No Swap No Pay
No Swap No Pay Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
I. Objective of the Game
You are a band of pirates returning to the port of New Providence following a season of plunder, and now it's time to share the treasure! Over the course of the game, players divvy up the coins on hand and challenge one another to try to get more than their fair share. The pirate owning the most valuable loot at the end of the game wins!
II. Contents
- 16 Gold coins
- 16 Silver coins
- 11 Black coins
- 2 Purple coins
- 5 Loot bags (beige)
- 1 Treasure bag (black)
- 1 First-player Pirate Captain token
- 5 Player aid cards
III. The Coins
Gold coins: Each gold coin is worth 3 points.
Silver coins: Each silver coin is worth 1 point — except that a group of five silver coins is worth 15 points.
Black coins: If a pirate's loot bag contains 1 or 2 cursed black coins, the entire bag is worth 0 points, no matter what else is in it. However, if the loot bag contains at least 3 cursed coins, then the group of black coins is worth 10 points.
Purple coins: At the end of the game, the owner of a Purple coin decides whether to count it as a gold, silver or black coin.
If, for example, you have 2 black coins and 1 purple coin, you can get 10 points if you decide to change 1 purple coin into 1 black coin.
IV. Set-Up for 4 or 5 Players
A: Give a loot bag containing 1 gold coin and 1 silver coin to each player.
B: Place a number of coins in the center of the table as indicated in the chart below, then add all of these coins to the treasure bag:
| Gold | Silver | Black | Purple | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4-player game | 9 | 9 | 8 | 2 |
| 5-player game | 11 | 11 | 11 | 2 |
C: In turn, each player draws coins from the treasure bag at random, then places it in their own loot bag without showing it to anyone else. (4-player game: draw 2 coins, 5-player game: draw 1 coin)
D: Give the pirate captain token to the player with the oldest wooden leg, the longest beard, or the largest collection of jewelry, as you wish.
NOTE: During the game, you can always look at the contents of your loot bag at any time, but you can never look into another player's loot bag!
V. Playing the Game
A game of "No Swap, No Pay" lasts four rounds in a four-player game and five rounds in a five-player game. Each round is composed of three phases: 1. DRAFT, 2. CHALLENGE and 3. DONATE. The phases in detail are:
1. Draft
Without peeking, the captain draws 2 coins per player from the treasure bag, then places them in the center of the table. Starting with the captain and going clockwise, each player chooses 1 coin from the center of the table and places it on the table in front of them visible to all.
Then, starting with the player to the captain's right and going counterclockwise, each player selects a second coin and places it in front of themselves. Once all players have chosen 2 coins, they place these coins in their loot bag.
2. Challenge
Starting with the captain and going clockwise, each player must challenge another player to swap their loot bag. The challenged player has two choices:
- A. Refuse, and let the challenger take 1 coin from their loot bag at random, with only the challenger and the player being challenged seeing which coin is taken, or...
- B. Accept, and swap their loot bag with the challenger's loot bag.
After the first challenge is complete, the player to the left of the captain now challenges someone. Once all players have challenged an opponent, the Challenge phase ends.
NOTE: Each player challenges someone only once during a round, but the same player can be challenged multiple times!
3. Donate
In player order, each player looks in their loot bag, selects 1 coin from it, then places this coin back in the treasure bag without anyone else seeing it.
The captain then passes the first player token to the player on their left, with this player becoming the captain for the next round.
VI. End of the Game
When the pirate captain token returns to the player who started the game — that is, after each player has been captain once — the game ends. Players then reveal the contents of their loot bag and tally their scores.
- Gold coins: 3 points each.
- Silver coins: 1 point each, with 5 silver coins being worth 15 points. (6 silver coins would be 16 points, etc.)
- Black coins: 1 or 2 cursed coins means the loot bag is worth 0 points, while 3 or more cursed coins is worth 10 points.
- Purple coins: The owner can decide whether to count it as a gold, silver or black coin.
THE PLAYER WITH THE HIGHEST SCORE WINS.
In case of a tie, the tied player with the most black coins wins. If players remain tied, the tied player with the most silver coins wins. Still if players remain tied, these tied players share the victory.
NOTE: At the end of the game, the treasure bag contains as many coins as the number of players. Ignore these coins in the final scoring.
VII. Three-Player Variant
When playing with three, the players must make a seat at the table for... ...the ghost of Davy Jones!
Set-Up
A: Prepare 4 loot bags by placing 1 gold coin and 1 silver coin in each of them. Give one loot bag to each player; the fourth bag becomes property of Davy Jones' ghost.
B: Place in the center of the table 10 gold coins, 10 silver coins, 9 black coins, and 2 blue coins, then add all of these coins to the treasure bag.
Source note: the printed rule says "2 blue coins"; the components list and the coin artwork identify these as the 2 Purple coins. Transcribed as printed.
C: In turn, each player secretly draws 1 coin at random from the treasure bag and places it in their own loot bag. One player also adds a random coin from the treasure bag to Davy Jones' bag without anyone seeing it, including them.
D: Assign the pirate captain token as usual.
Playing the Game
The game lasts six rounds, with each round being composed of three phases: 1. DRAFT, 2. CHALLENGE and 3. DONATE.
Changes to the phases in the regular game are:
1. Draft (Three-Player)
The captain randomly draws 1 coin from the treasure bag and, without revealing it to anyone, places it in Davy Jones' bag. Then the captain draws 6 coins from the treasure bag and places them in the center of the table. The rest of the draft phase is unchanged.
2. Challenge (Three-Player)
During the challenge phase, each player can challenge Davy Jones' ghost instead of another player. The ghost always decides to exchange loot bags with the challenger.
3. Donate (Three-Player)
This phase is unchanged, except that the ghost does not return any coins to the treasure bag!
End of the Game (Three-Player)
After the sixth round, the game ends. Players then reveal the contents of their loot bag and tally their scores. Don't forget to check the ghost's bag as it may have won!