Sea Dragons Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Game Setup
• Gameplay
  • I. Play a Pattern Card
  • II. Complete a Mission (Optional)
  • III. Draw a Pattern Card
  • Pass
• Game End
• Reef Cards
• Majority in Sea Realms
• Credits

Components

• 4 double-sided modular sea boards
• 1 Central Island
• 54 Dragon Heads in 5 colors
• 190 Dragon Bodies in 5 colors
• 44 Pirate Ship tokens (12 green, 11 purple, 11 red, and 10 dark blue)
• 60 Gold tokens (1)
• 16 Gold tokens (5)
• 1 scorepad
• 26 Small Pattern cards
• 36 Medium Pattern cards
• 18 Large Pattern cards
• 33 Mission cards
• 24 Reef cards
• 1 rulebook

Game Setup

A. Assemble the board by joining the 4 modular sea boards to the Central Island in a random order. Each board has two sides that you can use freely.

B. Place a random Pirate Ship token on each of the designated spaces with the ship icon on the board.

C. Shuffle each deck of Pattern cards (Small, Medium, and Large) separately and place them face down near the board. Then, reveal 2 cards from each deck to form a card market, as shown in the picture.

D. Shuffle the deck of Mission cards and place them face down near the board. Then reveal the first 4 cards in a row to form a card market, as shown in the picture.

E. Shuffle the deck of Reef cards and place it face down near the board.

F. Place the Gold next to the board, forming a reserve.

G. Give the Dragon Bodies of one color to each player. These are an unlimited resource. If they run out, use an appropriate substitute. Depending on the number of players, the following colors will be used:

• 2 Players: Orange and Green.
• 3 Players: Orange, Green, and Purple.
• 4 Players: Orange, Green, Purple, and Pink.
• 5 Players: Orange, Green, Purple, Pink, and Yellow.

H. Give each player the Dragon Heads of their color. The number of players determines how many each player receives:

• 2 Players: 14 Dragon Heads.
• 3 Players: 11 Dragon Heads.
• 4 Players: 8 Dragon Heads.
• 5 Players: 7 Dragon Heads.

I. Give each player 4 Gold and 2 Medium Pattern cards from the deck to form their starting hand.

Gameplay

A game of Sea Dragons is played in turns. The game is started by the last person to board a ship. The turns then continue clockwise.

On your turn, you must either perform the following actions in order or pass:

I. Play a Pattern Card II. Complete a Mission (Optional) III. Draw a Pattern Card

It is then the next player's turn.

I. Play a Pattern Card

Choose one of the 2 Pattern cards in your hand and discard it face up in front of you. Then take a Dragon Head and however many Dragon Bodies are needed to complete the Dragon shape on the discarded card and place the Dragon pieces on the board following the shape of the Pattern card.

There are certain rules to follow when placing a Dragon:

• Each space on the board can hold only one Dragon piece.
• You may only place a Dragon orthogonally adjacent to the Central Island or other players' Dragons, never orthogonally to your own.
• The pattern shown on the card may be rotated or mirrored when placing the pieces on the board. It doesn't matter where the Dragon Head is placed on the corresponding shape.
• You must pay 2 Gold to the reserve for each Whirlpool or Sea Current space in which you place a Dragon piece. If you do not have enough Gold to pay for those spaces, you cannot place your Dragon there, but you can use the Gold that you get for placing the Dragon in that position to pay this cost.

Whirlpool and Sea Current are the two special space types referenced above.

If one of the spaces occupied by your Dragon has a Pirate Ship token or a printed symbol, you receive the corresponding reward immediately. These rewards can be any of the following:

• Pirate Ships: Put the ship token in your supply face up, visible to everyone else. It will help you complete missions that will grant you Victory Points at the end of the game.
• Gold: Take 1 Gold from the reserve and place it in your supply.
• Reef: Draw 2 cards from the Reef deck. Keep one in your hand and return the other to the bottom of the deck. See the types of Reef cards below.

In addition, players with Dragons adjacent to the newly placed Dragon receive 1 Gold from the reserve for each of their Dragons that are adjacent to the newly placed one. This means that if the new Dragon is adjacent to 2 Dragons of the same player, that player receives 2 Gold from the reserve.

Example: Smaug (Purple), plays the following Pattern card to place his Dragon in the indicated spaces.

He places 1 Dragon Head and 4 Dragon Bodies on the board, adjacent to a Pink Dragon and a Green Dragon, mirroring the shape on the card. This allows him to take the Red and Green Ships from the board and 1 Gold from the reserve. Since he covered a space containing a Whirlpool, however, he must pay 2 Gold to the reserve.

Then Mushu (Pink) and Haku (Green) take 1 Gold each from the reserve.

Important: Covering Whirlpool spaces will reduce the number of VPs received for majorities in the Sea Realms, as seen in the Majority in Sea Realms section below.

II. Complete a Mission (Optional)

During your turn, you may optionally complete and take one of the available Mission cards into your supply in front of you. To do so, you must return the Ship tokens indicated on the card from your supply to the box (you can leave them in the ship graveyard illustrated inside the box cover). You may always return 2 Ships of the same color as though they were 1 Ship of any color.

The Mission card you complete will give you Victory Points, but it may also grant you Reefs as well. If so, you must draw 2 Reef cards, keep one, and return the other to the bottom of the deck, just as if you had placed a Dragon piece on a Reef space on the board.

Then, replenish the Mission market by revealing a new card from the deck.

Important: You can only complete one Mission per turn.

III. Draw a Pattern Card

Next, you must draw a new Pattern card from those available near the board. It can be either one face-up card or the top card from one of the decks. The card you draw must be from a different deck than the Pattern card you just played.

If you draw one of the face-up cards, you must replenish the market by revealing a new card from the corresponding deck.

Pass

You can always decide to pass your turn instead of taking the actions just described. This may be because you cannot play any of your cards, you have no Gold to pay for whirlpool or sea current spaces, or you simply choose to pass.

If you pass, return a Dragon Head from your supply to the box, discard one Pattern card from your hand to draw a new one available near the board, and take 2 Gold from the reserve.

Game End

The game ends after everyone has played all of their Dragon Heads. Use the scorebook to count the players' Victory Points (VPs):

• 1 VP for each remaining Gold (from Gold tokens and Reef cards).
• 1 VP for each remaining Ship (from Ship tokens and Reef cards).
• VPs for completed Missions.
• 5 VPs for whoever has completed the most Missions. In the case of a tie, the tied player who has completed the Missions that give the most VPs wins the tie. If the tie persists, all tied players receive 5 VPs.
• VPs for majorities in each Sea Realm (see Majority in Sea Realms below).

Whoever has earned the most VPs wins. In the case of a tie, the winner is the tied player who has completed the most Missions. If the tie persists, all tied players share the victory.

Reef Cards

• 2-Ship Cards: This type of card counts as the 2 specific Ships on the card. They can be discarded to complete Missions, or they can give you VPs at the end of the game if they were not used. If you complete a Mission with them and have a Ship left over on the card, it is lost.
• Ship Wild Cards: This card counts as 1 Ship of your choice. It can be used to complete a Mission, or it can give you 1 VP at the end of the game if it has not been used.
• Hidden Dragon Cards: These Dragons are hidden under the sea. Reveal this card when counting the majorities in each Sea Realm at the end of the game. It counts as a Dragon placed in the Realm indicated by the printed icon, but it does not count for tiebreakers when determining majorities.
• Gold Cards: Can be discarded at any time for 4 Gold.

Majority in Sea Realms

At the end of the game, each of the 4 Sea Realms of the board will be evaluated. These are divided by the Sea Currents and are identified by the compass rose printed on the Central Island.

The person with the most Dragons in each Realm (on the surface and under the sea with a Reef card) gets 3 VPs for each Whirlpool that is uncovered (not covered by a Dragon piece) in that Sea Realm. The player with the second most Dragons will instead get half that many VPs, rounded down. The rest of the players will get no VPs for that Sea Realm.

In the case of a tie for first or second place in a Sea Realm, count the number of Dragon pieces in that Realm for each tied player. (Hidden Dragons are not counted.) The winner of the tie is the one with the most Dragon pieces in total.

If a tie persists for first or second place, each tied player receives the full number of corresponding VPs. In a tie for first place, there would be no score for second place.

2-Player Games: Each uncovered Whirpool grants 2 VPs. There are no VPs for second place, and there are no VPs for ties (if the tie persists after counting the tokens).

Example: The majority for the Starfish Realm is being evaluated. It has 7 uncovered Whirlpools.

Haku (Green) has 4 Dragons on the surface.

Smaug (Purple) has 3 Dragons on the surface, plus 1 hidden Dragon (Reef card), tying Haku for first place.

The rest of the players only have 2 Dragons on the surface.

Haku wins first place because he has more pieces placed in this Realm than Smaug, and he gets 21 VPs. Smaug gets 10 VPs for second place, while the rest do not receive VPs for this Sea Realm.

Important: A single Dragon can have presence in 2 Sea Realms if it crosses a Sea Current. Sea Current spaces do not belong to any Sea Realm.

Credits

Game Design: Yaniv Kahana, Pini Shekhter, and Simone Luciani Illustrations: Weberson Santiago Editing and Development: José Manuel Álvarez, Laura Mena, and Manuel Warner Graphic Design: Laura Mena Rulebook Writing: José Manuel Álvarez Rulebook Proofreading: Ketty Galleguillos, Jorge Larrain, Laura Mena, Simón Weinstein, and Alice Rodríguez Translation: Linett Mujica Localization Director: William Burgos