 or more other players and you are not the first to use this effect, you cannot choose the same card as they have already chosen).
Giant Pawnshop (requirement 5): The player who placed the most markers earns Coin 4. The player who placed the second most earns Coin 2.
Giant Market (requirement 6): The player who placed the most markers draws 4 cards. The player who placed the second most draws 2 cards.
Giant Court (requirement 8): The player who placed the most markers earns VP 6. The player who placed the second most earns VP 3.

The Island of Heroic Ordeals (Difficulty: ★★★★★)

Antique Shop (requirement 2): Earn Food 1 and Coin 1.
Market (requirement 3): Draw 2 cards.
Quelle's Stele (requirement 3): While you have 1 or more of your markers on this quest, each other player may only draw 4 cards, instead of 5, to renew his/her hand during each of his/her End phases.
Rene's Stele (requirement 3): While you have 1 or more of your markers on this quest, you may use any number of your VP 1 chips instead of your Coin 1 chips.
Yuro's Stele (requirement 3): While you have 1 or more of your markers on this quest, each time another player buys a card, he/she must add +1 to its cost (this effect does not stack).
Tenagi's Stele (requirement 3): While you have 1 or more of your markers on this quest, remove 1 card in your hand from the game during each of your Start phases.

The Island of Ambitious Pirates (Difficulty: ★★★★★)

This is an island with special rules.

Game Setup. The same as the basic island board (the Island of Beginnings).

Ranking System. On the left of the board is "the Ranking List," which represents players' ranks. Each player starts as an apprentice by placing a marker in the area marked "Apprentice." They will be raised in rank each time they complete a quest, from Apprentice to Boatswain, First Mate to Captain (even when a quest is completed by another player's marker, as long as you have a marker on that quest, you are also considered to have completed the quest and promoted to the next rank). The higher a player's rank, the more benefits he can enjoy, but when a captain gets a promotion, he must be downgraded to apprentice!

Apprentice: While you are an Apprentice, return Food 2 from your Cargo Hold to the Arena during each of your Start phases.
Boatswain: While you are a Boatswain, return Food 1 from your Cargo Hold to the Arena during each of your Start phases.
First Mate: While you are a First Mate, earn VP 1 during each of your Start phases.
Captain: While you are a Captain, during each of your Start phases, earn VP 2 and place a marker from your Cargo Hold on a quest of your choice. Also, during each of your End phases, draw 6 cards instead of 5 to renew your hand.

Quests:

Trading Post (requirement 3): Earn Coin 2.
Market (requirement 3): Draw 2 cards.
Scaffold (requirement 4): Remove 2 cards in your discard pile from the game.
Golden Forest (requirement 5): Gain an Action card with a cost of 7 or less from the Arena (if you completed this quest with 1 or more other players and you are not the first to use this effect, you cannot choose the same card as they have already chosen).

The Fruitful Island of Gluttony (Difficulty: ★★★★)

This is an island with special rules.

Gluttony. Each player earns Food 1 whenever he begins his own Start phase.

Gluttony penalty. When each player calculates his victory points at the end of the game, he loses X points, where X is the total value of his Food chips.

Underground Waterway (requirement 1): Earn Food 1. Each other player must move one of his/her markers from one quest to another quest of your choice (you may choose different quests for different players but cannot choose this one).
Angler's Heaven (requirement 2): Earn Food 1 and Coin 1.
Fruit Lover's Paradise (requirement 3): Earn Food 1 and gain an Action card with a cost of 5 or less from the Arena (if you completed this quest with 1 or more other players and you are not the first to use this effect, you cannot choose the same card as they have already chosen).
Fresh-Food Market (requirement 3): Earn Food 1 and draw 2 cards.
Compost Plant (requirement 4): Earn Food 1 and remove 2 cards in your discard pile from the game.
Great Chef's Mansion (requirement 5): Earn Food 1. Additionally, the player who placed the most markers earns VP 4, and the player who placed the second most earns VP 2.

The Innocent Monster's Island (for 1-2 players)

This is an island with special rules.

You can fight a monster on this island, with or without another player. You (and the other player, if it is a 2-player game) can defeat the monster by meeting the victory condition. However, if any of the loss conditions is met, you lose to the monster!

Game Setup. First, arrange the Arena for a normal 2-player game. Then, shuffle all the 8 types of Action cards you chose into a single pile, and take the top 40 cards of that pile to form a special deck called "the Arena Deck." (Return the remaining Action cards into the box.) Draw 4 cards from the Arena Deck and place them separately beside it; these 4 cards can be gained as usual, and as soon as a card is gained, a new one is drawn from the Arena Deck to replace it.

The starting deck for each player is the same as the standard deck, but each player receives a VP 3 chip and a Food 3 chip at the start.

Monster marker. Use a marker that is not in use. Place a marker on the quest "Monster's Den." This marker is called the monster marker. (Note: The monster marker is different from players' markers and is only used to decide which Monster effect to use. Ignore it when you check if there are enough markers on a quest to complete it.) Then, place another marker in the space marked "1" in the "monster counter" located at the bottom of the board.

Each time a player starts his Start phase, he must reveal the top 2 cards of his deck, choose one of them, and move the monster marker clockwise as many spaces as the chosen card's cost. He must then use the "Monster effect" of the quest the monster marker has reached as many times as indicated by the monster counter. The only exception is the Monster effect that moves the marker in the monster counter (this type of monster effect is used only once at a time). For example, if the monster counter shows 2, and the monster marker stops at "Monster's Feeding Ground," its Monster effect ("The current player must return Food 2 from his/her Cargo Hold to the Arena.") is used twice, so that player must return 4 Food to the Arena.

Players cannot place new markers on a quest the monster marker is currently on.

Transcription note: the printed Monster effect for Monster's Feeding Ground uses a green chip symbol; it is written here as Food 2, matching the board's green chip.

Loss conditions.

The marker in the monster counter has reached the area marked "8."
A player has no VP chips.
A player has no Food chips.
There are no cards in the Arena Deck.
The total number of cards in a player's deck and hand is reduced to 6 or fewer.

If any of these happen, the player(s) immediately lose to the monster.

Victory condition.

All "Medal" and "Golden Medal" cards are gone from the Arena.
If this happens before a loss condition is met, the player(s) defeat the monster.

The quests of the Innocent Monster's Island:

Monster's Den (requirement 3): Draw 2 cards. Monster effect: Move the marker in the monster counter to the following numbered area.
Monster's Watering Place (requirement 6): While there are 5 markers on this quest, excluding the monster marker, each player must draw 1 additional card (a total of 6 cards) during each of his/her End phases. Monster effect: Each player must return all his/her markers from all quests to his/her Cargo Hold.
Monster's Feeding Ground (requirement 2): Earn Food 2. Monster effect: The current player must return Food 2 from his/her Cargo Hold to the Arena.
Monster's Bathroom (requirement 3): Earn Food 1, Coin 1 and VP 1. Monster effect: The current player must return VP 1 from his/her Cargo Hold to the Arena.
Monster's Promenade (requirement 6): While there are 5 markers on this quest, the number of cards revealed for monster movement becomes 3 instead of 2. Monster effect: The current player must remove the top 3 cards of his/her deck from the game.
Monster's Playground (requirement 3): Gain an Action card with a cost of 7 or less from the Arena. Monster effect: Remove the top 5 cards of the Arena Deck from the game.

Card list

Victory Point cards

6 Medal
6 Golden Medal

Action cards

12 Landing
9 Exploration

[Treasure]

30 Copper Coin
9 Silver Coin
9 Gold Coin

[Crew]

9 Cook
9 Shipbuilder
9 Cargo Guard
9 Executioner
9 Lookout
9 Stowaway
9 Appraiser
9 Steersman
9 Navigator
9 Mermaid
9 Adventurer

[Item]

9 Water
9 Meat
9 Spell of Resistance
9 False Treasure Map
9 Pirate's Gun
9 Pirate's Tools
9 Master Key

Suggested Combinations

Your first adventure

Island: The Island of Beginnings
Cards: Spell of Resistance, Cook, Shipbuilder, False Treasure Map, Lookout, Master Key, Steersman, and Adventurer

Costly adventures

Island: The Green-Shrouded Island of Illusions
Cards: Stowaway, Pirate's Tools, Appraiser, Steersman, Master Key, Navigator, Mermaid, Adventurer

Getting in each other's way

Island: The Island of Heroic Ordeals
Cards: False Treasure Map, Cargo Guard, Executioner, Pirate's Tools, Stowaway, Appraiser, Navigator, and Mermaid

These are only suggested combinations. Even if you combine cards as suggested, you can discover new aspects of this game simply by changing the island. The same applies to islands. Try different combinations for greater fun and unexpected results!