Pirates of Maracaibo
Pirates of Maracaibo Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
Common Components
- 1 Exploration Board
- 3 Raiding Dice (yellow, green & white)
- approx. 125 Marker Cubes (in different colors and quantities; gray is for all purposes)
- 62 Doubloon Tokens (20× "5", 20× "2", 22× "1")
- 3 Treasure Island Boards
- 6 Treasure Value Tiles
- 12 Figurehead Tiles
- 42 Tier I Cards: 8 Locations, 12 Residences, 22 Improvements
- 41 Tier II Cards
- 25 Quest Cards
Player Components
- 4 Ship Boards (1 per player; one reverse side is for the Solo Mode)
- 28 Double Sided Player Tokens (7 in each player color); the reverse side of each is a Residence Token / +50 VP token
- 20 Double Sided Black Market Tiles (5 in each player color)
- 4 Hideout Boards (1 per player; one reverse side is for the Solo Mode)
- 4 Ship Tokens (1 in each player color)
- 4 Explorer Tokens (1 in each player color)
- 4 Scoring Tokens (1 in each player color)
For Solo Mode
- 1 Solo Ship Board (reverse side of a player's Ship Board)
- 12 Solo Cards (6× A, 6× B)
- 1 Solo Hideout Board (reverse side of a player's Hideout Board)
For Rubies Module
- 2 Ruby Supply Tiles
- 1 Ruby Market Tile
For Retirement Module
- 1 Residence Discount Tile (can also be used for the game "Maracaibo")
Setup
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Optionally select one or more modules that will modify the setup and rules for the game. It is recommended that no module be used until all players are familiar with the game. A list of modules can be found in the Modules section.
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Place the Exploration board between the players.
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Separate the Tier I cards into Locations, Residences, & Improvements piles.
- Shuffle the Residences card pile and place 4 cards on top of the Locations pile, creating the Tier I draw deck.
- Shuffle the Improvements pile and place 15 cards on top of the Tier I draw deck.
- Shuffle the Tier I draw deck.
- Return the unused Residence and Improvement cards to the box without looking at them.
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Draw cards from the Tier I draw deck and place them faceup next to the Exploration board, in columns, from left to right, to create a layout like the one shown in the rulebook. The three Treasure Island boards should be placed faceup with the cards in their indicated locations. This area, including the Gulf and Maracaibo spaces on the Exploration board, will be referred to as the Caribbean. For your first games: If there is a cluster of 4 or more adjacent Location cards, swap one or more of these cards with Improvement cards to break up the cluster. Note: Once players are familiar with the game, there are alternate Caribbean diagrams in the Alternative Card Layouts section, or feel free to make up your own layout holding to the general concept that the area is roughly 9 columns and 4 rows.
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Shuffle all Tier II cards and place them facedown near the Caribbean.
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Place 4 Marker cubes onto each Treasure Island board (starting from the bottom spaces). All remaining Marker cubes should be placed within reach of all players.
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Randomly place all 6 Treasure Value tiles faceup onto the top left corner of each Location card that has the matching symbol.
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Each player takes a Ship board, a Hideout board, and the following components that match their color: Ship token, Explorer token, Scoring token, Black Market tiles, and Player tokens.
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Each player places their components in the following locations:
- Ship token on the indicated starting zone
- Explorer on the starting space of the Exploration track on the Exploration board
- Score token on the 0 space of the score track on the Exploration board
- Ship board in front of them with the multiplayer side faceup
- Hideout board with the multiplayer side faceup near their Ship board
- All other components near their Ship board
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One player randomly flips all of their Black Market tiles and places them near their Ship board. Then, each other player must flip their Black Market tiles so that all players have the same sides faceup.
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Shuffle the Quest cards and place them facedown near the Exploration board. Each player draws 2 Quest cards into their hand. They must keep 1 of these cards, hidden from opponents, and discard the other facedown. After this, shuffle all discarded Quest cards back into the Quest deck. Then, reveal the top 2 cards from the Quest deck and place them faceup near the deck to create the Quest Market.
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Randomize the Figurehead tiles and place a number of them faceup near the Exploration track equal to the number of players plus 2. These will be referred to as the Figurehead Market. Return the rest to the box.
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Place the Doubloon tokens and Raiding dice within reach of all players.
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Randomly determine a first player. In clockwise order, each player gains doubloons depending on their turn order:
- 1st Player: 10 doubloons
- 2nd Player: 11 doubloons
- 3rd Player: 12 doubloons
- 4th Player: 13 doubloons
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Finally, the last player in turn order (i.e., the player to the right of the first player) places one of their Player markers with the 50 VP side facedown onto the Maracaibo space on the Exploration board, to show they are the last player to act when the end of the game is triggered.
Gameplay
The game takes place over three rounds, with players taking turns in clockwise order. During a player's turn, they move their Ship token across the Caribbean and then perform the actions shown where they stop. Each round ends once a player has reached Maracaibo, and after 3 rounds, the game will end.
Player Turn
During each player's turn, they must perform a Move step and then may perform an Actions step. After this, play proceeds to the next player in clockwise order.
Move Step
The player must move their Ship token 1 to 3 spaces in the Caribbean. Each card, as well as the Gulf and Maracaibo spaces on the Exploration board, are considered to be spaces. Treasure Islands are never considered to be spaces, you can't enter them nor sail through them.
With each movement, the player's ship must sail to a space that is touching their current space. From the starting zone, a Ship must first move to any card in the leftmost column of the Caribbean. The ship must end the move step in a column of spaces that is closer to Maracaibo than the column they started their movement step in.
Example: Black moves their ship up and to the right, ending up in a column closer to Maracaibo. They could not have moved only up and stopped there, because their ship would end up in the same column it started in.
If the Ship moves to a space on the Exploration board, it immediately stops, forfeiting any remaining movement. The Ship may not move again during the current turn.
Opposing Ship tokens do not affect the player's movement, and any number of Ship tokens may be in each space.
If the player ends their movement on a card space with opposing Ship tokens, they must pay each of those opponents 1 doubloon, if possible. If the player does not have enough doubloons to pay all the opponents, they may choose which opponents to pay. (Not being able to pay all opponents has no consequences for the player.) Because the Gulf and Maracaibo spaces aren't cards, players do not pay this penalty when they share these spaces.
Example: In the above example, Black must pay 1 doubloon to Blue.
Actions Step
The player may perform all actions shown in the space where they ended their movement. There are five types of spaces: Improvement cards, Residence cards, Location cards, the Gulf, and Maracaibo (the latter two printed on the Exploration board).
Improvement Card
An Improvement card shows, in the top-left corner, its Cost; in the top-right corner, its Victory Points (VP) at Game End; below that, its Effect; below that, its Income; and at the bottom, its Name and a symbol for its type of Improvement (Equipment / Crew / Ship).
The player must choose one of the following options:
A) Ignore the card and gain 5 doubloons from the supply.
B) Acquire the Improvement by spending doubloons equal to the cost indicated in the top-left corner of the card, reduced by any discounts the player may have (e.g. from other Improvements or Ship Upgrades). Then, place the acquired Improvement faceup by the player's Ship board. If the acquired Improvement shows a lightning bolt icon, the player may immediately perform all actions indicated in the order of their choice. All ongoing benefits shown on the Improvement card will go into effect once the card has been purchased. All effects are explained in the Glossary. Lastly, draw the top card from the Tier II deck and place it faceup onto the space from which the acquired Improvement card was removed. All Ship tokens on this spot are placed on top of the new card. (In the very rare event that the Tier II deck runs out, place a facedown Tier I card from those removed from play; on a facedown card, players can only gain 5 doubloons.)
Example: Tobacco has a printed cost of 8 doubloons. Thanks to Klabautermann, which Black acquired on a previous turn, they need to pay only 5 doubloons.
Residence Card
A Residence card shows, in the top-left corner, its Cost; below that, its VP Cap; below that, its Bonus for First; a conditional scoring value; and at the bottom, its Name and a symbol for Residence.
The player may spend doubloons equal to the indicated amount in the top-left corner of the card to "construct" the Residence (reduced by any discounts). If they do, the player places one of their Player tokens onto that card with the symbol side facing up. This is now considered to be a Residence token. If this is the first Residence token placed there, the player scores 2 victory points immediately.
Each Residence token enables the conditional scoring shown on the card. These are scored at the end of the game for the associated player. Each player may place no more than one Residence token onto each Residence card, and Residence tokens cannot be moved once placed.
Example: Yellow pays 16 doubloons to construct the Hacienda, which allows them to score 2 VP per 1 coin income at the end of the game. They do not get the bonus 2 VP because the Black player constructed the Hacienda first.
Location Card
A Location card shows, at the top, a Treasure Value Symbol and the Name; in the middle, an Upgrade icon and the Location Action(s); and at the bottom, a symbol for the Location.
Each Location card has several steps which must be performed in order:
1. Increase Treasure Value If there is a Treasure Value tile on this Location, you must place 1 Marker cube from the supply onto the depicted Treasure Island. The Markers are placed from bottom to top, and the large top spaces take unlimited Markers.
Example: In this game, when a player stops their movement in Trinidad, the Pearl Treasure Island gets a Marker cube.
2. Activate Black Market If a Black Market tile placed by the player is on this location, they may activate it to perform all indicated effects. Opponent's Black Market tiles are ignored. Black Market effects are explained in the Glossary.
Example: When Blue moves their Ship to Tobago, they get an additional Bury Treasure action (see the Actions From Effects section for the Bury Treasure action).
3. Upgrade Ship The player may Upgrade their ship as described in the Upgrading Ships section.
4. Location Actions Each Location shows one or more actions that may be performed in any order. If there is a "/," then only the actions from one side of the slash may be performed. Here are the Location actions:
Raiding
- The player must roll all 3 Raiding Dice and may optionally reroll all of the dice once.
- Select one of the dice and gain Raiding Power equal to its rolled value. Raiding power is expressed in a number of swords equal to the pips on the selected die. Once the die is selected, all Raiding actions that involve Treasures must be made with the associated Treasure: Yellow die - Gold, Green die - Emeralds, White die - Pearls.
- Increase your Raiding power by permanent effects from your Improvement cards, Ship Upgrades and Figurehead tile. Some effects may depend on the color of the die you choose.
- Spend Raiding power to perform Raiding Actions. Each separate Raiding Action may be performed only once per turn. There are three standard Raiding Actions depicted on the Ship Board (listed below) and more may be unlocked with Ship Upgrades, etc.:
- Spend 1 Raiding Power to gain 1 point.
- Spend 2 Raiding Power to gain 3 doubloons.
- Spend 5 Raiding Power to gain 1 Treasure from the associated Treasure Island according to the color of the die chosen (see below).
- All unused Raiding Power is lost at the end of the player's turn.
Example: Laura was hoping to gain Gold but does not feel like rerolling and potentially losing the rolled 6; she selects the green die, taking 1 Emerald and 1 point (for a total of 5+1=6 Raiding Power), gaining an additional 2 points for the Emerald after she places it on the bonus space.
Treasure The player gains one Treasure of the indicated type (Gold, Emerald, or Pearl) by removing a Marker cube from the associated Treasure Island - from top to bottom - and placing it onto their Hideout board. If there are no Markers on the Treasure Island, then a Marker may be taken from the supply. The Marker must be placed in the matching storage area for the Treasure type, above the shovel line. If there is an empty bonus space in that area, the Marker may be placed there instead, and the player will gain the bonus that was covered. Each Marker is considered to be one Treasure of the type matching the storage area it is in, whether it is above or below the shovel line.
Treasure will be worth varying amounts of points at the end of the game, depending on how many Markers are on the associated Treasure Island. This is explained further in the Endgame Scoring section.
Explore The player may move their Explorer up to the value shown to the left of this action icon. The Explorer must move at least one space and must move in the direction indicated on the Exploration track. Spaces occupied by opposing Explorers are skipped over, which does not consume any movement value.
After moving, the player may gain the effects of all icons on the space where their Explorer stopped. Icons are explained in the Glossary.
Example: Blue has moved their ship to Bonaire, which allows them to move their Explorer up to 3 spaces. They decide to move along the bottom track, skipping the Gold space occupied by Yellow. Then they may perform the printed action on the space they landed on (gaining 3 doubloons).
Bury Treasure The player may bury 1 Treasure per shovel icon by moving a Treasure Marker down below the shovel line of its storage area on their Hideout board. The Marker must be placed onto an empty Buried Bonus space under the shovel line, and the player gains the effect of any bonus that was covered (some spaces have no bonus). The player is still considered to possess this Treasure for all purposes. If there are no empty spaces under the shovel line, then no more Treasure of that type may be buried. If there are multiple bury actions performed during the same turn, each may be used to bury different types of Treasure.
Example: Jasmin buries her only Emerald. As a bonus she adds one Marker cube to the Emerald Treasure Island.
Gain Quest The player may gain 1 Quest card from the top of the Quest deck or from the faceup Quest Market. If a faceup card is gained, immediately replace it with a new faceup card from the top of the Quest deck. Quests should be kept hidden from opponents until Endgame Scoring.
Acquire Improvement Acquire a Crew or Equipment Improvement card (depending on the icon) from anywhere in the Caribbean, paying 3 extra doubloons. Draw the top card from the Tier II deck and place it faceup onto the spot from which the acquired Improvement card was removed. All Ship tokens on this spot are placed on top of the new card.
Actions From Effects
Upgrading Ships
Players will have numerous opportunities to upgrade their Ship board, which will give them immediate, as well as ongoing effects. To perform an Upgrade, the player places a gray Marker cube from the supply onto an empty Upgrade slot on their Ship board.
There are three Upgrade barrier lines, and a Marker may only be placed to the right of a line if there are already at least as many Upgrades on the Ship board as the number on that barrier line.
Example: To cross the first barrier line, the player must have Marker cubes on at least two of the six available Upgrades to the left of the line.
Each Upgrade is associated with a benefit. One-time benefits (beige scroll) are performed immediately, and ongoing benefits (red scroll) go into effect immediately after the upgrade. There are numerous different benefits, and their explanations can be found in the Glossary.
Two Upgrade benefits are important to understand in greater detail:
Gain Figurehead The player must spend 3 doubloons. Then, they gain 1 Figurehead from the Figurehead Market and attach it to the left side of their Ship board. They gain the lightning bolt benefits ("Hawk") immediately, and the ongoing benefits go into effect immediately after the upgrade. All Figurehead abilities are explained in the Glossary. You can only have one Figurehead tile; it stays with you until game end.
Place Black Market Tile If there is an indicated cost, the player must spend that amount of doubloons. Then, they place a Black Market tile of their choice onto any Location card that does not already have a Black Market tile (so each Location card can only hold at most one single Black Market tile). Black Markets cannot be placed onto the Gulf or Maracaibo spaces. The tiles are double-sided and must not be flipped over.
After placing the Black Market tile, activate it immediately. All Black Market effects are explained in the Glossary.
Victory Points (VP)
Each time this icon is activated, the player will gain the indicated number of points. Points are tracked on the perimeter of the Exploration board using that player's Scoring token. Each time a player's score exceeds the 50 space of the track, they place one of their player markers showing +50 on the 50 VP space and continue scoring from space 1 of the scoring track.
Doubloons
White number: The player gains the indicated amount of doubloons from the supply. Players should store their doubloons on their Hideout board.
Red number: The player pays the indicated amount of doubloons, returning the tokens to the supply. They must pay all of the indicated doubloons in order to proceed with the associated action.
Resource Limits
The doubloons, Markers, and Player tokens are considered to be unlimited. Use an appropriate alternative if more are required than are provided.
The Gulf
This is the first space a ship reaches on the Exploration board. The player must stop at this space once their Ship moves onto it. The player may Upgrade their ship as described in the Upgrading Ships section. Then, they may choose one of the following options:
- Perform a Raiding action with an additional 2 Raiding Power.
- Perform an Explore action of value 4.
- Construct any Residence in the Caribbean with none of that player's Residence tokens on it.
Maracaibo
Ships moving from the Gulf space must move onto the Maracaibo space and then stop, forfeiting any further movement. That player gains 6 points and an Upgrade.
After the player that reaches Maracaibo's turn is complete, the round will immediately end.
- Exception: If it is the third round, continue playing until the end of the player's turn whose Player token is on Maracaibo.
End of Round
Each player gains their income (green scrolls):
- Gain doubloons equal to all doubloon income icons on acquired Improvements and their figurehead tile.
- Gain victory points equal to all victory point income icons on acquired Improvements and their figurehead tile.
Example: At the end of each round, this player gains 5 doubloons and 2 VP from three Improvement cards (a Compass, a Lantern, and a Sea Dog).
If three rounds have been completed, proceed to Endgame Scoring. Otherwise, move all Ship tokens to the starting zone in the Caribbean. Play will continue in clockwise order from the player who just ended the round.
Endgame Scoring
Once three rounds have been completed (including a third income phase), and all players have performed the same number of turns, the game will end. Each player gains additional points for the following conditions (Endgame Scoring is also depicted on the Hideout Boards):
- Gain 4 points for every river crossed on the exploration board.
- Gain 1 point for every 5 remaining doubloons.
- Gain all points shown in the top-right corner of each acquired Improvement.
- Gain the shown conditional points (gray scroll) on each Improvement with the Endgame Scoring icon.
- Gain the shown conditional points for each Residence with their Residence token on it. Each Residence can score a maximum of 24 or 25 points.
- Each treasure (unburied or buried) is worth points depending on the number of Markers on the respective Treasure Island.
- If there are 0-2 markers on the Island, the treasure will have a value of 2 VP each.
- If there are 3-4 markers on the Island, the treasure will have a value of 3 VP each.
- If there are 5-6 markers on the Island, the treasure will have a value of 4 VP each.
- If there are 7 or more markers on the Island, the treasure will have a value of 5 VP each.
- Additionally, gain 2 points for every Treasure that is buried.
- Reveal all Quest cards and gain points depending on their listed conditions. Each Quest card has a top and bottom condition, and the player will score the points of the highest condition met or exceeded. Quest cards can share the elements that meet their conditions.
Example: If multiple Quest cards score for Crew Improvements, each Improvement can apply to each of these Quest cards.
- Each player who scored points from at least 6 Quest cards gains an additional 10 victory points.
The player with the most points wins! If there is a tie between multiple players, it is broken by the player with the most buried Treasure. If there is still a tie, the players share the victory.
Alternative Card Layouts / Caribbean Diagrams
Once players are familiar with the game, the rulebook provides two alternative Caribbean diagrams as ready-made layouts for the Tier I card grid (each roughly 9 columns by 4 rows, with the starting zone at the left and the three Treasure Island boards and Treasure Value tiles placed at indicated positions), as an alternative to dealing the layout randomly during Setup step 4. Players may also devise their own layouts, holding to the general concept that the area is roughly 9 columns and 4 rows.
Solo Mode
Introduction
One player competes against Jordan, who is an automated opponent controlled by a deck of Solo cards.
Setup
Follow the setup instructions for a two-player game where the player is in control of one of the selected colors, and Jordan is in control of the other selected color. The only exceptions are: The Figurehead Market only consists of 3 Figurehead tiles and Jordan never gains or pays money.
Perform the following additional setup steps:
- Flip Jordan's Ship board and Hideout board over to their solo sides.
- Place one Marker cube on the leftmost position of the Raiding & Explore track on their Hideout board.
- Separate the Solo cards into two decks based on the A and B in their top right corner. Randomly replace 0 - 6 Solo A cards with Solo B cards. The more Solo B cards added, the more difficult the game will be.
- Shuffle the assembled 6-card Solo deck and place it facedown next to Jordan's Ship board.
- Jordan draws a random Quest card as part of setup, this is placed facedown next to their ship.
Gameplay
The player always takes the first turn, and play will alternate between them and Jordan until the game ends after three rounds.
The player's turn follows the multiplayer rules. If the player lands on a card with Jordan's ship, then they must pay 1 doubloon to the supply, if possible. If Jordan lands on a card with the player's ship, then take 1 doubloon from the supply.
Jordan's Turns
At the start of each of Jordan's turns, reveal the top card from the Solo deck. If there are no remaining cards on the deck to draw, shuffle all 6 Solo cards to create a new facedown Solo deck.
Jordan's actions begin with movement followed by one main action. In the case of a "B" card, Jordan will also perform a bonus action first.
On a solo card, there are multiple main actions depicted, but Jordan will only perform one of them. Jordan attempts to perform the top action, and if it cannot be completed, they move down to the next action. Continue until they find an action which can be completed. In the rare event that no main action is possible, ignore this whole solo card and draw a new one instead.
An A card shows a 1st Action, 2nd Action, and 3rd Action (top to bottom). A B card shows a Bonus action at the top, then a 1st Action and 2nd Action.
Actions of the Solo Card
Raiding icon action: If a location with the depicted action is within a 3 movement range, sail to this location. Then perform the following actions:
- If there is a Treasure Value tile on this Location, place 1 Marker cube from the supply onto the depicted Treasure Island.
- Place a Marker cube on the left-most uncovered Upgrade on their Ship board.
- Perform a Raiding Action: The Marker cube on Jordan's Hideout board will indicate the effects of their Raiding action:
- Jordan takes one treasure according to the roll of one die (see below).
- Jordan takes 2 points and one treasure according to the roll of one die.
- Jordan takes 2 points and one treasure according to the roll of one die. If Jordan has more treasures of this type than the player, place 1 Marker cube from the supply onto the associated Treasure Island.
- Jordan takes 3 points and two of the same treasures according to the roll of the one die. If Jordan has more treasures of this type than the player, place 1 Marker cube from the supply onto the associated Treasure Island.
The treasure Jordan gains is determined by one die roll. On a roll of 4, 5 or 6, Jordan gains the Treasure of the corresponding island with the most Marker cubes. If there is a tie for most markers, the tie is broken in the following order: Gold > Emerald > Pearl.
Explore icon action: If a location with the depicted action is within a 3 movement range, sail to this location. Then perform the following actions:
- If there is a Treasure Value tile on this Location, place 1 Marker cube from the supply onto the depicted Treasure Island.
- Place a Marker cube on the left-most uncovered Upgrade on their Ship board.
- Perform an Explore Action: Jordan moves their Explorer by the value shown to the left of the action icon on the location. The usual movement rules apply. Their Explorer will always choose the longest path when presented with branching options. Jordan gains no benefits from the space they stop on. The Marker cube on Jordan's Hideout board will indicate the effects of their Explore action:
- Jordan takes 3 points.
- Jordan adds 1 to their movement and takes 3 points.
- Jordan adds 2 to their movement and takes 4 points.
- Jordan adds 2 to their movement and takes 6 points.
Gain Quest icon action: If a location with the depicted action (i.e. Aruba) is within a 3 movement range, sail to this location. Then perform the following actions:
- If there is a Treasure Value tile on this Location, place 1 Marker cube from the supply onto the depicted Treasure Island.
- Place a Marker cube on the left-most uncovered Upgrade on their Ship board.
- Jordan gains the right-most quest, placing it facedown on top of their other Quests. Refill the Quest market by sliding the remaining card over and drawing a new card faceup next to the deck.
Acquire Improvement icon action (Ship Equipment / Crew, with a slash): If one of these locations is within a 3 movement range, sail to this location. If both are in range, apply the solo tie breaker rule (explained below). Then perform the following actions:
- If there is a Treasure Value tile on this Location, place 1 Marker cube from the supply onto the depicted Treasure Island.
- Place a Marker cube on the left-most uncovered Upgrade on their Ship board.
- Instead of buying a card from the Caribbean, draw the top card from the Tier II deck and put it with Jordan's other bought cards.
Improvement card icon action: Jordan buys an Improvement card. Start with the 1st Improvement card type: If a card of this type is within a 3 movement range, sail to this location. If multiple cards are in range, apply the solo tie breaker rule (explained below). Then take the card at no cost and replace it with the top card from the Tier II deck. If no card of this type is in range, check for the 2nd card type, then the 3rd. If no Improvement card is in range, Jordan can't perform this action. Proceed to the next possible action.
Upgrades
When Jordan gets an Upgrade, place a Marker cube on the left-most uncovered Upgrade on their Ship board. The first column is completed from top to bottom before proceeding to the second column etc. All Upgrades have an immediate effect:
- Advance the Marker cube on Jordan's Hideout board one space to the right. This increases the strength of their Exploration and Raiding actions.
- Roll a die. Take the 1st Figurehead if you rolled 1 or 2, the 2nd if you rolled 3 or 4 and the 3rd if you rolled 5 or 6. If the human player has already taken a Figurehead, Jordan doesn't take a Figurehead.
- Jordan gains the right-most quest, placing it facedown on top of their other Quests. Refill the Quest market by sliding the remaining card over and drawing a new card faceup next to the deck.
- Assign a number 1-4 to each Residence (e.g. ascending from left to right), then roll one die. Reroll a 5, 6, or any number that would cause you to place Jordan's marker onto a Residence card for the second time. Place one of Jordan's Player tokens on the rolled Residence. If it's the first token on this Residence, Jordan gains 2 points.
Bonus Actions
On all B cards there is a bonus action, which is performed before the main actions. The bonus actions are:
- Ship Upgrade
- Raiding Action
- Explore Action
Important Notes
- The Gulf contains the Raiding and Explore action. Therefore, if the Gulf is within a 3 movement range and the solo card tells Jordan to do one of those 2 actions, Jordan will always move to the Gulf and perform this action.
- When at the start of the turn Jordan is on the Gulf, no solo card is flipped. Instead Jordan moves to Maracaibo, gets an Upgrade and 6 points.
- Tier II Location cards grant points for Improvement cards, buried treasures etc. Jordan ignores these additional points.
- Whenever Jordan gains Improvement cards, ignore all the effects, endgame points and income.
Solo tie breaker rule: If Jordan has more than one option to sail, choose the one in the column closest to Maracaibo. If there are still multiple options in the same column, choose the top one.
Endgame Scoring (Solo Mode)
Jordan will always take the final turn since the player takes the first turn of the game. The player scores endgame points using the multiplayer rules. Jordan scores endgame points for the following conditions:
- 4 points for each river crossed on the exploration board
- 6 points for each improvement card acquired
- 15 points for each Residence constructed
- Treasures are scored according to the multiplayer rules
- 5 points for each Quest card acquired
- 10 points if they acquired at least 6 quests
If the player has more points than Jordan, then they have won!
Modules
Select one or more of the following Modules and modify the setup and gameplay rules accordingly:
Fog of War: Locations
Setup When creating the Tier I deck, place the Location cards facedown, and all other cards faceup. Shuffle the deck and then place the cards into the Caribbean so that the Location cards stay facedown. Place 1 doubloon onto each facedown Location card.
Gameplay Each time a player's ship ends its movement on a facedown Location card, that player gains any coins on top of the card and then flips it faceup. They then perform all actions shown on that Location, and the card will stay faceup for the rest of the game. During the income phase, at the end of each round, place 1 doubloon onto each Location card that is still facedown.
Solo Gameplay Whenever Jordan sails onto or over a facedown Location card, flip it faceup and return all doubloons on it to the supply. Jordan then gains 1/3/5 points if this happens during the 1st/2nd/3rd round of the game. When Jordan has multiple tied movement paths, they always choose the path that visits the most facedown Location cards.
Fog of War: Improvements
Setup When creating the Tier I deck, place the Improvement cards facedown and all other cards faceup. Shuffle your Tier I deck and create a layout of cards according to the Caribbean diagram of your choice. When creating the Tier II deck, cut it into two equal-sized piles. Flip one of these piles face up and then shuffle the two piles together. This means the top card on the Tier II deck will sometimes be facedown and other times be faceup.
Gameplay When Tier II cards are placed into the Caribbean, keep them in their current orientation (faceup or facedown). Each time a player's ship moves onto a facedown Improvement card, the card is immediately flipped faceup. The player may choose to stop their movement on the card or continue moving as long as they have movement points remaining.
Solo Gameplay Whenever Jordan sails through a facedown card, flip it faceup, but continue movement. When Jordan has multiple tied movement paths, they always choose the path that visits the most facedown cards.
Pirate Skirmish
Gameplay Whenever a player ends their ship movement on a card space with at least one opponent, they will enter combat. All players with ships on this card simultaneously roll one Raiding die. There is no reroll. They then add all of their permanent Raiding Power increase abilities to the combat value of their die result. The player with the highest overall result gains 2 points and takes up to 1 doubloon from each other player who participated in this combat. If no winner is determined, nothing happens.
Solo Gameplay Jordan will always increase their Raiding Power by the current round number, e.g. a roll of 4 in the 2nd round equals a Raiding Power of 6. The winner of combat gains 5 points but no coins. If no winner is determined, nothing happens.
Quest Hunters
Setup Each player draws 3 Quest cards and keeps 2 of them. Place 3 Quest cards into the Quest Market at all times.
Endgame Scoring Quests are only considered completed if their more difficult condition is met. Each completed Quest is worth double its printed point value. Each incomplete Quest will lose that player 5 points.
Rubies
Setup Place the 2 Ruby Supply Tiles onto Bonaire and Tobago, and place the Ruby Market Tile next to the Gulf.
Gameplay When a player's ship ends its movement on a Location with a Ruby Supply Tile, they may gain 1 Ruby. They show this by taking one gray Marker from the supply and placing it on the ship image of their Hideout Board.
When a player's ship ends its movement in the Gulf, they may sell one Ruby. They do this by removing a Ruby and placing it onto any empty bonus space on the Ruby Market Tile, taking the covered bonus immediately. If all spaces on the Ruby Market Card are full, no more bonuses may be claimed in this way. Players may trade additional Rubies for 2 points each.
Solo Gameplay Jordan also gains 1 Ruby on a Location with a Ruby Supply Tile. In the Gulf, Jordan sells 1 Ruby to a random empty space (assign each of the 6 spaces a different die number and roll a die. If the rolled space is occupied, take the next empty one). At the end of the game, Jordan scores 2 points per remaining Ruby.
Retirement
Setup Place the Residence Discount tile on the matching spot on the exploration board. Each player places one of their Player tokens there.
Gameplay When players move their explorer to the Residence Discount tile (it counts as a space), they must immediately buy a Residence at half price, moving the Residence marker from the tile to the Residence of their choice. Then move your Explorer back to the starting location of the Explorer track. The Residence Discount Tile can only be used one time per player.
When figuring out the cost of the Residence, take all card discounts first before halving the price, rounding up.
Extra: This Tile can also be used in the game "Maracaibo." If you do, put the tile on the indicated spot of the Explorer Track. The rules are similar: In the setup, every player puts a figure from the general supply on this tile. If you enter it, place your figure from there at half price on a Prestige building and move your Explorer back to the starting location.
Glossary
Quest Cards
Each Quest has a top and bottom condition; score one of these if the condition is met or surpassed. Quest cards can share the elements that meet their conditions.
- Gold icon, Emerald icon, Pearl icon (each with a number X): Have the indicated amount of Treasures.
- Gold icon, Emerald icon, Pearl icon with a shovel (each with a number X): Have the indicated amount of buried Treasures.
- Improvement card icon, Crew icon, Residence icon (each with a number X): Have the indicated amount of this type of Improvement cards.
- Doubloon icon (e.g. 10): Have the indicated amount of doubloon income.
- Victory Point icon (e.g. 7): Have the indicated amount of points income.
- Improvement card-back icon (X): Have the indicated amount of Improvement cards (including constructed Residences).
- River icon (X): Have crossed the indicated amount of rivers on the Exploration board.
- Crew, Equipment, and Ship icons together (each with its own X): Have the indicated amount of each indicated type of Improvement card.
- Ship Improvement icon (X): Have the indicated amount of Ship Improvement Cards.
- Shovel + Victory Point icon (X): Have the indicated amount of buried Treasures and point income.
- Lightning bolt icon (X): Have the indicated amount of Improvement Cards which granted immediate effects (lightning symbol).
- Ship Upgrade checkmark icon (X): Have the indicated amount of ship upgrades.
- Crew + River icon (X each): Have the indicated amount of Crew Improvement cards and crossed rivers on the Exploration track.
- Equipment + River icon (X each): Have the indicated amount of Equipment Improvement cards and crossed rivers on the Exploration board.
- Equipment + Crew icon (X each): Have the indicated amount of Equipment and Crew Improvement cards.
- Ship Equipment + Residence icon (X each): Have the indicated amount of Ship Equipment cards and constructed Residences.
- Shovel + River icon (X each): Have the indicated amount of buried Treasures and crossed rivers on the Exploration track.
Black Markets
- Shovel icon: Perform an optional bury action.
- Shovel + 1 icon: Gain 1 point (max. 6) for every buried Treasure the player has.
- Scroll + 1 icon: Gain 1 point (max. 6) for every Quest card the player has.
- River + 2 icon: Gain 2 points (max. 6) for each river the player has crossed on the exploration track. Note, that if you crossed 4 rivers, you still only get 6 points.
- "2 + Marker" icon: Gain 2 points and place a Marker cube on any Treasure Island.
- Equipment + 1 icon: Gain 1 point (max. 6) for each Equipment Improvement card the player has.
- Crew + 1 icon: Gain 1 point (max. 6) for each Crew Improvement card the player has.
- Emerald + 1 icon: Gain 1 point (max. 6) for every Emerald Treasure the player has.
- Pearl + 1 icon: Gain 1 point (max. 6) for every Pearl Treasure the player has.
- Gold + 1 icon: Gain 1 point (max. 6) for every Gold Treasure the player has.
Figureheads
A (Mermaid): When Raiding, the player may spend 2 Raiding Power to gain 2 points and 2 doubloons.
B (Dragon): During each Explore action, the player may move 2 extra spaces.
C (Harpy): The player may move their ship up to 4 spaces during each move step. Increase the player's doubloon income by 4.
D (Whale): When selecting a Quest, the player may refresh (i.e. replace by 2 new cards) the Quest market before selecting. Also, the player gains 1 doubloon during income for every Quest card they possess.
E (Lion): When Raiding, gain 2 extra Raiding Power and 1 extra reroll of all Raiding dice.
F (Sea Snake): Increase the player's doubloon and victory point income by 2 each.
G (Poseidon): Each time the player buries Treasure, they may place this treasure on an empty space of this figurehead instead of below the shovel line on their hideout. This counts as a usual buried treasure in the final scoring. The reward for burying are: 5 doubloons, 4 points, Upgrade, or 1 Treasure.
H (Kraken): When Raiding, the player may spend 3 Raiding Power to gain 6 doubloons.
I (Hawk): The player immediately gains their choice of 3 Gold, or 3 Emeralds, or 3 Pearls.
J (Nautilus): During each Explore action, the player may subtract 1 point of movement to gain 1 Gold Treasure.
K (Skull): When Raiding, the player may spend 2 Raiding Power to bury a Treasure.
L (Unicorn): The player pays 2 fewer doubloons for every gained Improvement or Residence card for the rest of the game.
Residence Cards
- Doubloon-income icon: Gain 2 points (max. 24) for each doubloon income the player has (total number of doubloons, not scrolls).
- Victory-point-income icon: Gain 3 points (max. 24) for each victory point income the player has (total number of points, not scrolls).
- Ship Improvement icon: Gain 5 points (max. 25) for each Ship Improvement card the player has.
- Equipment icon: Gain 4 points (max. 24) for each Equipment Improvement card the player has.
- Crew icon: Gain 4 points (max. 24) for each Crew Improvement card the player has.
- Shovel icon: Gain 3 points (max. 24) for each buried Treasure the player has.
- Quest icon: Gain 4 points (max. 24) for each Quest the player scores points for during final scoring.
- Emerald icon: Gain 4 points (max. 24) for each Emerald Treasure the player has.
- Gold icon: Gain 4 points (max. 24) for each Gold Treasure the player has.
- Pearl icon: Gain 4 points (max. 24) for each Pearl Treasure the player has.
- Three-treasure-types icon: Gain 8 points (max. 24) for each set of different Treasures the player has.
- River icon: Gain 6 points (max. 24) for each river the player crossed on the exploration track.
Effect Icons
Many of the following icons can be found on the Ship Board, Cards, and Exploration track.
- Swords icon "3 swords = Treasure": Gain a new Raiding Action that lets the player spend 3 Raiding Power to gain 1 Treasure of the color of the chosen die.
- Swords icon "2 swords = 3 shields": Gain a new Raiding Action that lets the player spend 2 Raiding Power to gain 3 points.
- Swords icon "4 swords = 3 shields + Marker": Gain a new Raiding Action that lets the player spend 4 Raiding Power to gain 3 points and place 1 Marker cube from the supply onto any Treasure Island board.
- "+1 sword" icon: When Raiding, gain the indicated number of extra Raiding Power to spend on Raiding actions.
- "Die +2 swords" icon (yellow, green, or white die): Permanently add 2 Raiding Power to the die of the depicted color, e.g. yellow die +2 means that a roll of 5 gives you 7 Raiding Power for Gold. Can't be applied to Raiding Actions without dice rolling.
- "+1 movement" (Explore) icon: During each Explore action, the player may increase the indicated amount of movement.
- "-1 = 2 shields" icon: Each time you take the Explore action, you may use this or similar abilities once each to forfeit Explorer movement for a reward. To gain multiple rewards in this way, you must forfeit movement for each reward separately. (A "-2 = 4 shields" variant works the same way at a steeper cost/reward.)
- "-2" discount icon (on Improvement card back): Acquiring Improvements (or Residences) costs the indicated amount less. These discounts are cumulative but cannot go below 0.
- "8 swords" / raiding-value icon: Immediately perform a Raiding action for the treasure of your choice as if you rolled the indicated number. Apply permanent effects.
- "Die +6 swords" icon (yellow, green, or white die): Immediately perform a Raiding action using only the color of die shown. Then add the Raiding power indicated and apply permanent effects.
- "4" Explore icon: Immediately perform an Explore action: Move the Explorer and apply permanent effects.
- Lightning bolt icon: Gain all benefits from the space your Explorer is currently on.
- Ship Upgrade checkmark icon: The player may upgrade their ship (see Upgrading Ships).
- Shovel icon: The player may bury one Treasure (see Bury Treasure).
- Black Market checkmark icon: The player may gain the effects of any Black Market tile they have previously placed onto a location (see Place Black Market Tile).
- Figurehead + 3 icon: The player may pay 3 doubloons to gain one Figurehead token.
- Quest card + 8 icon: Discard a Quest card from hand to gain 8 doubloons. Put the discarded Quest card underneath the Quest draw stack.
- Gold + Marker icon: Place 1 Marker cube from the supply onto any Treasure Island board to increase the Treasure's value.
- "2x Marker" icon: Place 2 Marker cubes from the supply onto the same Treasure Island board.
- Residence + Upgrade icon: Construct any Residence you don't already have. Pay the usual costs.
- Ship Improvement acquire icon: Acquire any Ship Improvement card in the Caribbean. Pay the usual costs. Then put a Tier II card onto the empty spot.
- Point-income icon: Gain points equal to the total of all point income icons on your improvements and figureheads.
- Doubloon-income icon: Gain doubloons equal to the total of all doubloon income icons on your improvements and figureheads.
- Crew + 3 icon: Acquire any Crew improvement card in the Caribbean, paying 3 extra doubloons. Then put a Tier II card onto the empty spot.
- Equipment + 3 icon: Acquire any Equipment improvement card in the Caribbean, paying 3 extra doubloons. Then put a Tier II card onto the empty spot.
- Shovel + 1 icon: Gain 1 point per buried treasure.
- Crew + 1 icon: Gain 1 point per Crew Improvement card.
- Equipment + 1 icon: Gain 1 point per Equipment Improvement card.
- River + 2 icon: Gain 2 points per river crossed on the Exploration board.
- Gold/Emerald/Pearl "3 : 7" icons: At the end of the game gain 7 points per 3 treasures of the indicated type.
- Quest "3 : 7" icon: At the end of the game gain the indicated amount of points for each 3 Quests the player will score points for.
- Shovel "2" icon: At the end of the game gain 2 points per buried treasure.
- Emerald/Gold treasure-choice icon: Gain one of the depicted treasures taken from the associated Treasure Island.
Credits
Publisher: Game's Up (Ralph Bienert), Westendstr. 1, D-85080 Gaimersheim Contact for any questions: [email protected] Distributor: dlp games GmbH, Eurode-Park 86, D-52134 Herzogenrath Graphic Design: Fiore GmbH Cover Art: Odysseas Stamoglou Rulebook Writer: Jonathan Cox Proofreading: Maurice Berenbrinker, Andreas Boehm
The designers would like to thank all play testers very much. Ryan additionally thanks: Jonathan Cox, Jake Crouse, Sebastien Dalin, Campbell DeSousa, Nicholas Henning, Anastasia Heuer, Tim Kersting, Michael Kruse.
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