Batam
Batam Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
Game board, 4 ships, 16 goods cubes, 12 crew dice, 4 crew boards, 88 coins (33 one-value, 39 five-value, 16 twenty-five-value), 8 compass tiles, 18 compass cards
Game Setup
Unfold the game board in the center of the table. Decide whether to play with the compass tiles or compass cards:
- If playing with the compass tiles, shuffle the 8 compass tiles and place 7 of them face down on the compass spaces of the game board. Return the remaining tile to the game box, then flip the 7 tiles on the game board face up.
- If playing with the compass cards, leave the compass tiles in the box. Instead, shuffle the 18 compass cards and place the deck face down near the game board.
Each player: Choose a player color. Place the crew board, 4 goods cubes, and 3 dice of that color in front of you, and the ship of that color in the wavy-patterned harbor space of Batam Island.
Each player: Roll 2 dice and add them together, treating a seasick result as 0. The player with the highest result is the first player (reroll any ties).
First player: Place your crew board below the game board.
All other players: In clockwise order from the first player, place your crew board to the right of the most recently placed crew board to form the crew row.
Place the coins near the game board to form the bank.
Each player: Take 20 coins from the bank (three 5-value and five 1-value) to start your personal supply.
You are now ready to play Batam!
Overview
The goal of Batam is to quickly sail to as many islands as possible to sell your goods. To do so, you offer wages to attract your opponents' crew dice to your ship. The sum of these dice determines how far your ship can sail that round.
Each time you reach a new island, you sell a goods cube, paying out some of the profit to any other players whose cubes were there before yours. At the end of each round, you collect the wages for each of your dice that were hired by other players. Play then continues to the next round.
The game ends when a player sells all 4 of their goods and sails back to Batam Island. A player whose ship returns to Batam Island before the end of that round earns a bonus, then all players total their money. The wealthiest captain wins!
The Game Round
Each game round consists of four phases:
- Offer Wages
- Place Crew
- Sail Ships
- Collect Wages
During each phase, players take turns in the order of the crew row, starting with the leftmost crew board and proceeding right. After the rightmost player has completed their turn, the next phase begins.
Phase 1: Offer Wages
In this phase, offer wages to attract crew to your ship.
Your crew board has 3 spaces for adding dice:
- the captain (left)
- a sailor (middle)
- and the ship (right)
You must offer at least 1 coin to hire the captain and 1 coin to hire the sailor. There is no limit to how much you can offer. Move the coin(s) for these hires from your supply to each character's portrait to indicate the offered wage for these jobs.
Note: You cannot place any coins above the ship space. Any dice here collect no wages (see Collect Wages, page 8).
Phase 2: Place Crew
In this phase, roll and place your dice on your opponents' crew boards. Each die placed adds the value rolled to that ship's movement in exchange for the wages offered for that spot in Phase 1.
Roll all 3 of your dice. Each die showing a value from 1 to 5 may be placed to add the value to a ship's movement. The seasick result cannot be placed on an opponent's ship this round. No one hires seasick crew!
You may reroll your dice by paying 2 coins to the bank. You may reroll again by paying 1 additional coin for each reroll after the first (e.g. total 3 coins for two rerolls, 4 coins for three rerolls, etc.). Each time, you may reroll any or all of your dice.
When you are done with rerolls, place one of your dice showing a number on an opponent's crew board. You can never place your dice on your own crew board. When placing a die, follow these rules:
- The first die placed on any crew board always goes in the leftmost (captain) space.
- When a second or third die is placed on a crew board, rearrange the dice on that board in descending value from left to right.
- When adding a die with a value matching another die already on a ship, place the new die immediately to the left of the die with the same value. This will push 1 or 2 dice to the right.
- If a crew board already has 3 dice on it, no further dice may be added to that board.
- In a 3-player game, you can place a maximum of 2 of your dice on each opponent's board.
- In a 4-player game, you can only place 1 of your dice on each opponent's board.
Keep placing dice according to these rules until you have none of your dice left with numbers showing. After you have placed your last die, this phase is repeated by remaining players in clockwise order.
Example: Becky adds a die with a value of 2 on Alex's crew board. Alex's board has a 4 in the captain space and a 2 in the sailor space.
Becky's 2 is placed in the sailor space, moving the 2 that was previously there right to the ship space. Alex's crew board now has 3 dice on it, so no further dice may be added to it.
Phase 3: Sail Ships
In this phase, move your crewed ship around the board. You may move your ship a number of spaces up to the total of all dice on your crew board (e.g. if your ship has dice with values 4, 2, and 2, you may move up to 8 spaces). When moving your ship, follow these rules:
- Your ship may only move to adjacent sea, compass, or harbor spaces. It cannot move to or pass through island spaces.
- Your ship may move into a space occupied by another ship, but must spend 1 additional movement (total 2) to do so.
- Your ship cannot end its movement in a sea or compass space containing another ship.
Compass Spaces
There are 7 spaces featuring a compass icon, referred to as "compass spaces." If you are playing with the compass tiles or cards, immediately apply the effects of the tile there, or draw and resolve a compass card. For a full list of compass effects, see page 9, 10.
Harbor Spaces
(The printed heading reads "Habor Spaces"; corrected here to "Harbor Spaces".)
Each time you enter a harbor space, you may immediately sell goods. If the island is not Batam, and does not already contain your goods cube, do the following in this order:
- Place a goods cube on the island to collect 25 coins from the bank.
- Pay each other player with a cube on that island 5 coins from your personal supply.
Once you have sold all 4 of your cubes, your ship is out of goods to sell and it's time to return to Batam Island (see Ending the Game, page 8).
Selling goods does not cost any movement, and you may continue to sail your ship afterwards.
When leaving a harbor space, you may enter any adjacent space.
You may end your movement in a harbor space even if there are other ships there.
Phase 4: Collect Wages
Once all ships have sailed, all players collect the wages directly above their dice on their opponents' crew boards. Dice in the rightmost (ship) space earn no wages.
Add these wages to your personal supply, then collect your dice near your crew board.
Any wages left on a player's crew board – because no die was assigned to that space – are returned to that player's personal supply.
Finally, move the leftmost crew board to the right end of the crew row. The next round begins with this new player order.
Ending the Game
The game ends when any player has sold all 4 of their goods and returns their ship to the harbor at Batam Island. This player collects 10 coins from the bank. Play continues until the end of the current round.
Any other player who returns their ship to the Batam Island harbor by the end of the round also collects 10 coins, whether they have sold all their goods or not.
At the end of the current round, all players total their coins. The wealthiest player wins! With a tie, the player who sold the most goods wins. If the tied players also sold the same number of goods, they share the victory.
Compass Tiles
When playing with the compass tiles, apply the corresponding effect when any ship enters the tile.
- Tradewind: You gain the listed amount of extra movement this round (2, 3, or 4). You may only gain this bonus once per round.
- Sunken Treasure: Immediately collect the listed coins from the bank (8 or 10), then remove the tile from the game.
- Treasure Map: Collect the tile from this space and place it in front of you. The next time you enter the listed island's harbor (Rempang or Sugi), collect the coins shown from the bank, then remove the tile from the game.
- Pirate Ship: You may not enter or pass through a space with this tile. If you move into a space adjacent to this tile, pay 3 coins per die on your crew board to the bank.
Compass Cards
When playing with the compass cards, apply the corresponding effect each time a compass card is drawn. A new card is drawn each time a ship enters a compass space.
- Tradewind: You gain the listed amount of extra movement this round (2 or 3), then discard this compass card.
- Sunken Treasure: Immediately collect the listed coins from the bank (2, 3, or 4 coins), then discard this compass card.
- Treasure Map: Place this card face up in front of you. The next time you enter the listed island's harbor (Citlim, Rempang, or Sugi), collect the coins shown from the bank, then remove this card from the game.
- Pirate Ship: Your crew is accosted by pirates! You must either pay the listed coins per die on your crew board as ransom (1 or 2 coins each), or immediately end your movement in this compass space. After paying the ransom or ending your movement, discard this compass card.
If the compass deck runs out of cards, shuffle the discards to form a new compass deck.