Kraken-Alarm Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Object of the Game - Exploring the Sea
• Game Components
• Setup
• Set Off on the Search! The Game Begins!
  • A Player Has Become Captain?
  • 1. Take the Stand with the "Sea Animals" Tokens
  • 2. Sail the Ship Through 1 or 2 Sea Sections
  • 3. Explore the Sea Depths While the Ship Is Stopped
  • 4. Has the Alarm Been Raised?
  • 5. It Is Time to Hand the Captain's Bridge to the Next Player ...
• End of the Game
• A Voyage for Experienced Captains and Explorers (Variant)

Object of the Game - Exploring the Sea

The players are to travel across the sea and carefully study what is hidden under the sea tokens. Their task is to discover as many sea animals as possible! But while exploring the sea, the players must be careful not to end up next to the little octopus. It is unknown what prank will come into his head and what Papa Kurt will do, so the alarm sounds on the ship at once! It may happen that all the provisions end up in the sea and the voyage has to be stopped. The player who, at the end of the game, manages to collect the most tokens with sea animals and to keep some provisions is declared the best sea explorer and wins the game!

Game Components

• Big octopus - this is Papa Kurt (orange) - 1
• Support stand for the octopus (with pendulum) - 1
• Game board parts (4 sea sections and 1 disc) - 5
• Sea tokens - 16
• Ship hull with mast - 1
• Small octopus - this is son Kuno (red) - 1
• "Sea animals" tokens - 24
• "Provisions" tokens - 12
• Reef (token holder) - 1

Setup

• The cardboard parts must be carefully separated from the base.
• The game board consists of 5 parts: 4 sea sections and 1 central round part. A small hole must be made in the middle of this part, and then it is carefully inserted into the central part of the base for the game board (the plastic part of the box), bending the edges upward so that they are secured in three small holders.
• The sail must be attached to the ship.
• The remaining game elements are taken out of the box.
• After that the support stand is installed in the hole in the central part of the game board, and the pendulum must be able to swing freely. Finally, the big octopus is placed on top of the stand.
• Before the game starts the pendulum must be checked: holding the figure of the big octopus carefully, try turning the stand - the ball must revolve around it at the maximum distance.
• The 4 sea sections are attached to the central part of the game board, producing a single sea space. Each section of the game board is divided into two parts: dark blue, where the sea animals live, and light blue, along which the research ship moves (the sailing zone). (Sailing zone of the ship = light blue; habitat of the sea animals = dark blue.)
• The 16 sea tokens are laid out on the 4 dark blue parts of the game board:
  • 4 of the sea tokens show a porthole. Whoever finds these tokens is unlucky - there are no sea animals in this place, and through the portholes only waves can be seen. One such token is placed on each of the 4 dark blue parts of the game board, and then they are turned face down so that the portholes are not visible.
  • The remaining 12 sea tokens are shuffled and laid out on the game board so that nobody sees what is depicted on them. Thus each part of the game board ends up with 4 tokens.
  • Before the game starts, all the tokens within one dark blue section are shuffled once more - now nobody knows for certain where which animal can be found.
• The ship begins its voyage on any light blue part of the game board.
• All four corners of the game board are slightly raised. These are the places that octopus Kuno likes to visit. The red octopus figure is placed on one of the corners of the game board so that it is to the right of the sea section where the ship is located.

Now the brave explorers are fully ready for a long voyage and can set out to sea for new discoveries!

Set Off on the Search! The Game Begins!

The players take turns clockwise. The youngest player begins and becomes the leader of the research expedition and the captain.

A Player Has Become Captain?

Then he or she must do the following:

1. Take the stand with the "Sea animals" tokens (the reef).
2. Sail the ship through 1 or 2 sea sections.
3. Explore the sea depths while the ship is stopped (turn over at least 1 of the sea tokens lying on the game board) and ... if lucky, find a sea animal, ... if unlucky, admit that the expedition has so far found nothing interesting.
4. Has the alarm been raised?
5. It is time to hand the captain's bridge to the next player.

1. Take the Stand with the "Sea Animals" Tokens

The player puts the stand (reef) with the "Sea animals" tokens in front of himself or herself. Now he or she is to set off in search of the animals shown on the 4 top tokens.

2. Sail the Ship Through 1 or 2 Sea Sections

As captain, the player must follow these sailing rules:

• On his or her turn he or she must move the ship.
• The player decides whether, on this turn, the ship passes 1 or 2 sea sections.
• The ship may only be moved along the light blue sections of the game board; it cannot leave these sections.
• The ship must move clockwise.
• If the ship passes by the octopus, nothing terrible happens. However, the ship must not stop on the sea section where the curious octopus is. Otherwise the alarm is raised at once (see "Has the Alarm Been Raised?").

3. Explore the Sea Depths While the Ship Is Stopped

The player must turn over 1 of the four sea tokens lying on the sea section where the ship has stopped. The player is not allowed to remove a sea token from the game board. He or she must only turn it over, so that all participants can see what is depicted on it.

What is shown on the sea token?

• A sea animal that lies on top of the reef. Excellent! The player gets the right to take from the stand the token with this animal and put it in front of himself or herself. If several tokens with this animal lie on the reef, the player may take only one of them. The sea token remains lying face up on the game board. After this the player may turn over 1 more sea token on this sea section or end his or her turn.
• A sea animal that is not yet on the reef, but it is not the octopus. This time the explorers have had bad luck... The player turns face down again the sea token opened earlier on this section (if there is one) and hands the captain's bridge to the next player. Remember well where and which animal must be looked for on this sea section next time!
• Sea wave. The ship is caught in a strong current and fails to stop to search for sea animals. The ship must be moved to the next sea section clockwise. If there is no octopus on this section, the player may turn over one of the sea tokens or end his or her turn. But if the ship has nevertheless met the octopus, the alarm is raised at once!
• Octopus. The player moves octopus Kuno to the next sea section clockwise. If after this the octopus is on the sea section where the ship is located, the alarm is raised at once! But if the ship has not met the octopus, the player may turn over the next sea token or end his or her turn.

4. Has the Alarm Been Raised?

Attention! Whenever little octopus Kuno ends up next to the ship (on the same sea section), all the players loudly shout "Attention! Alarm!".

The captain of the ship who met the octopus declares the alarm, and Papa octopus starts waving his huge tentacles, trying to catch his son:

• The player to the left of the captain, carefully turning the stand with the octopus, spins the ball so that it revolves at the greatest distance from the stand (see "Setup"). Papa octopus never capsizes the ship on purpose, so the ball must not be thrown, aiming directly at the ship.
• However, it happens that the ball catches and capsizes the ship. But Papa octopus may try to fix this damage. It may turn out that the ship, while the pendulum is in motion, is capsized more than once and again takes its original position.
• As soon as the pendulum stops, all players look at the position of the ship: capsized or standing upright. If the ship stands straight, nothing happens.
• But if the ship is slightly tilted or even completely capsized, provisions fall overboard: the captain must give up 1 of his or her "Provisions" tokens. The token is put away in the box until the end of the game.

If during the alarm Papa octopus hit the ship so hard that it left the sailing zone, the player returns the ship to the light blue part of the game board. After this the next player becomes captain.

5. It Is Time to Hand the Captain's Bridge to the Next Player ...

• ...if the player has turned over 1 sea token and decides to end his or her turn.
• ...if the player has turned over a sea token with an animal that is not yet on the reef.
• ...if for any reason the alarm has been raised (it does not matter whether the ship was hit or not).
• ...if the player has already turned over 2 tokens on this sea section.

Attention! At the end of the turn the player must turn ALL the sea tokens he or she has opened face down again and put them back in their places.

End of the Game

The game ends...

• ...if a player has managed to collect a certain number of "Sea animals" tokens:

  • in a game for four - 6 tokens;
  • in a game for three - 7 tokens;
  • in a game for two - 8 tokens.

  The player who first collects this number of tokens is recognized as the best sea explorer and becomes the winner!

• ...if one of the players has lost all of his or her provisions in the sea (the player has no "Provisions" tokens left). Exploring the sea without supplies cannot continue, and the ship returns to port. The winner is the player who still has "Provisions" tokens and who managed to collect more "Sea animals" tokens at the moment the game ends.

If several players have collected an equal number of "Sea animals" tokens, the winner is the one who has more "Provisions" tokens left.

If it is still impossible to determine the winner, then several players are declared winners.

A Voyage for Experienced Captains and Explorers (Variant)

The voyage can be longer. Before a game for two or three players, you can agree that the winner will be the one who collects a larger number of "Sea animals" tokens:

• for 2 players - 12 tokens;
• for 3 players - 8 tokens.

Finding the right sea animals can become harder. Papa octopus, worrying about his son, has become quite agitated and has created a real whirlpool. When the alarm is raised, he starts waving his tentacles so strongly that all the sea animals dart in fright in different directions. After each alarm, the players, without looking, shuffle the sea tokens on the section where the ship is located. Whew! Now it is very hard to find the right sea animals!