Adventure Games: The Volcanic Island
Adventure Games: The Volcanic Island Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Components
- 1 adventure book
- 4 pawns with 4 stands
- 20 large location cards
- 16 small location cards
- Character cards
- 52 assorted tiles
- 90 adventure cards
- 4 status cards
- 5 mission cards
- 1 overview card
Setup
Place the adventure book, the location cards and the adventure cards as stacks, face down, ready on the table. Make sure that you do not yet see any card fronts.
Check that the location cards and adventure cards are sorted in ascending order by their letters or numbers.
Carefully remove the tiles from the punchboard. Put the 4 characters into the plastic stands of matching colour. These are your pawns. Keep the remaining tiles ready as a supply.
Take location card A from the location card stack and adventure cards T1 and T2 from the adventure stack. Place location card A face up (that is, open) in the middle of the table. Leave enough room all around it for further location cards!
Keep the remaining location cards ready as a face-down location card stack. Below it, keep the adventure cards ready as a face-down adventure stack, divided into the cards with numbers on the back (10-99) and 3 further stacks: T3 & T4, M1-M5, and a1-e3. Since the stacks have letters or numbers on their backs, you can search through them during the game without accidentally revealing too much of the story.
Place the two adventure cards T1 and T2 one above the other. You therefore start at level 0 (see "T1-T4").
Finally, take the 4 character cards and the turn overview from the adventure stack and lay them face up in the middle.
Game for 2-4 Players
Each of you chooses a character. Take the corresponding character card and pawn. Place the character card in front of you. Put the character cards and pawns of characters not needed back in the box.
Note: Some entries give you the choice of which character should perform a certain action. In that case you can of course only choose characters that you are actually playing!
Solo Game
The game is also very playable alone. In this case you play with 2 (or more) characters at the same time. Which ones you choose is up to you.
A Few Words in Advance
If a card text or a text in the adventure book contradicts the rules in this rulebook, the card text or the text in the adventure book applies!
- This is a cooperative game. Therefore agree on how you proceed, what you combine and which locations you look at more closely.
- At the end of each chapter and also at the end of the game there is a scoring. For the progress of the story, however, the scoring is not important.
- We recommend that you take notes during your adventure, especially if you save the game and want to continue on another day. Some entries also present you with a choice but allow you to come back later and decide differently. Or you are asked for adventure cards that you do not have, or do not have yet. Then it can be worth returning to these places later.
- Alternatively you can also use the question marks. With them you can mark locations, adventure cards or other tiles during the game if you think they might still be important for the progress of the story, if you need an item that you do not have yet, or to remind yourself to try something with them, etc. Simply place a question mark next to the entry or on the adventure card. Also remember to remove the question marks again when they have served their purpose.
- You will often make decisions that influence the course of the game and that lead to you seeing certain adventure cards, location cards and parts of the story while not seeing others. Chapter 3 and the final chapter in particular play very differently depending on the decisions you made. So do not be surprised if during the adventure you are asked for certain cards that you do not have. You simply decided differently. It is therefore worth playing the story a second time with different decisions!
- If you are ever stuck, use the walkthrough, which you can find directly in the KOSMOS explanation app and on the KOSMOS website. Or look at the hint tips at the entry for the corresponding number of the adventure card or location. For everything there is at least one solution stating what you can do with it or there, or what is needed for it or there, so that the story continues.
- Note: The hint tips do not reveal anything, and the walkthrough not too much, about the story, and they do not cost you any penalty points! So use them and look things up before you become frustrated over a supposed dead end!
- You can read the texts to yourselves or have them read to you by the KOSMOS explanation app.
Incidentally: for playability's sake we occasionally forgo realism. And we have hidden a few Easter eggs (also from The Dungeon and Monochrome Inc.). By the way: cards from The Dungeon that show a certain symbol cannot be combined with locations or other adventure cards!
Sequence of Play
Whoever most recently saw an island begins. Each team member goes through the following adventure phases:
- At any time: exchange adventure cards
- Move pawn
- Reveal location card
- Perform action
After that, the next team member clockwise takes their turn.
At Any Time: Exchange Adventure Cards
During your turn you may exchange any number of adventure cards with team members who are on the same location card at any time (exchanging 0 cards for X adventure cards and vice versa is also allowed).
Variant, free exchange: If you want, you can also agree as a group that you may exchange at any time, no matter which location you are at (unless an adventure card says otherwise). This is less realistic, but shortens the game a little.
1) Move Pawn
You must either move to another open location card, or move within the location card your pawn is already standing on, or remain at a location.
a) Move to another open location card. At the start of the game only location card A is open for exploration. Over the course of the game many further location cards will be added. As soon as several location cards lie open, you can move as far as you like from one to the next, unless an adventure card says otherwise!
b) Move within a location card. You can also move within a location card from one location to the next in order to investigate it or combine something with it (see "Combining" and "Combine an Adventure Card with a Location").
c) Remain at a location. This is only allowed if you investigate the location again or combine an adventure card with it (see "Combine an Adventure Card with a Location").
Note: Several pawns may stand at a location. For a better overview, make sure that you do not put your pawns directly on the location number, but always next to it.
2) Reveal Location Card
If you reach a location card that has not yet been revealed, you reveal it and read aloud the corresponding entry in the adventure book. There, what you see on this location card is described in detail. At the start this is entry A for location card A. Once you have discovered a location card, it lies open on the table. Of course you may re-read the respective entry at any time.
Note: Place your pawn next to the location you want to investigate, or want to combine an adventure card with, only after this.
Note: Some location cards can only be reached by detours (a1-e3). The descriptions of these location cards are not at the start of the adventure book, so as not to reveal too much about the story. If you find such a location card, note the number of the entry that describes it. That way you can re-read the description later if needed.
3) Perform Action
Unless an adventure card says otherwise, you perform one of the following actions:
a) investigate a location, or b) combine two adventure cards with each other, or c) combine an adventure card with a location.
a) Investigate a location on your location card. On each location card there are several locations that you can investigate. Each location is marked with a three-digit number.
If you want to investigate the location next to which your pawn is standing, read aloud the corresponding three-digit entry in the adventure book. In this way you get further information about the story or you receive new adventure cards. Would you rather have the texts read to you? Then select this game in the KOSMOS explanation app and enter the three-digit number there. The app then reads you the corresponding entry.
Note: Some locations change in the course of the story! This is announced by adventure cards. They ask you to add something to, or subtract something from, the location numbers on the location cards. Even if the location card itself stays the same, you should explore the locations again. In addition, you have to visit some locations several times, because only at a later point do you have the matching information or adventure cards.
Example: Adventure card 35 asks you to add the number 10 to all location numbers on location card Y. Location number 120 thus becomes location number 130. Accordingly, when investigating location 120 you now read entry 130, as long as adventure card 35 is in play.
b) Combine two adventure cards with each other. At some locations you receive adventure cards. You can, and must, combine these in the course of the game with certain other adventure cards or with certain locations. What belongs together will sometimes seem obvious to you, but sometimes it will not.
c) Combine an adventure card with a location. If you want to combine an adventure card with a location, you must be standing at that location.
Combining
To combine adventure cards with each other or with a location, look at their numbers. On adventure cards they are at the top left. For locations you use the three-digit location number of the desired location. Then proceed as follows: the smaller of the two numbers goes first, the larger goes last. Together they form a new four-digit or five-digit number (see example below). Now look in the adventure book for the corresponding number combination and read the entry aloud.
Example: You have found adventure cards 10 (can of cat food) and 11 (can opener). At location 204 a goat can be seen. You want to try to feed the goat with it. Before that you must first open the can. So you combine card 10 with card 11 and look up entry 1011: "Success, you have opened the can. Put cards 10 and 11 back in the box and take card 12 instead." Card 12 shows an open can of cat food.
On your next turn you can then combine card 12 with the goat at location 204. To do so you look up entry 12204 and read what it says.
Note: If there is no entry for a combination, the adventure cards cannot be combined with each other or with this location.
The game tells you explicitly whether you must afterwards put adventure cards back in the box. If this is not explicitly stated in the entry, you keep the adventure cards!
You can never combine adventure cards with your character cards!
Some adventure cards can be combined several times, also with different adventure cards or locations.
Card Rules
Some entries ask you to take or hand in adventure cards. If you are asked to ...
- take one or more adventure cards from the adventure stack ("take #XY"), read them aloud and place them face up in front of you, unless they say otherwise. They are now part of your inventory.
- put an adventure card back into the adventure stack, sort it face down into its original position in the stack.
- put one or more adventure cards back into the box, they are out of the game! It does not matter where, or with whom, the affected adventure card is.
Note: If you have to put adventure cards directly from the adventure stack into the box, you may only look at them after the end of the game, since they would otherwise reveal too much of the story!
Note: It can happen that you are supposed to take an adventure card that you already own, or that you are supposed to put back an adventure card that is already out of the game. In both cases you cannot receive the adventure card again or put it back, unless the entry expressly allows this (e.g. "take #XY from the box"). Carry out all other instructions you are given nevertheless, as far as possible.
Tile Rules
There are several kinds of tiles: the 4 main characters, various further characters, money tiles, X tiles and OK tiles. The game tells you each time when and how these come into play. An exception are the ?-tiles. You can use these as a reminder wherever you want. On the back of the adventure book you will find an overview of all tiles.
Note: For many tiles the front and back differ from each other. If you are asked to take a certain tile, always look at both sides of the tiles to find the one you are looking for.
If the game asks you to place an X tile on a location, you cover the location number with it. This location is from then on no longer available and you can no longer combine anything with it.
T1-T4 (Time Passes, Tick ... Tock ..., Suspicion, Status)
Some chapters of the story have an additional element that controls the progress of the story. The game tells you each time in which chapter this is the case. Follow the instructions each time.
Note: If an entry asks you to increase the corresponding track by 1, you must do so immediately. If you thereby reach the level named on the adventure card, you immediately read the entry given.
Adventure Book
Every time you investigate a location, combine adventure cards, or are asked to by the game, you read an entry from the adventure book aloud or have it read to you by the KOSMOS explanation app. The entries are sorted in ascending numerical order in the book. Be sure that you read only the entry that you are supposed to read!
Many entries in the adventure book contain, besides the story, gameplay instructions.
- The term "adventure card" is usually abbreviated with the hash sign # (e.g. #10 means adventure card 10).
- The phrase "Read entry XYZ" is abbreviated as "→XYZ".
- Small arrows are also used to separate gameplay instructions from the story. Always carry out one step first, then the next. Example: Take #f1 and place it face up above and to the left of location card Z. Place your pawn on #f1. →XYZ. This means you first take adventure card f1 from the stack and place it face up above and to the left of location card Z. The player whose turn it is then places their own pawn on adventure card f1. Afterwards you read entry XYZ aloud.
- If an entry (or an adventure card) asks which of you wants to perform an action, you have the choice of who does it. Any of your characters is possible, unless the character is not in the game or a card text says otherwise. This also applies if the corresponding character is on another location card. Then place the pawn of the chosen character next to the respective location and afterwards read the corresponding entry.
Saving the Game
To save, take a photo with a mobile phone of the current setup and of the adventure cards you have found so far. Alternatively you can do this with pen and paper. Be sure to note where your pawns stand, which locations you have not yet visited, where you suspect loose ends, where and what you still want to try, etc. Put all open location cards, your received adventure cards and character cards into one zip bag. Put location cards and adventure cards that are still face down into the other zip bag. Leave all adventure cards and location cards that are in the box there. Do you want to continue the game? Then place all location cards and open adventure cards according to your photo or notes and put your pawns back on their previous positions.
Starting the Game (Entry 100)
With this you know everything you need to begin your adventure! Place your pawns at the top right of location card A and read on.
After the introductory story text: Take #M1 and read it aloud. This is your mission. Then place #M1 face up to the left of #T1 and #T2. →A.
Hint Tips (General)
Look at the hint tips for adventure cards if you want to know where you receive a certain item, what you need it for, or where you have to use it. Look at the hint tips for locations if you want to know what you have to do at a certain location, or which items you receive or need there.
Note: If a hint tip refers to an undiscovered location or an adventure card you have not yet received, you can of course also read the corresponding hint tip to find out how to get the adventure card, etc. Alternatively you can use the walkthrough in the KOSMOS explanation app or on www.kosmos.de.
Where = at which location // How = through which combination // With what = combine with?
Note: Some combinations use up an adventure card. It can therefore be that you cannot try out all combinations!
- Example 1: "Wo: 202. Womit: 11." means that you receive the adventure card at 202 and must combine it with adventure card 11.
- Example 2: "Wie: 999 -> 149 ..." means that you read entry 999, then 149, etc.
- Example 3: "216: Kombiniert mit 36 oder 78 um 94 zu erhalten." means that you should combine #36 or #78 with location 216. Then you receive #94.
Scoring
You can look in the following table to see how well you did:
- 0-25 points: Phew, that was a close call! Well done!
- 26-40 points: There is potential in you. Congratulations!
- 41-50 points: You have wrested most of the secrets from the volcanic island. Very good!
- 51-61 points: Efficient, inventive, eloquent, experimental, in short: excellent!
- 61 and more points: Miss Marple, Sherlock or Columbo could not have done better! That was a movie-worthy performance!