Pirate Loot: Base Set
Pirate Loot: Base Set Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 4 Ship Cards: These represent the pirate ships of each player. When a player gets a loot card, they place it face-down under their ship card. When a player plays a draw card, it is placed face-up next to their ship card.
- 4 Rank Cards: Each one of these cards has a symbol on it, representing one of the different pirate factions. At the beginning of each round, these cards are shuffled and dealt out to determine their order for the round. In case of a tie between crews, these cards serve to break the tie by indicating which crew is at the top of the order.
- 23 Loot Cards: These cards are the treasure being sought after by the pirate captains. Each loot card has a value from 1 to 4. Once a pirate captain has gotten enough loot (depending on the number of players), he or she wins the game. The value of some loot cards change depending on the other loot cards owned by that captain.
- 77 Draw Cards: These represent the pirates that can be recruited by each captain. Each draw card belongs to one faction (Brutal, clever, greedy, or lazy) and has a value from 1 to 4. In addition, many of the draw cards have recruit effects that occur when the card is recruited by a captain or an ongoing effect that occurs as long as the card is in play or in hand.
Card Anatomy
Draw Cards (labelled on the component diagram):
- Card Name
- Faction Symbols: a number of symbols equal to the pirate's faction value
- Art
- Faction Value
- Recruit or Ongoing effect text, if any
Loot Cards (labelled on the component diagram):
- Card Name
- Art
- Card's Loot Value
- Alternate Value Text: if the card is worth more or less depending on the other loot cards in your ship
Set Up the Game
Deal one ship card to each player.
Shuffle the loot deck and place it at the center of the table.
In a four player game, set aside the "Set Sail" card and shuffle the draw deck and the rank deck, placing them both at the center of the table.
In a two or three player game, shuffle the rank deck and reveal a number of cards equal to the number of players. These are the pirate factions that will be used this game. Set aside the "Set Sail" card and sort the remaining cards of the draw deck by their faction (brutal, clever, greedy, and lazy). Put any cards from unused factions back in the box along with their rank cards. Shuffle the remaining draw cards to form the draw deck and the rank cards to form the rank deck.
Set Up the Round
Pirate Loot is played over a series of rounds until one player has stolen enough loot to win the game.
At the start of each round, shuffle and deal out the rank cards and where everyone can see them, forming an order from lowest (the first card dealt) to the highest (the last card dealt). Next, draw a number of loot cards equal to the number of players minus one (-1) and place them face-down next to the revealed rank cards. This is the HAUL, and it represents the treasure that is available to the players this round. Players may not look at the cards in the haul unless a card allows it.
Finally, take the draw deck and divide it roughly in half. Shuffle the "Set Sail" card into one half and place the other half of the deck on top (ensuring that the "Set Sail" card is somewhere in the bottom half of the draw deck).
The game begins with the player who was most recently on a boat. In subsequent rounds, the player that did not get a loot card in the previous round begins the next round.
Playing a Round
Each round consists of players taking turns until the "Set Sail" card is drawn.
Each player takes a turn by recruiting one draw card from his or her hand, putting it into play face-up next to their ship. These cards are now considered "in play". If the card has a recruit effect, that effect is resolved. At the end of the player's turn, the player draws from the draw deck to get their hand back up to 5 cards. Play then passes clockwise around the table to the next player. The round continues until the "Set Sail" card is revealed.
Set Sail!
When the "Set Sail" card is drawn from the draw deck, the player that drew it places it face up next to their ship card. That player then draws another card in place of the Set Sail card and puts that card into their hand. Play then proceeds with each player taking one last turn, including the player that drew the "Set Sail" card. Once the player that drew the "Set Sail" card takes their final turn, the round is over and the players must divvy up the haul (see Dividing the Haul below).
If the "Set Sail" card is drawn as part of a recruit or ongoing effect, it should be revealed and set aside as above. The player should then draw a card to replace it and finish resolving the effect. If "Set Sail" is triggered by an ongoing effect (such as the Lazy Cabinboy being discarded), each player still gets to take one additional turn, ending with the player that triggered the ongoing effect (not necessarily the owner of the card).
Dividing the Haul
Once the round is over, players must divide the haul. Each player looks at all of their cards in play, dividing them up by faction, and counts up the value of each card in each faction to determine their best faction (the highest value in any one faction on their ship). For example, Dan has three Brutal crew cards (worth 1 brutal each), a greedy bosun (worth 2 greedy), a clever crew (worth 1 clever), and a clever captain (worth 4 clever). His highest faction is clever with a value of 5.
Once each player has determined their best faction, they compare it to the other players. The player with the highest value looks at the loot cards in the haul, selects one of them, and places it face-down underneath his or her ship card. The player with the next highest faction repeats this process with the remaining loot cards in the haul. This continues until there are no loot cards left in the haul.
Because there are always one fewer loot cards than there are players in the game, the player with the smallest faction does not get a loot card that round (unless the lazy captain's effect occurs).
If there is a tie for highest faction (either on an individual ship or among players), refer to the rank cards to determine the order of the factions for this round. For example, Dan has a clever crew with a value of 5 while Eleanor has a greedy crew with a value of 5. To resolve which one has the best crew, they look at the rank cards for this round of play. The rank cards show that greedy is ranked higher than clever this round, which means that Eleanor has the highest crew and selects a loot card before Dan. If the tied players are both using crew of the same faction, the tie is broken by the next best faction on each of the tied players' ships. If there is still a tie, both players receive a random card from the haul if enough cards are available. If there is not enough loot cards available, neither player gets a loot card and any remaining cards are placed at the bottom of the loot deck.
Starting a New Round
After all the loot has been divided, all of the draw cards on each ship and in each player's hand are returned to the deck. Set aside the "Set Sail" card and reshuffle the draw deck. Follow the instructions under Playing the Round above. [The printed cross-reference reads "Playing the Round"; the section heading in the rulebook is "Playing a Round". Wording kept as printed.]
Winning the Game
The game is over when one of the pirate captains has enough loot to satisfy his or her crew. The value of the loot needed depends on the number of players in the game:
- 2 Player: 9 or more Loot
- 3 Player: 8 or more Loot
- 4 Player: 7 or more Loot
This refers to the total value of all of the loot cards owned by a player (face down underneath their ship). A player can only declare victory at the end of a round, after the loot for that round has been divided up among the players.
If more than one player has enough loot to win, the player with the highest loot value wins the game. In the case of a tie, the player with the highest faction that round is the winner (as determined in Dividing the Haul). If that results in a tie, both players share the victory.
Card Descriptions
The following rules are presented to clarify some of the various recruit and ongoing effects.
All Bosuns: These cards can target any card of the appropriate faction that are in play on any ship. Has no effect if there are no other cards of the appropriate faction in play. Does not copy ongoing effects.
All Cooks: As long as the cook is in play, all of your crew cards of the appropriate faction have a value of 2 (instead of one). This only applies to cards with the word "Crew" in the title.
All Mutineers: When you recruit this card, you decide which ship to play it on. Multiple mutineers stack with one another. Mutineers can be discarded like any other crew member by a recruit or ongoing effect. Mutineers are counted whenever a player must determine their overall crew score, such as when dividing the haul and determining the player with the best crew.
All Quartermasters: You cannot target yourself with this card. The recruit effect of the card is resolved as normal.
Brutal Lookout: You can target your own hand with this card.
Brutal Gunner: You can target your own ship with this card.
Brutal Surgeon: When you recruit the discarded card, its recruit effect is resolved as normal. This effect can trigger multiple times in one turn if you recruit more than one Brutal Gunner.
Brutal First Mate: You can target your own ship with this card. If the target ship only has 1 crew in play, that crew is discarded and there is no other effect.
Brutal Cabinboy: This can be used to prevent a discard effect that targets your hand or a card in play. This also prevents any other effects that might occur as part of the effect that would cause you to discard a crew card (such as looking at your hand).
Brutal Captain: If a player does not have any cards in play, that player does not have to discard, but all others must still do so.
Clever Lookout: The card you put back will be the card you draw this turn.
Clever Gunner: Determine the best crew by the same manner as described in Dividing the Haul (you get to choose if there is a tie). You select the card to be discarded.
Clever Surgeon: When you recruit the discarded card, its recruit effect is resolved as normal. You can look through the discarded crew cards at any time.
Clever First Mate: Remember that you will draw cards after this effect is resolved.
Clever Cabinboy: This effect occurs the moment it is discarded, meaning that the player that forced you to discard it will end up drawing it at the end of their turn.
Clever Captain: You must discard cards if you hand [sic] has more than 5 cards, but you cannot discard if your hand is at 5 cards or less. When you discard, you can select from the cards drawn or the cards previously in your hand.
Greedy Lookout: If the ship does not have any loot cards, this has no effect. You cannot reveal what you see to other players, including the total value of the loot cards.
Greedy Gunner: The loot card taken must have a printed value of 1, although it can be worth more than 1 in combination with other loot cards. You do not get to look at the loot card drawn to replace the one taken. If there is no loot card in the haul with a value of 1, this card has no effect, although you can still look at all the cards in the haul. You must reveal the loot card to all players before taking it.
Greedy Surgeon: You do not draw a loot card to replace the one taken if you target another player. If that player does not have any loot cards, or any with a printed value of 1, this card has no effect, although you can still look at any loot cards they might have.
Greedy First Mate: If your target does not have a loot card under their ship, this card has no effect. You can target your own ship.
Greedy Cabinboy: If this card is discarded from your hand or in play, you must select one loot card from your ship and return it to the bottom of the loot deck. This has no effect if you do not have any loot cards. This card does not trigger at the end of the round when all crew and cards in hand are discarded.
Greedy Captain: If there are no cards in the loot deck, this card has no effect. You may look at the loot card.
Lazy Lookout: You may only recruit one card, even if more than one is of the Lazy faction. If there are no Lazy cards in the three [sic], all are discarded.
Lazy Gunner: You may select the player after discarding the card from the draw deck. The target player must select a card of the same faction on their ship to discard. You can target yourself with this effect. If the target does not have any cards in play of the same faction, they do not have to discard any cards.
Lazy Surgeon: This effect occurs even if you decide to discard the Lazy Surgeon. This ability does not trigger if you use a card effect to force yourself to discard a card.
Lazy First Mate: The recruit effect of the Lazy card put into play does not trigger. If the "Set Sail" card is drawn, set it aside and continue resolving this effect, then resolve the Set Sail card as normal. If you run out of cards in the crew deck, this effect ends with no further cards revealed.
Lazy Cabinboy: When this card is discarded from play, treat it as if the "Set Sail" card had been drawn during the turn of the currently active player. All players receive one more turn. The current player will be the last player to take a turn before the haul is divided.
Lazy Captain: This card only triggers if, when determining who will get one of the cards in the haul, the player with this card in play is determined to have the weakest crew (counting the Lazy Captain's value of 4). If this triggers, the player with the Lazy Captain in play draws 1 card from the loot deck and adds it to the haul. That player then looks at the haul and takes 1 card of his or her choice, placing it under his or her ship. The rest of the haul is divided as normal. The next round, the player who played the Lazy Captain in the previous round goes first.