Piratoons Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Objective of the Game
• Components
• Set Up
• Game Sequence
• Phase 1: Treasure Supply — by the captain
• Phase 2: Treasure Plundering
• Good Conduct Rules Enacted by the P.I.C. (Piracy International Code)
• Phase 3: Unemployed Sailor Pay
• Phase 4: Loot Distribution
• Phase 5: Auction
  • Tile Overboard!
• Phase 6: Tile Connection and Placement
• End of the Game
• Scoring
  • 1. The Majority
  • 2. The Connections
  • 3. The Empty Spaces
  • 4. Sets of Tiles
• Many Thanks

Objective of the Game

Self-control and speed will allow you to recruit the most efficient crew and assemble the most amazing pirate ship.

A game from Olivier Grégoire and Thibaut Quintens. Illustrated by Amandine Flahaut, Antoine Petit, Olivier Bogarts & Nina Clauzel. Rules Edited by T.R. Knight.

Components

• 2 Double-sided boards: one bottom of the chest (with walls) and one chest lid.
• 48 Equipment tiles:
  • 12 Sail tiles
  • 9 Deck tiles
  • 9 Gun port tiles
  • 9 Porthole tiles
  • 9 Quarter tiles
• 24 Boat tiles: 4 One-storey tiles, 6 Two-storey tiles, 7 Three-storey tiles, 7 Four-storey tiles
• 4 Bow and 4 Stern tiles
• 24 Crew-pieces of 4 different colours
• 40 Doubloons
• 32 Score tokens depicting bombs (twelve tokens worth +5, and twenty tokens worth +2/-2)
• 1 Fifteen second Sand timer
• 2 Player aids
• 1 Rule book

Set Up

1. Each player chooses a pirate and 6 crew-pieces of one colour, which he places in front of him, in his stock.
2. Each pirate connects the bow and stern tiles corresponding to his crew in front of him.
3. Each pirate gets 3 doubloons. Each player chooses whether his personal doubloons stock is left visible or hidden.
4. The remaining doubloons are placed next to the chest.
5. Shuffle the Boat tiles and place them in a face down stack next to the chest.
6. Shuffle the Equipment tiles and place them face down next to the chest in 8 stacks of six tiles each (you will use one stack per round).
7. The chest is placed on the table in the middle of the players.

Put the bombs aside, you will not need them until the final scoring.

The player who has most recently been on a boat will be the first player, he is named captain for the first round. The next captain will be the player in clockwise order.

Game Sequence

One game comprises 8 rounds represented by the 8 Equipment tiles stacks.

Each round is divided into 6 phases:

1. Treasure supply
2. Treasure plundering
3. Unemployed sailor pay
4. Loot distribution
5. Auction
6. Tile connection and placement

Phase 1: Treasure Supply — by the captain

1. Place the "chest lid" board on the table in the middle of the players.
2. Place 6 Equipment tiles (1 stack) and 3 Boat tiles face down on the corresponding spaces.
3. Close the chest with the "bottom of the chest" board. The tiles should be secure between the two chest boards.
4. Carefully flip the chest boards over to reveal the top of the chest. The tiles are now face up but hidden by the "chest lid".

You're ready to plunder the treasure!

Phase 2: Treasure Plundering

1. The captain turns over the sand timer and lifts the treasure lid, setting it aside as quickly as possible. Put it on your lap or on the table nearby if you have room. Oh yes, opening a chest can be a difficult task!
2. As soon as the treasure is opened, all players can simultaneously place their crew-pieces on the desired Equipment and/or Boat tiles appearing in the treasure chest.
3. Once the sand timer runs out, any player can shout "Stop!", immediately putting an end to the plundering phase. At this point, players must stop adding crew-pieces. As long as no one shouts "Stop!", the plundering carries on. The sand timer therefore indicates a minimum, and not a maximum, duration of the plundering phase.

If a player says "Stop!" before the end of the sand timer, he is not allowed to put an end to the plundering during this turn anymore; the other player(s) can continue the looting, and only one of them can shout "Stop!" again.

Good Conduct Rules Enacted by the P.I.C. (Piracy International Code)

• Once a crew-piece is placed, it can't be moved any more. Therefore, it is forbidden to:
  • take it back into one's stock
  • move it to another tile
  • put it back on a tile if it fell off.
• A pirate can only use one hand to place his crew-pieces. Most pirates only have one hand anyway, the other being a hook — do not hurt your crew!
• The crew-pieces can be stacked on top of one another.
• Taking several crew-pieces in one's hand and distributing them on various tiles — is prohibited (the players can place several crew-pieces at a time on the same tile, but, to plunder another tile, they have to go back to their stocks).
• It is forbidden to leave one's hands above the chest. It would prevent the other pirates from seeing the treasure. You have a shred of honour, blistering barnacles!
• If a tile contains one or more opponent's crew-pieces, a player may try to (re)gain majority (or to force a tie) on this tile by placing his own crew-pieces on it. The players can outbid their opponents several times.
• Any clumsy or malevolent pirate, who would knock an opponent's crew-piece off a tile is automatically excluded from the current round and immediately stops placing crew-pieces during the plundering. He will benefit neither from the unemployed sailor pay, nor from the loot distribution. No one ever said that a pirate's kindness was infinite!
• His opponent's knocked out crew-pieces are replaced on their tiles.
• All the clumsy pirate's crew-pieces previously played are not taken into account during the "Loot distribution" phase (see Phase 4). The clumsy pirate is aware that he has narrowly avoided banishment, and therefore he neither protests, nor grumbles, but rather thanks the other pirates for their mercy.
• A clumsy pirate who knocks out his own crew-pieces can continue to play. His fallen crew-pieces remain where they fell, but are not taken into account during the "Loot distribution" phase (see Phase 4).

Phase 3: Unemployed Sailor Pay

Each pirate receives one doubloon per crew-piece not played in the plundering phase.

Note 1: Crew-pieces in a player's hand when the plundering phase ended are considered to be in his stock, and counted as not played this round.

Note 2: When there are not enough doubloons for everyone to collect unemployement, each player must put back half of his fortune, rounded in his favour. Next the players can collect their unemployment.

(one crew-piece) = (one doubloon)

Phase 4: Loot Distribution

1. Any crew-piece overlapping two tiles (touching the top of 2 tiles), or touching the chest, is invalid and is not taken into account during the loot distribution count (nor during the unemployed sailor pay).
2. Ties cancel each other out. When different players placed the same number of crew-pieces on a tile, they cancel each other out... and instead, the non-tied player who placed the most crew-pieces on the tile is the winner.

Example: RED wins the tile, since YELLOW and GREEN were tied.

3. Each player takes the tile(s) on which he is present and has a strict majority.
4. All the tiles that were not plundered are left in the bottom of the chest for the auction phase (see phase 5)

Example: RED wins 1 Flag and 1 Barrel Equipment tiles.

GREEN wins the one-storey Boat tile, the Cannon tile, and the helm Equipment tile (because of the tie between Red and Blue). BLUE wins the three-storey Boat tile and the quarter Equipment tile. YELLOW wins the pirate-porthole Equipment tile.

NOTE: Both YELLOW and GREEN would have received 1 doubloon during "Unemployed sailor pay" for each having 1 crew-piece that was not placed during "Treasure plundering".

Phase 5: Auction

• Add all tiles that were thrown overboard in previous rounds to the bottom of the chest (see below).
• It is possible that no tiles were thrown overboard during the previous round and no tiles were left in the treasure chest at the end of the Loot distribution. In this case, the players skip this phase.
• There is only one auction per turn, during which the players will try to acquire one tile remaining in the chest.
• "An Auction" will then take place. Each player hides a number of doubloons in his hand. All the players stretch their arms with their hands closed above the chest and then open their hands, revealing their contents simultaneously.
• A player with no doubloons in his hand cannot win tiles. He was probably bluffing!
• Ties cancel each other out. In other words, the players who bet the same number of doubloons as one or several opponents are eliminated from the auction. In this case, each tied player takes his wagered doubloons back.
• Now the remaining players may claim tiles. The player who bet the most doubloons is the first to take a tile of his choice. He then pays all the doubloons wagered.
• Next, the player who bet the 2nd highest amount of doubloons chooses a tile among the remaining tile(s), pays the doubloons he bet, and so on.
• When a player has won an auction, he must take a tile provided that at least one tile remains and pay for it - even if the tile he wanted is no longer there.
• If no tiles are left, the player just takes back his doubloons.

Tile Overboard!

Any tiles remaining in the bottom of the chest are thrown overboard.

The Boat tiles immediately sink and are permanently removed from the game. Thus, only one auction is possible for the Boat tiles.

The Equipment tiles are now floating near the edge of the chest and will be added to the new tiles at the beginning of the following auction phase.

Phase 6: Tile Connection and Placement

Placing an Equipment tile follows these rules:

• One Sail or Deck tile on a mast.
• One Deck tile on a deck space.
• One Porthole tile on a porthole space.
• One Gun port tile on a gun port space.
• One Quarter tile on a quarter space.

Up to 3 Sail tiles can be placed on top of each other on a one-storey Boat tile. Up to 2 Sail tiles can be placed on top of each other on a two-storey Boat tile. Only 1 Sail tile can be placed on a three-storey Boat tile.

It is forbidden:

• to place a Sail tile on a four-storey Boat tile. There is no mast anyway.
• to place a Deck tile on a deck space if a Sail tile has already been put on the mast.
• to place a Sail tile on a mast if a Deck tile is already present on the deck space.

A player can switch Equipment tiles anytime (especially to optimise a space by making it available for a Sail or Deck Equipment)..

Boat tile connection: players should try to link their Boat tiles as wisely as possible, that is, they try to properly connect the symbols on each storey: anchor on the 1st storey / compass rose on the 2nd storey / coat of arms on the 3rd storey / buoy on the 4th storey.

At the end of the auction phase, an Equipment tile that can't be placed on the boat (because no corresponding space is available) is thrown overboard. It will float beside the chest until the following auction.

Once a player has acquired a Boat tile, he must connect it to his boat, even when no proper connection is possible. But don't panic yet, you may be able to move them later and hopefully find a better connection.

Any connection or placement modification is always allowed anytime until the end of the game.

End of the Game

The game ends after the 8th round (at the end of the last auction). After everyone has taken enough time to optimize their boat (last changes in the connection and/or placement of tiles), the players count their points with the bomb tokens. The pirate with the most points after the final count wins the game and becomes part of great pirate legend. In case of a tie, decide between the players by the number of all the sets of tiles (see section 4 below). If the score is tied again, decide by 1. Identical sets of three tiles; 2. Different sets of three tiles; 3. Doubles.

Scoring

1. The Majority

For the following titles, the player with the majority wins 5 points and takes the corresponding bomb token. The second wins 2 points, the rest of the players don't score. In case of a tie between several players, they all receive their warranted points.

• The fastest boat (with the most Sail tiles) wins 5 points, the second gets 2 points.
• The richest pirate (with the most doubloons) gets 5 points, the second gets 2 points.
• The biggest boat (with the most barrels in the water) gets 5 points, the second gets 2 points.

2. The Connections

Each correct storey connection is worth 2 points. Each incorrect storey connection is worth -2 points.

To easily verify that a connection is okay, you can use the shells on the Boat tiles, located just above the water, to see if the colours correspond or not.

3. The Empty Spaces

For each one of the 5 following elements, count the number of empty spaces. The player(s) with the most empty spaces get -2 points. The aim is not to build a ghost ship!

• The boat with the most empty Deck spaces. A Sail on a mast counts as an equipped deck.
• The boat with the most empty Gun port spaces.
• The boat with the most empty Port hole spaces.
• The boat with the most empty Quarter spaces.
• The boat with the most total empty spaces.

4. Sets of Tiles

• The players win 5 points for each set of 3 matching Equipment tiles.
• The players win 4 points for each set of 3 different Equipment tiles placed on a same kind of space.
• The players win 2 points for each pair of identical Equipment tiles.

Note 1: The Sail tiles do not count as sets, they are only taken into account for the fastest boat. Note 2: Each tile can be used in only one set.

Many Thanks

The authors would like to thank: the public at Ludinord Festival, at Brussels Games Festival and at Enjeux. The testers at Lolipop and CNJ. The Mardis Ludiques. The table Food&Games. The whole Let's Play Together team and their «Apéros-jeux». The testers at Kapow Ltd Comics. The Jette's Gaming Tour. The team from Sentosphère. Erwan Berthou. Vincent Goyat. Marc Sibille. Tanguy Gréban. Etienne, Luc, Damien and Eric. Jeanne, Chloé, Bénédicte and Hugo. José, Jean-Marc and Anne-Françoise. Caroline. Marie and Jules. Yannick and Simon. Loti & Tom. Julie & Paul. Tiffany & Reilly, Kelsey & Henry. Maïlis Quintens and Sarah Fitton. The Tricot-Mapessa's family. Jean-Jacques Laduron. Pauline Marcel. Igor Davin and the students at Axe Sud school. Jean-Marc Richir. Julian Malgat, Yoann Laurent and Alain Ollier for their valuable support and encouragement, without which, the Piratoons adventure could not have left the port.