Extraordinary Adventures: Pirates!
Extraordinary Adventures: Pirates! Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- Game Board
- Pirate Ships (4 in each player color)
- Cargo Crate Bag
- Cargo Crates (12 crates of each color)
- 12 Pink (representing silks and satins)
- 12 Yellow (representing gold and silver)
- 12 Brown (representing cocoa and tobacco)
- 12 Blue (representing indigo)
- 12 White (representing sugar)
- 20 Treasure Tiles
- Player Starting Decks (10 cards for each player color)
- Six '1' value cards ('Lubber')
- Three '2' value cards ('Able Bodied Seaman')
- One '3' value card ('Sailing Master's Mate')
- Port Deck (49 Cards: 32 Basic and 17 Advanced Cards)
- There are two kinds of Advanced Port Cards:
- Play-to-Table
- Discard out of Play
- Advanced Card Symbols are printed in the upper right of the card.
- There are two kinds of Advanced Port Cards:
- Merchant Deck (30 Cards)
- Pirate Meeples (4 in each player color) — these are only in play if the 'Advanced Gamers' rule is being used (see below).
Setup
A. Pirate Ships: Each player chooses a color, takes the four pirate ships of that color, and then places one of them on each of the three starting spaces: the towns of Gran Granada, Havana, and St. Augustine, and places the fourth one in the bag.
Start Player: Decide which player will be the start player by drawing one Pirate ship from the bag. Then place the ships in front of each player to indicate their player color.
Board: Place all Cargo Crates in the bag. Randomly draw out cubes and place them on each Merchant Ship space on the board equal to the number of red cargo squares shown under the Merchant Ship.
Treasure Tiles: Shuffle all 20 treasure tiles face down. From the pile, select 3 x the number of players + 1 tiles (2 players = 7 tiles, 3 players = 10 tiles, 4 players = 13 tiles, and 5 players = 16 tiles), placing them face up near the board. These tiles will be available to be purchased in towns during the game. Set the remaining unselected tiles out of play in the game box. These may be used later.
Player Start Cards: Each player gets the ten Player Start Cards in their color and shuffles them before dealing themselves five cards to form their 'Hand'. They then place the remaining five cards to their left facedown to form their 'Draw Deck'. Player Start Cards are denoted by a 'Ship's Wheel' symbol in the upper left.
Merchant Deck: Shuffle the 30 Merchant Cards and place the shuffled Merchant Deck face down on the space allocated for it on the board. Cards in the Merchant Deck are denoted by a 'Gold Doubloon' symbol in the upper left.
Port Deck: Shuffle the 49 Port Cards. Cards in the Port Deck are denoted by a 'Port' symbol in the upper left. There are two types of Port Cards:
- Basic Port Cards that have no symbol in the upper right.
- Advanced Port Cards that have a symbol in the upper right.
There are two types of Advanced Port Cards:
- 'Discard out of Play'
- 'Play to Table'
Place the shuffled Port Deck face down near the game board and then draw the top three cards and place them face up next to the deck so that all three are visible. These cards are the offering.
Beginner Gamers (Optional): If you are playing with new or young captains, remove the 17 Advanced Cards (those with the symbols in the upper right corner) from the Port deck and place them out of play in the game box. Then shuffle the 32 Basic Port Cards, and lay out the 3-card offering.
Advanced Gamers (Optional): If you are an experienced captain and would like a more strategic adventure, use the Pirate Meeples. Before the game begins, each player will take a turn placing one of their four Pirate Meeples in a port of their choice until all players have placed all four of them. Only one Pirate Meeple may be placed in any given port. The last player places first, followed by the player to their right, and so on.
During the game, if a player is able to move one of their ships into a port that contains one of their Pirate Meeples AND is able to immediately trade in cargo cubes for a treasure tile, then they will place that Pirate Meeple on that treasure tile. At the end of the game, all treasure tiles that have a Pirate Meeple on them will be worth DOUBLE the victory points shown on the tile.
If a player moves one of their ships into a port containing a Pirate Meeple belonging to another player, they 'capture' that Pirate and place it in front of them. If they 'rescue' their own Pirate Meeple, but cannot immediately purchase a Treasure Tile, they place it in front of them with the captured tiles. At the end of the game, they will get 1 victory point for each captured and rescued Pirate Meeple.
Start Bonuses: The following bonuses are awarded before play begins:
| Player Position | Bonus Action |
|---|---|
| Start Player | None |
| 2nd Player | Take 1 Cargo Crate drawn randomly from the bag. |
| 3rd Player | Take 1 Cargo Crate of the player's choice from the bag. |
| 4th Player | Take the top card (face down) from the Merchant Deck and place it in their discard pile. |
| 5th Player | Take the top card (face down) from the Port Deck and place it in their discard pile. |
| 6th Player | Select one of the face up cards from the Port Deck offering and place it in their discard pile. |
Gameplay
Rounds and Turns
Each round, beginning with the Start Player and going clockwise around the table, each player will take a turn. On their turn, the player will play three cards from their hand and move their Pirate Ships accordingly.
After they have completed their turn, they will place the cards that they played into a discard pile to their right. They will then re-draw from their draw pile (on their left) so that they have five cards in their hand. Whenever the draw pile has no remaining cards, they will shuffle their discard pile and place those cards to their left to form a new draw pile.
The player's cards move through three piles as the game proceeds: the Player Draw Pile, the Player Hand, and the Player Discard Pile.
Play then proceeds clockwise around the table to the next player and so on, proceeding this way until the end of the game.
Playing a Card
Each card shows a Movement Number at the lower right, and, where present, a Secondary Action to the left of that. A card may also carry a Play to Table Symbol or a Discard out-of-play Symbol.
When playing a card, the player will have a choice whether to use the movement portion at the lower right of the card OR the Secondary Action to the left of that (if available).
NOTE: Cards that are drawn as a result of playing a card are also placed in that player's discard pile.
'Discard out of Play' Cards
Cards that have the Skull and Crossbones symbol on them must be discarded out of play when their secondary action is performed. Place the card in the game box so that it is not used again.
If the movement portion of the card is used instead of the secondary action, then the card is not discarded out of play, but rather is placed in the player's regular discard pile.
NOTE: You may never have fewer than 9 cards in your deck (draw pile + hand + discard pile). If discarding a card out of play would result in fewer than 9 cards in your deck, then you may not perform the secondary action on the card that triggered the discard.
'Play-to-Table' Cards
Cards that have the Cards symbol on them are 'Play to Table' Cards.
When selecting the secondary action instead of the movement on the card, the player places the card face up in front of them. As long as that card remains face up in front of them, that player benefits from the special power on the card.
If the card says 'discard', then it is placed in the player's discard pile once the ability is used. It then must be played to table again to utilize the secondary action again.
If it does not say 'discard', then it remains in front of the player and they get the benefit of it for the rest of the game.
Movement
When players play cards for movement, they move one of their own Pirate Ships one space for each movement point on the card played. A player's Pirate Ship may be moved forward or backward on the track, according to the player's desire.
NOTE: Some cards specify that a ship is to be moved backward. Ships that are on a 'spur' (the parts of the track that lead to merchant ships and ports), may not ever be selected for backward movement.
NOTE: Two ships may occupy the same space.
When a card is used to move a pirate ship, the entire value on the card must be used to move a single ship (the movement value may not be split between 2 or more ships).
Pirate Ships that visit a port or plunder a merchant ship (collect cargo crates) may not move any further that turn. Pirate ships may move into a merchant ship space and choose NOT to plunder that merchant in order to continue moving.
Plundering Merchant Ships
When a player's ship lands on a merchant ship space with Cargo Crates on it, that player may 'plunder the merchant ship', taking the crates and placing them in front of them. Crates may be used later to purchase Treasure Tiles.
When a player plunders a merchant ship, they also draw a card from the top of the Merchant Deck. The new card is placed in that player's discard pile.
Pirates not only stole cargo and riches from merchant ships, they very often took crewmen. They needed large crews to board and overwhelm ships, and the pirate life could be dangerous. Replacements for lost crewmen were as important as food and water.
Once a merchant ship space has been plundered, no Cargo Crates or cards may be drawn from that space (the merchant is gone) unless new Cargo Crates are placed there as a result of card play.
Pirate Ships that plunder a merchant ship may not move further that turn.
Ports and Treasure Tiles
When a player's ship lands on a port for the first time, they may select one of the three face up Port Cards or the top face down Port Card and place it in their discard pile. As soon as one of the three face up cards is taken, it is replaced from the top of the deck so that there are always three face up Port Cards available in the offer.
Pirate Ships may not visit the same port twice in a game.
Hint: To avoid confusion, face the pirate ship toward the port as they are moving toward the port and away from the port when they have already visited the port.
Pirate Ships that visit a port may not move further that turn.
When a player's ship lands on a port for the first time, they may also trade their plundered Cargo Crates for Treasure Tiles. When doing this, the player pays the correct number and color of crates shown on the Treasure Tile, places the traded crates into the bag, and places the purchased Treasure Tile in front of them.
Players may purchase as many Treasure Tiles as they can afford in a single turn.
Ports that would purchase pirated cargos and allow pirate crews to spend their ill-gotten gains were essential to the pirate culture. Without them, pirates would not be able to turn their plunder into money, or to buy provisions for their next expedition. Friendly ports were also a great source for recruiting hard-to-find specialists like carpenters, doctors, and navigators.
When the last Treasure Tile is claimed, draw new treasure tiles from those not yet used, equal to the number of players (or all remaining tiles if that is not possible) and place them faceup near the board. These tiles are now available to be purchased. This re-draw is performed only once in the game. Once this second draw of Treasure Tiles has occurred, no more Treasure Tiles will be drawn.
Ending & Scoring
As soon as any player's Pirate Ship lands on the Trinidad space (capturing the Spanish Treasure Fleet), the game ends immediately. That player may claim one Treasure Tile for free from those available.
Each player now totals the Victory Points (VP's) shown on all of their Treasure Tiles and treasure cards.
If using the optional ADVANCED GAMER rules, Treasure Tiles with a Pirate Meeple on them are worth 2X their printed value, and each 'captured' and 'rescued' Pirate is worth 1 Victory Point.
Each Cargo Crate remaining in front of the player is worth ½ Victory Point.
Players also gain Victory Points for each of their Pirate Ships based on the number of players in the game and where their ships finished on each track, as follows:
| Finish | 2 Player | 3 Player | 4 Player | 5 Player | 6 Player |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 7 VP | 12 VP | 12 VP | 16 VP | 21 VP |
| 2nd | 5 VP | 6 VP | 6 VP | 10 VP | 15 VP |
| 3rd | — | 3 VP | 3 VP | 6 VP | 10 VP |
| 4th | — | — | — | 3 VP | 6 VP |
| 5th | — | — | — | — | 3 VP |
For purposes of scoring, Pirate Ships that are on 'spurs' are considered to be on the space on the main track that lead into that spur.
Pirate Ships on the same space (tied) both score the points for finishing in that place (ties are friendly), and the next ship(s) will score the points for that next place.
Example: In a five player game, the Red Player finished 1st on the Black Track and receives 16 VP's. The Black and Yellow Players both finished 2nd and receive 10 VP's. The Blue Player finished 3rd and receives 6 VP's. The Green Player finishes 4th and receives 3 VP's.
The player with the most Victory Points wins.
If two or more players have the same amount of Victory Points, the winner is the tied player with the Treasure Tiles that are worth the most VP's. If they are still tied, the winner is the tied player with the most Cargo Crates.
Q&A
Q: Does a player have to use the entire movement value on a card? A: No. A player could use a '3' value card to move only 2 spaces, but that extra movement point cannot be used to move another ship.
Q: Can a player move their ship backward? A: Yes. But they may only visit each port once.
Q: Can a player move through a Merchant Ship space without plundering the Merchant Ship? A: Yes. Sometimes pirates are in a hurry.
Credits
Game Design: Don Beyer & Glenn Drover Graphic Design: Jacoby O'Connor Game Artwork: Mark Page Map Artwork: Jared Blando Art Direction & Concept: Glenn Drover
Prototype Creation: Jacoby O'Connor, Don Beyer, Glenn Drover
Special Thanks to Sean Brown, Billy Van Ark, and Ralph H Anderson for their invaluable input
Playtesters: Jack Provenzale, Dan Vujovic, Sean Brown, Ethan Drover, Jacoby O'Connor, Chris Wood, Simon Mounsey, Brian Cable, Keith Blume, Aaron Witten, Don Beyer, Dana Beyer, Mark Streed, Billy Van Ark, Nikki Ebright, Nick Papadopoulos, Rahdo, Tom Vasel, Zee Garcia, Sam Healey, John Brust, Paul Koenig, Dave Rutter, Bill Hupp, Ivor Janci.
Recommended Pirate Information and Experiences:
- The Pirate Hunter by Richard Zacks
- A Worldwide Illustrated History of Pirates – Consulting Editor: David Cordingly
- A General History of the Robberies & Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates by Captain Charles Johnson
- Sid Meier's Pirates! A computer game by Sid Meier