Skeleton Island
Skeleton Island Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
5 Island cards, one each in 5 different colours, each worth 5 gold coins.
49 Sand cards, comprising: 30 Treasure Map Piece cards; and 2 Treasure Map Half cards and 4 Treasure Map Quarter cards in each of the five colours.
Note on the printed count: the sheet lists 30 Treasure Map Piece cards plus 2 Half and 4 Quarter cards in each of the five colours (5 × 6 = 30 more), which totals 60, not the 49 printed as the Sand card count. The sheet's figures are transcribed as printed; the composition should be checked against the physical cards.
7 Pirate Object cards.
12 Gold Coin cards: 6 worth one coin, 4 worth two coins, and 2 worth three coins.
Setup
Shuffle the Sand cards and split them into two piles of roughly equal size. Turn one of the two piles over and shuffle it into the other, so that you end up with a single pile, half of whose cards are face up and half face down.
Spread the resulting pile out on the table, mixing all the cards, to form the Sand Pile (Tas de sable). It may reveal a few gold coins or treasure map pieces...
Place the 5 Island cards beside the Sand Pile.
Choose a first player by any method you like.
Game Turn
Players take turns in clockwise order. On your turn, you may take a pirate turn or a standard turn.
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Standard turn: take an uncovered card (carte dégagée) from the Sand Pile.
An uncovered card is a card whose entire surface is visible, meaning it is not covered, partly or completely, by one or more other Sand cards. After looking at it, you may either keep it and place it in front of you, or rest it on the edge of the Sand Pile.
Placing a card on the edge of the Sand Pile means leaving it uncovered and in contact, at least partly, with the playing table. When you rest a card this way, you may choose a second uncovered card, which you must keep in front of you.
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Pirate turn: discard three of your previously acquired Sand cards in order to either take a Sand card from an opponent, or perform two consecutive standard turns. The three discarded Sand cards must be Treasure Map Piece cards of different colours, Pirate Object cards, or a combination of these two types of card. Discarded cards are removed from the game permanently.
If there are only one or two uncovered Sand cards, the player may close their eyes and blow once, in a single gust, on the Sand Pile before taking their turn.
The first player to reassemble a complete treasure map card of a single colour takes the Island card of that colour. The pieces of the treasure map card may come from two Treasure Map Half cards, from two Treasure Map Quarter cards and one Treasure Map Half card, or from four Treasure Map Quarter cards.
End of the Game and Victory
The game ends when all the Island cards have been won, or when all the Sand cards have been taken.
Each player adds up the gold coins on the Island cards and Gold Coin cards they have collected. The player with the largest treasure is the winner of the game.