Nautilus Island Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Setup
  • Useful information
• How to play
  • Turn order
  • Playing a turn
  • 1) Explore the Nautilus
  • 2) Recover objects or store them back at your camp
• Bonus tokens
• Porthole tokens
• The Treasures of Nautilus cards
• Round end
• Game end and scoring

Contents

• 4 Castaway markers
• 96 Object cards in 6 different colors
• 34 Bonus tokens
• 12 Porthole tokens
• 1 Game Board

Note: Carefully fix the compass arrow on the board, making sure it can move freely.

Setup

1. Each player takes a Castaway marker and places it in front of them. Return any remaining markers to the box as they will not be used in this game.

2. Place the board in the center of the playing area.

3. Place all the Bonus tokens next to the board, face down. Turn 5 Bonus tokens face up and place one at random on each of the Camp spaces.

4. Sort the Porthole tokens by their number of cards, placing the highest value token on the top of each stack. Then sort the other tokens in descending order. Place each stack on its dedicated space on the board.

5. Shuffle the Object cards:

   • For 2 players, deal 8 stacks of 8 cards.
   • For 3 players, deal 11 stacks of 8 cards.
   • For 4 players, deal 12 stacks of 8 cards.

   Return any remaining cards to the box. They will not be used in this game. Place each of the stacks on the spaces indicated on the board, as per the number of players (see the diagram in the rulebook). Make sure you notice which stacks are to be placed face up and which face down.

6. The player who was last on a boat will play first.

Useful information

There are 6 card colors, which correspond to the 6 object categories that the castaways will find as they explore the Nautilus:

• Clothes
• Navigation tools
• Repair equipment
• Fishing equipment
• Supplies
• Treasures of Nautilus (special cards - see The Treasures of Nautilus cards)

In each category, there are 4 cards for each of the 4 different objects, making a total of 16 cards for each color.

How to play

Turn order

First round only: The first player starts and then play continues clockwise.

All other rounds: The order of play in the round is determined by how close the Castaway is from the back of the Nautilus. The player who is furthest back goes first, then the player next furthest back, and so on.

Example: the blue Castaway will play first, then yellow and finally, red.

Playing a turn

There are two parts to a turn:

1. Explore the Nautilus by moving your Castaway marker.
2. Recover objects or store them back at your camp.

1) Explore the Nautilus

First round only: Place your Castaway marker above the Nautilus, in a column of cards of your choice. The column must not be occupied by an opposing Castaway.

All other rounds: Move your marker to the opposite side of the Nautilus, to a column of cards of your choice. You cannot use the column you occupied in your previous turn or any columns occupied by an opposing Castaway on this side of the Nautilus.

Note: To help you keep track of the turn order, you may wish to point the compass arrow to the side that all the Castaway markers were on at the start of the round.

Example: It's the blue Castaway's turn to play. They move their marker to the other side of the Nautilus, to a column of 2 cards. The marker cannot be placed in the same column as their previous turn. Now it's the yellow Castaway's turn to play. They cannot move to the column they occupied in their previous turn, nor to the column the blue Castaway already occupies.

2) Recover objects or store them back at your camp

Once you've moved your Castaway marker, you may perform one of the following two actions:

• Collect objects: Take the top card from each stack in the column you occupy. If the stack is face down, do not reveal the card to any other player. There is no card limit for your hand.

OR

• Store objects in your camp: Place down the same number of cards or fewer of a single color as the number of stacks in the column your Castaway marker occupies (1, 2 or 3).

Place the cards in front of you, grouping them into sets by color (1 color per column). You cannot have multiple sets of the same color. Everyone can see the number of cards each player has played.

Then pick up the Bonus token for the color you have just played, if it is still available, and place it above your set of cards. You can then close this set if you wish by picking up a Porthole token (see Porthole tokens).

Play then continues around to the next player.

Bonus tokens

After laying down one or more Object cards of the same color, pick up the corresponding Bonus token, if it is still available, and place it above the set you have just played onto. This token cannot be moved later. You can have multiple Bonus tokens per set.

If there is only one Bonus token left in the Camp area, immediately fill each empty space with random tokens from the stack.

Example: After moving to a 2-card column, the blue Castaway places down 2 green cards. They immediately pick up the green Bonus token and place it above their set of green cards.

There are several types of Bonus tokens:

• Tokens showing 2 and 3: at the end of the game, these tokens are worth 2 and 3 victory points respectively.

IMPORTANT: The 4 tokens listed below only apply to the color set they are placed on.

• At the end of the game, this token is worth as many points as the number of cards in the set.
• At the end of the game, this token doubles the number of points on the Porthole token linked to this set. If it does not have a Porthole token, this token is worth 0 points.
• At the end of the game, this token is worth 4 points if you have an odd number of cards in this set (otherwise it is worth 0).
• At the end of the game, this token is worth 5 points if you have at least two cards of the same object in this set (otherwise it is worth 0). If there are multiple Bonus tokens of this kind above the same set, each card can only be counted once.

Porthole tokens

After placing down one or more Object cards of the same color, you may close your set by picking up the first Porthole token from the pile corresponding to the exact number of cards in your set. Place this token on your set. You cannot play any more cards of this color for the rest of the game.

If you decide not to close your set during your turn, you will have to add more cards to your set and instead aim for the higher value Porthole tokens. You must have that exact number of cards in your set when you pick up the Porthole token.

Example: On a subsequent turn, the blue Castaway places two more green cards and picks up another Bonus token, which they place above their green set. They now have 4 green cards in front of them. They decide to close their set and pick up the 4-card Porthole token, which is worth 8 points. They place it on their green set. They cannot play any more green cards in this game.

However, if they decide not to take the 4-card Porthole token during this turn, they will not be able to take it later on. They must place another green card (only one) to pick up the 5-card Porthole token to close their set.

The Treasures of Nautilus cards

The Treasures of Nautilus cards are special cards. They cannot be placed down and remain in your hand for the entirety of the game. At the end of the game, you gain the number of victory points indicated on your Treasures of Nautilus cards.

Round end

A round ends once everyone has moved their Castaway marker to the same side of Nautilus. A new round begins, starting with the player closest to the back of the Nautilus. Play continues like this until the end of the game.

Reminder: To help you keep track of the turn order, you may wish to point the compass arrow to the side that all the Castaway markers were on at the start of the round.

Game end and scoring

The game ends when a column on the board is empty. Finish the current round and take a final turn each.

Note: In the final round, you can position yourself in front of an empty column and may place down as many cards as spaces in that column, or fewer.

Count up the points of your (1) Bonus tokens, (2) Porthole tokens and (3) Treasures of Nautilus cards. The other remaining cards in hand don't score anything.

The player with the most points wins. In the event of a tie, the player whose Castaway marker is closest to the back of the Nautilus wins the game.