Noobs über Bord
Noobs über Bord Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
How to Play
Noobs über Bord sends you on an adventure spanning 8 levels. You can play all levels in one go, but you can just as well pause after each level.
In each level you must solve various tasks. All the information needed and even the tasks themselves are found on the cards. But they are distributed wildly among you. So coordinate well!
In each level your time is stopped and you find out how you did. The faster, the better!
The remaining pages of this manual contain the solutions for every level. Therefore always turn the page only after you have completed a level.
Before things really get going, however, you have to do some convincing. This is also a tutorial that goes through everything you need to know once more. For you are, after all, the eponymous Noobs, quite the beginners who do not know the ropes.
Now take the 6 cards with a blue back and lay them ready. Put the remaining cards aside as a deck for now. One of you then turns over the card with the white triangle and reads it aloud. Good luck!
(Margin note on the page: "Turn over the page and read the next one. Have fun!" - the printed text is a rotated hint to turn the page.)
Tutorial
Your table should now look like this (picture): a device for timekeeping is ready; the card with the 26 is laid out; in front of each of you lies a small deck of cards.
If, for individual tasks, you do not know what you did wrong, you can simply lay all the cards face up on the table again and go through the tasks together.
Continue reading on page 5.
How you did (Tutorial)
The ship turns out to be an older pirate frigate that still has to be loaded before you set off. The captain presses a list of cargo into your hands, but most of your crew cannot read. At least a few scrawled pictures are included. Just do not let on, and by no means question the captain. Rumour has it she is quite hot-tempered and does not shy away from making the crew walk the plank.
She is obsessed with the hunt for a mysterious treasure: a cake that promises eternal youth. If the myth is to be believed, it only takes effect if you first throw 10 kg of gold into a well. At the word "gold" you prick up your ears, which sounds promising!
Set out on the journey and find as much gold as you can! For every gram beyond the 10 kg she apparently has no use.
You now know all the rules and are ready for Level 1. You no longer need the tutorial cards (those with blue backs). Put them all back into the box. To begin Level 1, start the timekeeping, take your respective cards into your hand and start with the task with the lowest number. Then proceed in ascending order.
On p. 24 you will find another overview of all the rules.
Level 1
Your table should now look like this (picture; the task number is marked 1, and cards are shown for tasks 1-4, including a card "MORGAN").
The red dashed frame means that for this task the arrangement of the cards is important. If your cards are arranged wrongly on the table, the task is solved wrongly. Even if the cards are the right ones!
A task counts as correctly completed only if it looks on your table like on this solution page. Playing too many cards also counts as a mistake. For every wrongly solved task you must add +3 minutes to your time, no matter how many mistakes you made in the task! Incidentally, not necessarily all cards are needed for the solution. Having cards left over at the end of a level is therefore normal.
How you did (Level 1)
- Under 8 minutes: Proudly the captain claps you on the shoulders: adventure, gold and a fresh breeze around your nose, that is everything you dreamed of and more!
- Under 12 minutes: You lost a bit of time when you got lost in the South Seas. Oh, how great it would be if the treasure map could simply give the directions itself.
- From 12 minutes: Your captain appears at the stern and expertly grabs the steering wheel from you. "Are you making fun of me, you good-for-nothings?" She lifts her eye patch and punishes you with a disdainful look. Having arrived at the island, she is the first overboard. With her hairy legs she kicks firmly against a chest, which springs open at once: you can hardly believe your eyes ...
The treasure chest is open. Now the treasure just has to be distributed fairly. Make sure nobody cheats you!
Follow the overview on p. 24 to begin Level 2. The next page has the solution for Level 2. Therefore always turn the page only when you have completed the respective next level!
Level 2
Your table should now look like this (picture; tasks 1-4, including a card "NOAH").
Every wrong task costs you +3 minutes!
How you did (Level 2)
- Under 8 minutes: A stuffed sea-monster head makes a fine trophy. But it is also a bit creepy.
- Under 12 minutes: The captain throws Noah a lifeline: "Let this be a clear warning to you all!" As she does so the wind blows into her wild mane and you are quite awestruck.
- From 12 minutes: "Dear diary, the captain seems very, very dissatisfied with us, she is already looking at us very grimly. We already had to throw someone overboard on the second day. Hopefully we did not catch the wrong one ..."
The captain fished Noah out of the water after all. Put the Noah card from the box back onto the card deck!
After a break in the secret hideout you are ready for the next adventure. But your successful treasure hunt has not gone unnoticed. Beware of pirates: "Caution is the mother of the treasure chest!"
Follow the overview on p. 24 to begin Level 3.
Level 3
Your table should now look like this (picture; tasks 1-4).
Every wrong task costs you +3 minutes!
How you did (Level 3)
- Under 9 minutes: The captain looks at you with quite different eyes; you notice her respect for your nautical achievements growing.
- Under 12 minutes: "Which of you reached for the telescope with greasy fingers?!"
- Under 15 minutes: You survived the brawl unscathed, but otherwise you did not shine. Now you have to turn the rudder around, in the truest sense of the words.
- From 15 minutes: "By Neptune and Poseidon, what landlubbers you are!", scolds the captain. "Flag lore, orientation, setting sails, all rubbish! I expressly asked for 'experienced seafarers'!"
Your adventure picks up speed and you are in good spirits! However, you are still far from having 10 kg of gold together. So you must set out on another treasure hunt. Where was the treasure map again? Surely more treasures are marked on it.
Follow the overview on p. 24 to begin Level 4.
Level 4
Your table should now look like this (picture; tasks 1-5, including cards "GRAU", "SOPHIA", "MORGAN" and "HOOK").
Every wrong task costs you +3 minutes!
How you did (Level 4)
- Under 10 minutes: A proper tournament and a well-trained parrot. Slowly you are getting along quite well at sea.
- Under 13 minutes: The captain is not getting on fast enough for her liking. Still, not without pride you hear a satisfied grunt from her throat when you haul in another treasure.
- Under 16 minutes: As you steer more badly than well past a reef, the captain loses patience and has the plank laid out. Fortunately you are already close enough to an island, which then distracts her.
- From 16 minutes: Having arrived at the island, your captain is the first overboard. While you are still fiddling with the keys, she stabs the lock with her sabre and the chest springs open: "I am having my generous day today and will not leave you good-for-nothings here!"
Surprisingly, you really have nearly collected the required gold! Does anyone actually know where this wonderful well is? After evaluating all the rumours you clearly hold two different opinions. And now?
Follow the overview on p. 24 to begin Level 5.
Level 5
Your table should now look like this (picture; tasks 1-4).
Every wrong task costs you +3 minutes!
How you did (Level 5)
- Under 11 minutes: 7 seas sailed. Monsters tamed. Fresh laundry sewn. All child's play.
- Under 14 minutes: The seas are no playground. That much you have now realised. But you have a strange feeling in your sailor's bones ...
- Under 17 minutes: "Dear diary, this is not how I imagined a holiday in the South Seas ... aaaah, aaaah." The captain has grabbed you by the ear and drags you to the sewing machine: "This is definitely not a holiday! Make yourself useful!"
- From 17 minutes: Ashamed, you listen to your captain. "I am not angry. I am disappointed in my life, because there are so many bunglers on my big ship. All of you now go to the naughty step and think about your behaviour."
By now you have been drifting across the sea for quite a while. Doubts slowly arise as to whether this well with its promise of eternal youth exists at all. But the captain hardly lets you look at her cards.
Follow the overview on p. 24 to begin Level 6.
Level 6
Your table should now look like this (picture; tasks 1-5, including cards "BLAU", "TÜRKIS", "ISABELLE", "WEISS" and "LILLY").
Every wrong task costs you +3 minutes!
How you did (Level 6)
- Under 11 minutes: The appreciative look and slight nod of your captain go down like oil. No words are needed.
- Under 14 minutes: "The teamwork was not entirely smooth today," says your captain. Lilly cannot help giggling.
- Under 17 minutes: Dreamily you write in your diary until the captain, in her charmingly blunt manner, brings you back to reality: "We will practise setting sails again. Hurry, hurry!"
- From 17 minutes: With an angry look that freezes the blood in your veins, your captain approaches. She has brought a rag for scrubbing for each of you. From the context you immediately understand how you can make yourselves useful, and you meekly keep Lilly company.
Apparently you have meanwhile drawn some attention to yourselves. More and more often you meet ships of the navy. In their eyes you seem to have a rather dubious reputation. You should work on that.
Follow the overview on p. 24 to begin Level 7.
Level 7
Your table should now look like this (picture; tasks 1-5, including cards "ISABELLE", "Schachspiel" (chess set) and "NOAH").
Note on the page: If you connect the symbols of Brausebart's voyages on the right cards, the letters N for north or S for south are formed.
Every wrong task costs you +3 minutes!
How you did (Level 7)
- Under 11 minutes: "One can only dream of a crew like you!", squawk the parrots in chorus.
- Under 14 minutes: "Want a cracker!", croaks a voice from the cabin. "You have also earned a reward, but we must hurry. The wind is turning!", the captain says to you.
- Under 17 minutes: What a day: one catastrophe chases the next. Exhausted you fall into your bunks at sunset. You fall asleep with an uneasy feeling. Without your captain you would be completely lost.
- From 17 minutes: In awe you watch as your captain personally fires the cannons and throws cheats overboard. "Good-for-nothings, good-for-nothings!", you hear croaking from the masts. The parrots have evidently spent too much time with her.
You manage to convince the captain that you cannot do without Isabelle. Put the Isabelle card from the box back onto the card deck!
You have the gold together, but as you stock up your supplies for the last stage, soldiers of the navy storm the market and take the captain prisoner. Get away at once!
Follow the overview on p. 24 to begin Level 8.
Level 8
Your table should now look like this (picture; tasks 1-5, including a card "ANNE").
Every wrong task costs you +3 minutes!
How you did (Level 8)
- Under 12 minutes: "You did that really well. I am honestly and unexpectedly impressed," says the captain.
- Under 15 minutes: You had to take a few bruises, but now the real celebrating begins!
- Under 18 minutes: "I am really surprised that we all arrived here in one piece. But done is done!" She is probably right, your captain.
- From 18 minutes: Your captain says slyly: "Someone once told me 'Be realistic - plan for a miracle.' It worked, I would say."
Happily you enjoy your cake, which you have honestly earned after all the hardship. Does it really make you young? That remains to be seen. Actually it is no longer that important. What certainly remains is the time spent together. And is that not much more important than treasures and trophies?
But you are not quite finished. Eventually you want to get away from this island again. A ship would be handy for that. Since yours is unfortunately rather scrap, you will have to build a new one. Get a rectangular sheet of paper. One of you then turns the page and reads the next page aloud without showing it to the others.
Final Task: Building the New Ship (read-aloud page)
Show this page to nobody!
"I will now explain how we best build ourselves a new ship! To do so I describe step by step what you must do. After each step the sheet of paper is passed on to another person, but never to me, because I already have enough to do with explaining. So: start the timekeeping and off we go!"
(The page also has a "Your time:" field with four rating lines: Under 5 minutes, Under 7 minutes, Under 10 minutes, From 10 minutes. The rating texts are not present as text in the source.)
The Well-Earned Chocolate Cake
Mix 400 g flour, 240 g sugar, 70 g cocoa powder, 1 packet baking powder and 2 tsp vanilla extract in a bowl. Then add 480 ml water and 200 ml sunflower oil and stir everything into a smooth batter. The batter then goes into a greased baking tin for about 40 minutes in the oven preheated to 180 degrees. It is done when, on piercing, no batter sticks to the wooden skewer or knife any more. When it comes to decoration there are of course no limits. Enjoy!
Overview (Summary of Rules)
Preparing a level
- Clear away all cards played out in the last level.
- Using the numerals on the card backs, search out all cards that belong to the current level. The remaining cards go back into the box.
- Count the level cards you have picked out and compare their number with the table on the right. If the number does not match, check the card backs again.
- Distribute the cards as evenly as possible and face down among all crew members. Nobody may have the same symbol more than once at the top right of their own card backs. Anyone who has difficulty recognising or distinguishing certain colours should not have cards with the eye symbol on the back. Swap cards among yourselves if necessary to make both possible. But do not yet look at the card fronts.
- Have a device for timekeeping ready.
Number of cards per level:
| Level | Cards |
|---|---|
| Level 1 | 26 |
| Level 2 | 28 |
| Level 3 | 28 |
| Level 4 | 32 |
| Level 5 | 31 |
| Level 6 | 32 |
| Level 7 | 34 |
| Level 8 | 35 |
Playing a level
- Start the timekeeping.
- Take your respective cards into your hand and look at them.
- Together complete all tasks in order. Start with the task with the lowest number and then proceed in ascending order.
- Stop the timekeeping when you have completed all tasks.
- Turn in the manual to the page of the level played and check your result. Every wrong task increases your time by 3 minutes!
Basic rules
- You may never show each other your hand cards! You may, however, talk about them, describe them or even read them aloud!
- You may only play cards when you are explicitly told to!
- Once played, cards may never be taken back!
- Played cards can be relevant for later tasks of the level!
- Not necessarily all dealt cards are needed for the solution!