Kraken Attack! Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Materials
  • Board zones
• Game Set Up
• Object of the Game
• Gameplay
  • 1. Move the Tentacles
    • If a Tentacle that is already in the Saber zone is activated... disaster! It attacks the Ship!
  • 2. Play an Action Card
  • Special Action: Funny Face
  • The Kraken Is on the Ship Board!
• Pirates!
• End of the Game
• Variants
  • For Very Young Players
  • For More Experienced Players
  • For Solo Players

Game Materials

• 1 Ship board
• 1 Kraken tracking board
• 40 Action cards
• 4 Player Aid cards
• 1 Kraken figurine
• 4 Pirate pawns
• 8 Ship's Rails
• 8 Tentacle figurines (4 purple and 4 red)
• 4 Hole tokens
• 3 Kraken Attack tokens
• 4 Whirlpool tokens (used for the experienced player variant, see the Variants section)
• 6 Kraken dice (3 purple and 3 red)

Board zones

The rows of the Ship board are divided into zones: the Cannon zone, the Pistol zone, the Saber zone, the Boat area, and the BUBBLE space.

Note that your "Boat area" covers 2 rows of BUBBLES at the same time. This is useful when pushing a Tentacle, repairing the Rails, or moving.

Game Set Up

1. Place the Ship board in the middle of the table.
2. Place the 8 Ship's Rails on the board around the edges of the Ship.
3. Place the 8 Tentacle figurines in the ocean, as shown in the illustration (take care to separate the two colors).
4. Place the 4 Hole tokens face-down in the middle of the Ship.
5. Place the Kraken tracking board next to the Ship board and the 4 Kraken dice on the indicated spaces; the Kraken figurine is placed on the starting spot. You will use the 2 remaining dice as soon as the game starts.
6. Place the 3 Kraken attack tokens at the end of the Kraken tracking board, on the boat spot.
7. Each player chooses a Pirate and places their pawn on one of the 4 Boat's areas. Any number of Pirates can be placed in the same area.
8. Each player takes the 10 Action cards for their chosen Pirate and a Player Aid card placed with "1/2" side face up.
9. Shuffle your 10 Action cards: place 2 face-up in front of you and put the 8 others next to them face-down, forming your draw pile.

Object of the Game

Kraken Attack is a cooperative game. Working as a team, chase away the fearsome Kraken Tootone before he sinks your Ship. If you succeed in placing 3 Kraken attack tokens on the Kraken, you win. However, if the Kraken smashes 4 holes in your Ship, you lose!

Gameplay

The player who does the best octopus imitation goes first. In order, each player takes their turn clockwise around the table.

A player's turn is composed of 2 phases in the following order:

1. Move the Tentacles
2. Play an Action card

1. Move the Tentacles

To move the Tentacles, roll all of the available dice. (At the beginning of the game, only 2 dice are available.)

The red dice move red Tentacles, and the purple dice move purple Tentacles.

The symbols on the faces of the dice match the symbols drawn on the sides of the Ship board in the BUBBLES spaces. They show which Tentacle to move. For example the "Star" face on the red die moves the red Tentacle in the "Star" row. Each Tentacle only moves in its own row in a straight line toward the Ship.

The blank face doesn't move any Tentacle and the Eye of the Kraken is explained later.

Once the dice are rolled, move the corresponding Tentacles one space closer to the Ship. The same Tentacle can move more than one space in a turn (if you roll the same BUBBLE symbol on multiple dice of the same color).

BE CAREFUL! For each "Eye of the Kraken" rolled, move ALL the Tentacles of the corresponding color one space toward the Ship.

TIP: Move the Tentacles grouped by color, beginning with any "Eye of the Kraken" symbols rolled. Blank faces do not move the Tentacles.

If a Tentacle that is already in the Saber zone is activated... disaster! It attacks the Ship!

There are 2 possibilities:

• There IS a Ship's Rail: The Tentacle destroys the rail! Remove the corresponding rail from the board and move the Tentacle back to its BUBBLES space on the Ship board.
• There is NO Ship's Rail: The Tentacle smashes a hole in the Ship! Place a Hole token face-up on the Boat Area and move the Tentacle back to its BUBBLES space on the Ship board.

Several Hole tokens can be placed on the same Boat Area.

BE CAREFUL! If the 4th hole token is placed on the Ship, all of the players lose!

2. Play an Action Card

Once the dice have been rolled and the Tentacles have been moved, it's your turn to attack!

You'll need to choose one of the face-up Action cards in front of you to help push back the Tentacles.

On each of the Action cards, you'll find several symbols which are explained in the table below. These symbols represent different actions, and you can choose to do them in whichever order you want. You don't have to do all of the actions on your card.

Symbol	Action	Effect
Boot	Move	Move your Pirate to one of the adjacent areas on the Ship. You cannot move diagonally.
Cannon	Fire a Cannon	Push a Tentacle in the Cannon zone of one of your rows back to its BUBBLES space.
Pistol	Fire your Pistol	Push a Tentacle in the Pistol zone of one of your rows back to its BUBBLES space.
Saber	Attack with your Saber	Push a Tentacle in the Saber zone of one of your rows back to its BUBBLES space.
Hammer	Repair the Ship	Rebuild a destroyed Ship's Rail on the Boat area with your character. Remember that it's impossible to repair a Hole!
Pirate flag	WILD	Perform any of the actions listed above.

Once you have played your Action card, place it back at the bottom of your draw pile, and then draw another so that you always have 2 Action cards face-up in front of you.

To be able to push back a Tentacle, your Pirate must be on the side of the Boat area and covering the same row as the Tentacle. Plus, you have to use the correct action depending on how far the Tentacle is from the Ship (cannon, pistol or saber zone).

Special Action: Funny Face

If there is a Funny Face on the chosen Action card, your Pirate makes a super silly face at the Kraken! This makes it very angry! After completing all the actions on your card, you must move the Kraken one spot forward on the Kraken Track. If it arrives on a spot with a die on it, pick up that die and add it to the other available dice for the rest of the game.

When the Kraken gets to the final spot on its Track, it's really mad! The next Funny Face causes the Kraken to appear on the Ship board! Choose one of the Tentacles on the Ship board and replace it with the Kraken.

The Kraken Is on the Ship Board!

Turn your Aid card over to side "2/2" and continue to play as explained in the rules above.

The Kraken takes on the color and the BUBBLES symbol of the Tentacle it replaced and moves like it.

Funny Faces on Action cards continue to cause the Kraken to move.

The Kraken moves when its BUBBLES symbol (or an "Eye of the Kraken") appears on its color dice as well as when a player plays an Action card with a Funny Face on it.

Just like the Tentacles, if the Kraken is in the Saber zone when its symbol appears on a die, it destroys a Ship's Rail or smashes a Hole in the Ship if there is no rail. It then returns to the BUBBLES space in its row. You can push the Kraken back just like a Tentacle: by using your actions!

If you succeed in pushing the Kraken back, place a Kraken attack token on its figurine and then place the Kraken on the BUBBLES space of its row.

REMINDER: To win the game, you have to place 3 Kraken attack tokens on the Kraken figurine.

Pirates!

Each Pirate has a special ability. These abilities can help you defeat the Kraken!

• Astrid is quick and resourceful. She can perform one of the actions on her Action card twice (except for the Funny Face special action).
• Billy is a Cannon specialist. When he pushes a Tentacle or the Kraken back by firing a Cannon, he can also push back all of the other Tentacles in the Cannon zone on the same side of the board.
• Samuel knows how to hide from the Kraken better than anyone. He can ignore any "Eye of the Kraken" symbols that he gets when he rolls the dice.
• Elena is a great shot with a Pistol. When she uses the Fire your PISTOL action, she can push back any Tentacle or the Kraken in a Pistol zone regardless of where she is on the Ship.

End of the Game

The game can end in one of the following two ways:

• A Pirate places the 3rd Kraken attack token on the Kraken figurine. The Kraken has learned its lesson and returns to the depths of the ocean. You win the game immediately!
• The fourth Hole token is placed on the Ship. Disaster! Your Ship sinks, and you find yourselves stranded on a deserted island! You lose the game immediately.

Variants

Here are a few suggested variants to change the game for different kinds of players, depending on the game experience you want.

For Very Young Players

To help very young players learn the game, you can:

• Play without the Pirates' special powers (this is the most complicated part of the game and playing a few times without them is a good way to learn and master the game).
• Play without the Kraken attack tokens (pushing the Kraken back one time is enough to win).

For More Experienced Players

After you have beaten the Kraken a few times, you can try out a higher level of difficulty by using the Whirlpool tokens. To add a little bit more difficulty, place 1 Whirlpool token wherever you like on one of the ocean spaces on the Ship board (except for the BUBBLES spaces).

To add a lot more difficulty, place all 4 tokens on the board!

The Whirlpools help the Tentacles and Kraken by pushing them toward the Ship faster!

When a Tentacle or the Kraken runs into a Whirlpool while advancing, it jumps over the Whirlpool to the next space in the same lane. If the Whirlpool is on a SABER space, the Tentacle destroys the Ship's Rail or smashes a hole in the Ship (if there is no rail), then returns to the BUBBLES space of its lane.

For Solo Players

No brave companions around right now to join your crew? No problem! You can play Kraken Attack solo!

Choose two Pirates and place their pawns on the Boat area. Shuffle their Action cards together to form a single draw pile face-down and place 2 cards face-up.

Each turn, you benefit from the special ability of the Pirate whose card picture is on top of the draw pile.

The rest of the rules remain unchanged.