Archipel Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Preparations
• Sailing
• Catching fish
• The harbours
• The storms
• Two boats meeting
• Game end
• Remark
• Tougher version: memory game
• Short game

Contents

Game board, game rules, 1 blue pocket, 5 boat cards, 5 coloured pawns, 30 rectangular fuel markers, 20 'closed' signs (in 4 languages), 30 circular fish pieces and 61 square cards: 24 storm, 22 bait, 5 jerrycan, 4 storm gear, 4 good weather, and 2 boat leak.

Preparations

1. Look over the game board. It shows an archipelago with 12 islands. Locate the harbour, market and shop on each island. The narrow channels between the islands are represented by numbered spaces. In the course of the game, the storm cards will be placed here, closing off the channels. In one corner is a warehouse.
2. Each player chooses his or her coloured pawn and puts it in home port. The home ports are easily recognized by their colour.
3. Each player gets a boat card of the same colour. On the boat card, spots are indicated for placing equipment (square spaces), fish (circular spaces) and fuel (rectangular spaces).
4. Each player start with a full tank. Put 5 fuel markers on each boat card. The remaining fuel tokens are put beside the game board.
5. Put all fish pieces face down on the board and mix them well. Help each other to divide them over the game board. One fish on each indicated space. Take care that no one sees the fish colours!
6. Put the square cards in the blue pocket, so that they can be shuffled and drawn randomly during the game.
7. Each shop now gets three square cards. Put them face up. The warehouse also gets three face up cards.
8. Put the 'closed' signs near the warehouse.
9. One player sitting close to the warehouse will be the warehouse keeper. This player will take care of supplying the shops.

Sailing

1. Decide together on a starting player. The game proceeds in the direction of the sun (clockwise).
2. Your turn allows you to sail anywhere, unless storms are blocking your way. Each move requires one fuel token. No matter how far you are moving.
3. Moving your boat means:
   • A. Hand in one fuel token.
   • B. Sail to the location of your choice: a fish, a storm or a harbour.
   • C. Take your action here (actions are described later).
4. If you didn't enter a harbour and you have still fuel left, you can move again.
5. Your turn automatically ends when you enter a harbour. You may also choose to end your turn prematurely and stay at sea until your next turn.
6. At any time, you can fill up your fuel tank using a jerrycan (see 16C). Or you can get fuel from another boat, but then you have to go there (see 25). When you have run out of fuel at sea, the only way to get going again is that another player bring you some fuel.
7. Instead of moving, you can also stay at the place where you ended your previous turn. This takes no fuel. However, when in a harbour, you are forced to take the cards in that harbour's shop; see 'The harbours'.

Catching fish

8. When you have sailed to a fish with at least one bait card in your boat, you may try to catch this fish. Obtaining bait is described under 'The harbours'. Often it is useful to carry different kinds of bait.
9. First expose the fish card. If the fish colour corresponds with the colour of your bait, the fish is caught. Put the fish on your boat card; the bait card is returned to the pocket. With multicolour bait, any fish can be caught, but you can also choose to let the fish swim and keep the bait. If the fish isn't caught, it stays at its place turned face up.
10. If the fish you are trying to catch happens to be shark, it will eat one bait (of your choice). The shark stays in place face up and the bait card is removed from the game.
11. If still have bait left, you can sail to another fish and try to catch it.
12. Each boat can carry only three fish. You may throw fish out of your boat, but then they are removed from the game.

The harbours

13. When arriving in a harbour, first check if there is a boat leak card. If so, your boat is damaged. The ship's hold is flooded and any equipment you might be carrying becomes useless. All square cards from your boat card are removed from the game. If there are two boat leak cards, you also lose the fish you are carrying! After this event, the boat is repaired. The boat leak card is returned to the pocket.
14. When you are safely landed, you can deliver fish at the market, if they have the right colour! Put the fish on the right spot on the market, making it easy to see which fish still have to be delivered.
15. Then you read the weather news. This might be the following:

• A. Storm: A storm is forming in one of the channels. Put the storm card on a channel space with a number corresponding to the storm card. If the card has no number, decide together which storm space will be occupied. If you have drawn a storm card with a number that is already covered by a storm card without number, the storm card without number is first moved to a different storm space of your choice. The new card can then be placed on its corresponding number.
• B. Good weather: One of the storms is subsiding! Immediately remove one storm card of your choice. The storm card as well as the good weather card are removed from the game. Take care: If there are no storm cards on the board yet, the good weather card is removed without having effect!

16. The remaining cards are equipment that you are buying in the harbour shop. Put these on the square spaces of your boat card. There are three types of cards:

• A. Bait: You need this to catch fish, as described earlier. Some types of bait are more common than others.
• B. Storm gear: This clothing protects you from the storms. In one of your next turns you can use this card to cancel a storm, see 'The storms'.
• C. Jerrycan: This item can be used to fill your fuel tank. It can be used at any time, for example directly after taking it. After filling up your tank (you will have 5 fuel markers on your boat card) you hand in your jerrycan. Jerrycans with a blue background colour are returned to the pocket, cans with red background colour are removed from the game.

17. Your boat can only carry 4 equipment cards. If you have more, the exceeding cards are removed from the game.
18. Since you are in a harbour, your turn is now over. Next turn, you can sail further.
19. Now, the warehouse keeper fills the empty shop with the contents of the warehouse. After this, he or she fills the warehouse from the pocket (after shuffling)!
20. Stores closing: When there are less than three cards in the blue pocket, they remain in the pocket. Instead, the keeper puts a 'closed' sign on the warehouse. The next shop that is visited will be closed after delivering their last supplies, by putting this sign on the shop. From now on, no more square cards are put on this shop. It is still possible to deliver fish on this harbour's market.

The storms

21. Storms can block the channels between the islands. This only happens, when the entire channel is blocked. As long as there is still an open space, you can sail through.
22. As soon as a channel is completely blocked, the boats will have to make a detour. When several channels are blocked, some harbour and fish may become inaccessable!
23. With the right gear, the storm cannot harm you. If you have the storm gear card, move to a storm space (this will take 1 fuel). The storm card is returned to the pocket (not removed from the game like when using a good weather card). The storm gear card is removed from the game.
24. After removing the storm card you can move again, if you still have fuel left! Otherwise, you stay at this location.

Two boats meeting

25. Two boats that are at the same location can give each other all kinds of things: equipment (square cards), fish and fuel markers. In this way, everyone can keep sailing and the markets can be supplied efficiently! Such a meeting can be done in a harbour or at sea.

Game end

When the markets have been supplied as much as possible, each player tries to reach his or her home port. If this is not possible, they go to another harbour so that they are safe during the stormy season.

The game can end in three ways:

1. All markets have the right fish, and all boats have returned to their home ports: A very successful fishing season! Congratulations!
2. All markets have their fish, but not all boats have returned to their home ports: Very good, but next time try to bring them all home!
3. Not all markets have received their orders: What might be done in a next game to get a better result?

Remark

The background colour of the square cards helps to memorize where they will go after use:

• Cards with red background (good weather, storm gear, 2 jerrycans) are removed from the game immediately after use. Put them in the game box.
• Cards with blue background (storms, bait, boat leak, 3 jerrycans) are normally returned to the blue pocket. Exceptions are:
  • equipment that is damaged by a 'boat leak',
  • excess equipment (above 4) that can't be given to another boat,
  • bait that is eaten by a shark,
  • storms that are removed using a good weather card. These are removed from the game; put them in the game box.

Tougher version: memory game

For more excitement, the memory game can be played:

1. All fish that can't be caught because the right bait is not there, are turned face down.
2. Sharks are also turned face down after they have eaten the bait.
3. Players help each other to remember the location of each fish. If you want to keep ample bait, take particular care of the sharks!

Short game

For an easier and shorter game, play with 8 of the 12 markets and shops. The grey islands with a pagoda are out of the game. For clarity, put a 'closed' sign on shop and market on each of these 4 islands. The other rules remain the same. Now it is not necessary anymore to catch all the fish!

This variation can also be combined with the memory game.