Cartagena: Die Goldinsel Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Equipment
• Game Preparation
• Game Objective
• Playing the Game
  • 1. Play a card to move a figure (Required)
  • Actions in the pirate nest
  • 2. Play a card to use its property (Optional)
  • 3. Draw cards to a hand size of four (Required)
• Game End and Victory Conditions
• Variation

Equipment

• 1 game plan
• 4 captain's figures in red, blue, green and yellow
• 4 ship figures in red, blue, green and yellow
• 64 Pirate cards, 16 each in the colors red, blue, green and yellow
• 16 pirate figures, 4 each in the colors black, white, violet and natural
• 28 digging permits, 7 each in the colors red, blue, green and yellow
• 12 island cards
• 4 relic cards
• 12 treasure chests tokens
• 27 coins with values 1 (17 x) and 3 (10 x)
• 1 game rules

Game Preparation

(Before the first game, the treasure chests tokens and coins should be very carefully removed from the frames.)

Place the game board in the center of the table. The example shows the setup for 3 players:

A. The 12 island cards are shuffled and places in their spot on the game board.

B. An island card is drawn and placed half under the board by the squid picture. This is the gold island. Important: No player should look at the card! A coin with a value of 3 is placed on the gold island card.

C. The 4 relic cards are placed face up on the lower volcanic island (storage box).

D. Depending on the number of players, 2-4 pirates in each color are placed in the corresponding houses in the pirate's nest.

• With 2 Players 2 pirates per color
• With 3 players 3 Pirates per color
• With 4 players 4 Pirates per color

E. The 12 treasure chests are well mixed and placed face down on the crosses of the Treasure Islands.

F. The coins are placed in a pile besides the board. They are only used at the end of the game.

Each player chooses a color and receives:

G. The two figures: captain and ship. The captain is placed in the pirate's nest on the field with the lighthouse. The ship is placed in the port at a free pier.

H. The 16 pirate cards. He shuffles them and places them face down in a pile in front him and draws 4 cards into his hand.

J1. The digging permits. The digging permit with the value 7 is placed face up on the upper volcanic island. The remaining digging permits are mixed together. A randomly chosen digging permit remains with the player (J2) and the remaining will be placed face-down in the middle of the pirate nest (J3) (also above). Almost all of the roofs of the houses should be covered.

K. An island card from the deck. The players should remember this, because it can be stolen. Island maps and digging permits should be kept hidden!

(If playing with 2 or 3 players, the unused material is placed back in the box.)

The youngest player starts the game.

Game Objective

Each captain is trying to get the most gold at the end of the game. This can be found in the treasure chests on the islands. Gold can also be gained through relics and for the conquest of the gold island. However, only those who have found the gold island, can win the game!

Playing the Game

On his turn, the player makes the following acts in the order given:

1. Play a card to move a figure (Required)
2. Play a card to use its property (Optional)
3. Draw cards to a hand size of four (Required)

Play proceeds in a clockwise direction following the player's turn.

1. Play a card to move a figure (Required)

The player must play a card from his hand to move his figure (captain or ship). The movement amount is determined by the number in the flag. The player must use all the movement points, with none left over. If a card with the lighthouse symbol is played, the character immediately moves to the port (captain to the lighthouse field, ship to a free pier space). Any number of figures may stand in each field.

The pirate captain in the nest: The captain's figure may only be moved when the ship is in port. The pirates in the nest may move clockwise or counter-clockwise. The player will decide each time which direction to move. Each field may only be visited once per turn. On most fields an action is available. (See actions in the pirate's nest.)

The ship at sea: The ship's figure may only be moved when your captain is in the Lighthouse Field. The ship moves along the dotted lines from island to island, with each island counted as a field. Each line may be moved along only once per turn!

A movement of land to the water, or vice versa, costs nothing. The player may move his captain or his ship to the lighthouse or port box and then continue his movement with his other figure.

Example: The player stands with his captain on the field on which he received a black pirate. He plays a card with the value 5. He moves his captain 2 fields to the port (Lighthouse), leaves his captain's character there and then moves his ship 3 squares (Islands).

Each player's played cards form a discard pile. If his draw pile is used up, the player shuffles his discard pile to form a new draw pile.

Actions in the pirate nest

• The player takes from the stock a digging permit in his color, looks at it, and places it in front of him.
• The player takes a pirate in the color shown on the field and places it in front of him. Note: There is a pirate limit. A player may have a max of 3 pirates placed in front of themselves!
• The player takes the top island card from the deck, looks at it, and places it face down in front of him. By doing this the player knows which island is not the gold island. Tip: The player should memorize his island cards, since they can be stolen.
• The player gambles. He takes the top card from his draw pile and places it on his discard pile. If this card has the poker icon, the player has won and gets one of his digging permits and any pirate (limit of 3!). If it does not have the card poker icon, the player receives nothing! If the stock has no more digging permits and/or pirates, the corresponding figures can no longer be won.
• There is no possible action, but we may go to the sea!

2. Play a card to use its property (Optional)

After movement the players may still play a second hand card to use its property. A second movement is not possible!

The properties are as follows:

Robbery (2 cards)

1st use: The player may steal a hidden island map from a player. This requires the figure of the player (captain or ship) be on the same field as the character of the other player.

2nd use: Prerequisites: The draw pile for the island cards is gone and the captain stands on a field with Island Map icon. The player may take an island map from any player. His captain must not be at the same field as the captain of that player.

Double Robbery (1 card)

The double robbery works like the robbery (1st or 2nd option), but one or two island cards may be stolen.

Seer (2 cards)

The player looks at the value of a treasure chests and then returns it to the board.

Pirate (2 cards)

The player takes a pirate (if any) from the island where his ship is anchored, and places it in front of him. (Remember the pirate limit!)

Double Pirate (2 cards)

The player takes one or two pirates (if any) from the island where his ship is anchored, and puts them in front of him. (Remember the pirate limit!)

Monument (1 card)

The player may use the top card from another player's discard pile.

Ashore - Treasure Island

The ship of the player is at a Treasure Island (Island with a treasure chest). The player sets a Pirate in the shown color (or two pirates in any colors) from his stock on the island and also one of his digging permits from the pile in front of him there. If there are already digging permits on the island, the new digging permit is always placed on top of the others. Important: Each player may only place one digging permit on each Treasure Island!

Ashore - Volcanic Island

The ship of the player is located on a volcanic island. The player places any pirate from his stock on the volcanic island. Then, depending of which island his ship is anchored at, he takes either:

a. his digging permit with the value 7, which he places face down in the pile in from of him, or

b. a relic card of his choice. From now on the player has its advantage.

The advantages of the four relic cards:

• The player may ignore the color of the pirates when landing on a treasure island, i.e. a pirate in any color may be placed on the island.
• The player may extend his movement (ship or captain) by 1.
• The player's hand limit is now five.
• The player may at the beginning of his turn discard one or two pirate cards from his hand draw the same number of cards is his draw pile.

No player may have more than one relic card.

3. Draw cards to a hand size of four (Required)

At the end of his turn, the player draws one or two cards until he has four in his hand. (Exception: One of the relic cards increases the hand limit to five.)

Game End and Victory Conditions

Once a player has placed his sixth digging permit on an island, all other players get one more turn. Then the game ends. As the pirate figures are no longer needed, they may be removed from the islands. Then the islands are settled in the following order:

• Treasure chests of islands on which no digging permit has been placed are returned to the box.
• Treasure chests of islands, where only one digging permit has been placed, the owner of this digging permit gets the chest (The digging permit is left on the island).
• Treasure chests of islands, where several digging permits have been placed, will be awarded to the player, whose digging permit has the highest value. The digging permits are revealed. If there is a tie, the first one place (the lowest) digging permit wins. All other players, with digging permits on this island get gold coins from the stock: The second gets 1 gold coin less, the third 2 gold coins less, the fourth 3 gold coins less than the value of the treasure chest (Again, the digging permits remain in place).

Finally, after all the islands have been settled, the map under the board (by the squid) is revealed. This is the gold island. Now the player who won that island gets the gold coin with value 3. More coins are not distributed. Any player who does not have a digging permit on the gold island is eliminated.

All other players add the values of their treasure chests and gold coins and the value of their relic card.

The player with the highest sum wins the game. With a tie, the player who had the higher digging permit on the gold island wins.

Variation

For a somewhat simpler game, decide at the beginning that the player may keep notes on their knowledge of the island maps and treasure chests tokens. However, writing on the game material is not necessary!