Jamaica: The Crew Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components and Setup
• Recruiting a Character
• Loading
• The Characters
• Special Powers of the Characters
  • Combats
  • Riches
  • Navigation
  • Merchandise
  • Magic
• The Treasures

Game Components and Setup

1. Shuffle the 20 character tiles face down.
2. Keeping them face down, place the tiles in the 20 spaces in the vacuum tray.
3. Place the rum bottle on the space at the top of the stairs.
4. Reveal the 3 characters directly adjacent to the bottle.
5. Replace the original treasure cards with the 12 treasure cards from The Crew. Otherwise, the setup remains the same.

You're ready to start!

Recruiting a Character

Every time you pay a port fee in full, you may recruit a new crew member and take him/her aboard. This is not mandatory.

If you do recruit a new crew member, place him/her like a regular resource in an empty hold.

You may recruit any character adjacent to the rum bottle (pirates are easily convinced with the help of a little rum).

At the start of the game, 3 characters are thus available.

After recruiting a character, immediately reveal any character bordering the recruiting zone.

Example: Here, after recruiting A, reveal the 3 characters with a blue frame.

The recruiting zone is formed by all the spaces that the bottle can reach. All characters bordering the recruiting zone must always be face up.

In red, the current recruiting zone.

Before recruiting a crew member, you may move the bottle within that zone. Each step costs 1 doubloon, paid to the Bank.

Example: If you want to recruit the green Merchant, you need to move the bottle 3 steps. This costs 3 doubloons.

Loading

Loading a character follows the exact same rules as any other resource. For example:

• You may not store more than one per hold;
• You may not replace a character with another one;
• You may throw one overboard (ah, the life of a pirate…) only if all your holds are full and you have to load another type of resource, etc. A character thrown overboard is removed from the game.

The Characters

Two numbers indicate the doubloon value of the character if in your holds at the end of the game.

• Top Number: if your ship has reached Port Royal (here +5 doubloons)
• Bottom Number: if your ship has not reached Port Royal (here +2 doubloons)

Their special powers are all detailed below.

Special Powers of the Characters

Combats

• Sir Beth: Add 2 points to your roll on the combat die.
• Saran: You may re-roll your own combat die OR you may make your opponent re-roll theirs. The second result must be accepted.
• The Buccaneer: You may attack a ship from an adjacent space. If you win, your opponent discards the contents of a hold of your choice. If you lose, nothing happens.
• The Strategist: You automatically win any combat if you are the attacker.

Riches

• The Shipowner: At the end of the game, each character in your holds is worth 3 doubloons. The Shipowner counts himself.
• The Nosey Parker: When you draw a treasure card (in a lair or from the hand of an opponent), you may look at up to 3 cards and keep 1.
• The King!: Has no power and can earn you much gold. But, he is very disappointed (-3!) if he doesn't get to Port Royal.
• The Bishop: At the end of the game, each treasure token you have collected earns you 2 doubloons.

Navigation

• The Cartographer: He's found Morgan's map! You may have 4 action cards in your hand instead of 3.
• The Old Seadog: If you want, you can completely ignore the backwards movement shown on your card.
• The Anchoree: During every movement (forwards or backwards), you may choose to move 1 space less than the die value.
• The Seafarer: During every movement (forwards or backwards), you may choose to move 1 more space than the die value.

Merchandise

• The Venetian Merchant: When paying, you can freely substitue gold for food, and vice versa. May be combined with other merchants.
• The Prussian Merchant: When paying, you can you can freely substitue food for gunpowder, and vice versa. May be combined with other merchants.
• The Helvetian Merchant: When paying, you can you can freely substitue gunpowder for gold, and vice versa. May be combined with other merchants.
• The Cooper: When loading resources, you always get 1 more resource than indicated by the die.

Magic

• Calypso: If you have Calypso aboard AND all 3 cursed amulets, you immediately win the game!
• The Witch: You may use the action dice in either order. This does not change the order of the dice for your opponents.
• The Oracle: When you are the Captain, you may choose the value of one of the two dice (morning or evening) before rolling the other die normally.
• The Look-Out: You can collect a treasure token even when stopping on an adjacent space.

The Treasures

There are 12 treasures in The Crew.

• 8 of them earn you points when they are revealed at the end of the game. Their values range from 2 to 7.
• 3 of them are cursed amulets, that you also only reveal at the end of the game. They cost you points, but, if you have all three in your possession and you have Calypso on-board, you immediately win the game!

The final treasure is the Youkounkoun. This diamond earns you 12 points at the end of the game. When you get it, you must reveal it and store it face up next to your holds. For the rest, the rules apply normally.

One last detail: when you play with The Crew, get in the habit of storing your treasure tokens next to your holds. They will turn out profitable if you end up with the Bishop on-board.