Cannon Buster Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• I. Components
• II. Goal of the Game
• III. Set up
• Character's Majority Power Card Effects
  • No.1 - Treasure Hunter
  • No.2 - Gold Thief
  • No.3 - Cannon Thief
  • No.4 - Arms Dealer
  • No.5 - Destroyer
  • No.6 - Merchant
  • No.7 - Trader
  • No.8 - Captain
• IV. How to Play
  • 1. Draw cards
  • 2. Choose 3 cards
  • 3. Check Majorities
  • 4. Use majority effects and fire cannons
    • Normal cannon
    • Power Cannon
    • Antique Cannon
  • 5. Check the card limit
  • 6. Prepare for the Next Round
• V. Game End

I. Components

• 1 Game board
• 36 Pirate cards (numbered 1 to 8; the number on a card is also the number of copies of that card in the deck)
• 10 Cannon cards (Normal Cannon, Power Cannon, Antique Cannon)
• 8 Pirate tokens (numbered 1 to 8). Note: The Captain (Pirate No.8) will be used as the Round marker.
• 1 First Player marker
• 1 8-Sided Die
• 10 Gold Coins
• 9 Gold Chests (containing from 0 to 3 gold coins each)

II. Goal of the Game

In Cannon Buster, players collect Pirate cards to use their abilities to gather treasure. Players may also fire cannons at each other to disrupt the strategy of other players. After 6 rounds of play, the player with the highest score wins!

III. Set up

1. Place the game board in the middle of the table, then place the character tokens numbered 1 thru 7 on the bottom of the board.
2. The 'Captain' (No.8) is used as the round marker. Place it on the 'Round 1' space of the game board.
3. Shuffle all gold chests without showing their contents and place them on the bottom left corner of the game board.
4. Place the gold coins on the bottom right corner of the game board.
5. Choose a first player who takes the first player marker with the pirate ship.

Character's Majority Power Card Effects

No.1 - Treasure Hunter

Pick at random a gold chest from the game board. Keep its content hidden from the other players.

No.2 - Gold Thief

Take either a gold chest or a gold coin from another player. If no other players have coins or chests the Gold Thief has no effect.

No.3 - Cannon Thief

Take one cannon card from another player's playing area.

Note: A stolen cannon card is available for immediate use during the 'fire cannons' phase, even if it has already been used this round.

No.4 - Arms Dealer

Take from the game board a number of coins equal to the number of cannon cards you have.

Note: If the game board is empty, the player may take the missing coins from other players of their choice.

No.5 - Destroyer

Discard a cannon card from another player's playing area.

No.6 - Merchant

Take a gold coin from the game board.

Note: If the game board is empty, the player may take the coin from another player of their choice.

No.7 - Trader

Exchange a cannon card from your own playing area with one from another player's playing area.

Note: You may decide not to use this ability. But if you have no cannon cards in play, you cannot use it in any case.

No.8 - Captain

This card has no majority effect during the course of the game. However, at the end of the game, having a majority of Captain is worth 8 victory points.

Note: The number on a card refers to: (1) The Pirate and its ability. (2) The total number of similar cards in the deck (i.e., 1 Treasure Hunter, 2 Gold Thieves, etc.). (3) The number of victory points awarded at the end of the game to the player who has in play the majority of cards of this character.

IV. How to Play

The game is played over 6 rounds. Each round follows the steps below:

1. Draw cards

Each player draws a number of cards equal to the number visible below the round marker on the game board. (The round track shows the number of cards to draw in each round: 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4 for rounds 1 to 6.)

2. Choose 3 cards

Each player chooses 3 cards from their hand and places them face-down in front of them. All remaining cards are shuffled back into the deck.

3. Check Majorities

After step 2 has been completed, all players simultaneously reveal their cards. Starting with the Treasure Hunter (No.1) and moving up to the Trader (No.7), check majorities for each character. The player with the most cards wins the corresponding character token and places it in their playing area.

Note: If two or more players are tied for the most cards, no players achieve a majority and the corresponding Pirate token remains on the board. A token may only be gained by having more cards of the associated sort than any other player.

Note: Players do not check for the Captain's domination until the end of the game. Until then, the Captain token is only used to record the current round on the round track.

Example 1: Player A has a 'Cannon Thief' card, a 'Gold Thief' card, and a 'Destroyer' card. Player B has a 'Gold Thief' card and two 'Destroyer' cards. Player A gets the majority for the 'Cannon Thief' and Player B gets the majority for the 'Destroyer'. Since both players have an equal number of 'Gold Thief' card, neither get the majority for the 'Gold Thief'.

When the check for majorities is complete, players proceed to the next step beginning with the first player.

4. Use majority effects and fire cannons

During this step, players play in turn order, starting with the First player. The active player may use their majority effects gained during step 3 in any order they like, returning the corresponding token to the game board after use. Then, the active player must roll the die once for each cannon card they have in play. Before each roll, they must announce the cannon that is being fired. The cannons may be fired in any order, but all must be so.

Normal cannon

The active player rolls the die and may discard one card of the corresponding number from another player's playing area. If several players have an eligible card, the active player may only discard one. In the same manner, if one player has several cards of the rolled number, the active player may not discard more than one. A player may not discard one of his own cards. The discarded cards are reshuffled into the deck.

Power Cannon

The active player rolls the die and may discard one card of the matching number from each opponent's playing area. The active player's cards are left untouched. Nothing happens if no players have a card matching the number rolled.

Antique Cannon

The active player rolls the die. If they have a card of the matching number in play, the active player must discard it. Only if they have no matching card may they discard one from another player's playing area. In such case, the active player also takes 1 gold coin from the Gold Chest. This is a bonus for hitting the target with the antique cannon. At the end of the game, players with antique cannons in play gain 2 bonus points for each such card in their playing area.

Note: If the game board is empty, the player may take the coin from another player of their choice.

5. Check the card limit

After all players have finished their turn, they must check their playing area against the card limit indicated on the round track. The figure given for the current round indicates the maximum number of cards allowed in a player's playing area at the end of the round (3, 4, 5, 6, 7 for rounds 1 to 5). Any players with more cards than the allowed number must discard as many cards of their own choosing as necessary to meet this requirement. But any players with same or fewer cards than the allowed number must not discard. At the end of round 6, there is no limit to the number of cards in a player's playing area.

6. Prepare for the Next Round

Shuffle together all discarded cards with the draw pile. Return all the character tokens to bottom of the game board. Move the round marker up one space, and pass the first player marker to the next player in clockwise order. Then, begin the next round with step 1 Draw cards, followed by 2 Choose 3 cards, 3 Check Majorities, 4 Use majority effects and fire cannons, 5 Check the card limit.

V. Game End

After playing the sixth round, the game comes to an end, and players tally up their final scores. Check for majorities one last time and distribute tokens accordingly (as in step 3).

Note: At the end of the final round, players must also check for the Captain's majority (No.8). The player who gains the Captain's token takes it from the round track and places it with his other tokens.

To determine their final score, each player sums up:

• The numbers on the character tokens in their possession,
• The gold coins in their gold chests,
• Their gold coins,
• And 2 additional points for each Antique cannon in their playing area.

The player with the highest final score becomes the new Master of Treasure Island and wins the game!

Example: Player A has tokens 2, 5, 8 (15 points), 1 Antique cannon (2), gold chests worth 6, and 2 gold coins (2) = 25 points. Player B has tokens 1, 3, 7 (11 points), 1 Antique cannon (2), gold chest points 3 and 1 gold coin = 17 points. Player C has tokens 4 and 6 (10 points) and 4 gold coins = 14 points. Player A wins!