Six-Sided Seas
Six-Sided Seas Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
In Six-Sided Seas, you'll roll die one at a time to add to your crew. If your total die roll is under your Coin limit, you'll assign your dice crew to the spaces of your ship. If you go over(board), your turn will end!
Each action on your ship uses one or more dice to activate, often requiring specific numbers – plan carefully and you can set up big moves!
Victory
There are three ways to win:
- Plunder: Gain more than 21 Coin limit.
- Exploration: Control 4+ islands at the start of your turn.
- Sink Your Rivals: Reduce all enemy Hull Points (HP) to 0.
Components
- Game Mat
- 32 Six-Sided Dice
- 2 Glass Beads
Setup
Board Setup
Place the game mat on the table. Each player takes two dice of their color and places them in the HP spaces in the bottom-left corner of their mat, setting each die to 6 for a total of 12 starting HP.
Set the remaining dice of each color near the mat as each player's supply.
Determine First Player
All players roll a die from their supply to determine who goes first; the highest roller becomes the first player. If there is a tie, spit on the ground, call each other scurvy dogs and roll again.
Play begins with the first player and proceeds clockwise around the table.
Starting Coins
Each player places their glass bead on their Coin track depending on the number of players in the game and their position clockwise from the first player.
| Number of Players | Player 1 Coins | Player 2 Coins | Player 3 Coins | Player 4 Coins |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Players | 12 | 13 | – | – |
| 3 Players | 12 | 13 | 13 | – |
| 4 Players | 12 | 12 | 13 | 13 |
Order of Play
A player's turn is composed of the following two phases:
1. Roll Phase
Roll a die. That die is set aside and added to your dice pool for the turn. Your dice pool is the set of dice you'll use to take actions after you're done rolling.
Then, you may proceed to the Order Phase or roll an additional die.
You may roll as many dice as you want, one at a time, until you decide to stop or the total of your dice pool goes over your Coin limit.
OVERBOARD
If the total of all rolled dice exceeds your Coin limit, you go Overboard!
Place up to three dice from your dice pool of different values into your Evade spaces. Your turn ends.
JACKPOT!
If the total of all rolled dice exactly equals your Coin limit, choose one of the following, then proceed to the Order Phase:
- Gain 1 Coin limit.
- Roll an additional die and add it to your dice pool. It doesn't count against your Coin limit.
2. Order Phase
Place dice from your dice pool on spaces on your ship and activate actions, in any order. (See The Pirate Ship, page 6, for details on actions)
Most spaces require specific values of die to be placed there.
Dice in partially filled actions stay to be used in future turns.
To Activate an Action: Remove all dice in spaces associated with that action and complete the effect.
You may activate an action, then fill it with additional dice from your pool and activate it again in the same turn.
Examples
These examples use ship actions explained on The Pirate Ship (page 6).
Example: Going Overboard
It's Red's turn with a Coin limit of 12.
(A) They start their Roll Phase and roll a 4. They keep going and roll a 5.
Red could stop here with a total of 9, but decide to keep going. They roll a 5, for a total Dice Pool of 14, which is over their coin limit.
(B) Red goes Overboard, and places a 5 and a 4 into their evade. They cannot place the second 5 as all die in Evade need to have different values.
Example: Taking Actions
It's Blue's turn with a Coin limit of 13.
They start their Roll Phase and roll a 4. They keep going and roll a second 4. Blue pushes forward and rolls a 5. (C) Jackpot! - their total dice pool is exactly their coin limit. Blue chooses to raise their Coin limit to 14.
(D) Blue uses their first 4 to fire the Fore Cannon and returns it to the supply. Red uses one of their Evade dice, so they don't take damage.
Blue uses their second 4 to fire the Fore Cannon again, again with Red Evading.
Blue's 5 fires the Aft Cannon, and with Red out of Evade dice, Red must reduce their HP by 1.
The Pirate Ship
| Action Name | Placement Restriction | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Aft Cannon | 5 or 6 | An enemy reduces their HP by 1. |
| Fore Cannon | 3 or 4 | An enemy reduces their HP by 1. |
| Main Cannon | A 4, 5, or 6 and any other die. | An enemy reduces their HP by 1. If this is not evaded, place a die on a space in the enemy ship. If they have a die in that space, remove their die. They cannot assign die to that space or use that action. Remove your die at the end of the enemy's next turn. |
| Send Grog | Two dice showing 1, 2, or 3. | Choose a player. On their next turn, the first die they roll cannot be assigned to spaces or acted upon by islands. |
| Send Explorer | Three consecutive dice (such as 2, 3, 4) | Claim an island whose island number matches one of the numbers used to activate this action. (see next page) |
| Double Time | Two equal even dice (2, 4, or 6) | Perform your next action's effect twice. Note: Send Grog, Hold, and Evade cannot be doubled. |
SPECIAL ACTION: HOLD – Place any one die here. A die placed here can be removed and added to your dice pool during any of your future Order phases. It doesn't count against your Coin limit.
SPECIAL ACTION: EVADE – Place up to 3 different dice here. Evade does not require all three dice to activate and is mandatory to use when you would lose HP.
When you would lose HP, if you have dice placed in Evade, you must remove dice. Each die removed evades 1 HP lost. You must use Evade as many times as possible to reduce HP loss.
The Islands
When you claim control of an island, place a die on it, removing any die that are already there. You can use the ability of each island you control during your turn at any time.
If you control 4+ islands at the start of your turn, you win the game.
| Island | Island Number | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Bump Isle | 1 | Once per turn, increase a die's value by 1. If used on a 6, gain a die set to 1. |
| Treasure Island | 2 | Once per turn, when you Plunder, gain 3 coins instead of 2. For example, if you Double Time your Plunder, you'd gain 3 coins, then 2 coins. |
| Lucky Reef | 3 | Once per turn, reroll a single die. You may use this during your Roll Phase to keep from going Overboard. |
| Obninsk | 4 | When you fire a cannon with a die of value 4 or 6, it deals one additional damage. This can happen more than once per turn. |
| Mitosis Cove | 5 | Once per turn, split a die's value into two dice as evenly as possible. This cannot be used on a 1. For example, a 5 splits to become a 2 and a 3. |
| Noodles | 6 | Once per turn, flip a die to its opposite side. You may use this during your Roll Phase to keep from going Overboard. |
When using Noodles, Bump Isle, or Lucky Reef during your Order Phase, you may exceed your Coin limit without going Overboard.
Multiplayer
If you have two sets of Six-Sided Seas mats and dice, you can combine them to play with 3 or 4 players. Having extra colors of dice is helpful, but you can also use unique markers to identify each player on the central dice.
Use only one set of islands in the middle. To win by Sinking All Rivals, you must be the last living player (you can still win with Plunder or Exploration).
Ghost Ship
If a captain reaches 0 HP, they become the captain of a ghost ship! They will suffer penalties, but their rage will not let them pass into Davy Jones Locker yet!
- They remove all of their dice from play (including Coin limit and islands).
- They cannot control islands.
GHOST CAPTAIN TURN
Roll 2 dice. They can only be assigned to Cannons, Double Time and Send Grog.
Resurrection
If a ghost captain deals the last point of damage to a living captain, they return to the world of the living... but severely weakened! Do the following:
- Roll a die. The result becomes your HP total.
- Your coin limit is set to 12.
- Immediately take a new turn.