Skull Port
Skull Port Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components and setup
40 influence tokens: Give each player 10 influence tokens of the same colour. The value of Influence tokens varies from 2 to 5. The number on token represents the amount of influence used on ships or port tiles. Players can use only one token per turn and once all tokens are used, the game ends.
40 doubloon tokens: At the beginning of the game give each player 2 Doubloon tokens and the remaining tokens are placed to one side of the playing area in the general supply.
3 port tiles: Place all three Port tiles on top of the playing area. Each tile represents a part of the Pirate port – Armory tile, Black market tile and Dock tile. Each tile has a dice manipulation ability that can be activated for a cost of 2 Doubloons.
- Armory tile enables the players to subtract 1 from a die value for a price of 2 Doubloons.
- Black market tile enables the players to add 1 to a die value for a price of 2 Doubloons.
- Dock tile enables the players to flip a die for a price of 2 Doubloons. Note that die must be flipped on its opposite side (1 to 6, 2 to 5 and 3 to 4).
4 captain tiles: At the beginning of the game each player picks one Captain tile and places it in front of them. Each Captain tile has 2 slots for bonus cards that can be purchased during the game.
24 captain bonus cards: At the beginning of the game shuffle Captain bonus cards and place one card above each Port tile. Place the remaining cards to one side of the playing area. At the beginning of each turn, players can purchase any of three cards before their first roll. They can buy any number of displayed cards for a cost displayed in the upper right corner. To buy a card, place the Doubloons on Port tile below the desired card. Once the turn ends new cards are placed in empty slots. Purchased Capitan bonus cards are placed on one of two slots on Capitan tile and the card is active as long as the player keeps it on Capitan tile.
Each player can have 2 active Capitan bonus cards. If any player wishes to purchase a third Capitan bonus card one of the active cards needs to be discarded. Discarded cards are kept and scored at the end of the game. Note that each player can't have 2 Capitan bonus cards with same bonus ability.
10 fleet bonus cards: At the beginning of the game draw 3 Fleet bonus cards from the deck and place them beneath Port tiles. Return the rest of the cards back to the box. Cards in the playing area serve as a passive bonus for all players and remain active throughout the game.
6 ship tiles: Place 6 Ship tiles beneath Fleet bonus cards in two rows. Each ship has a different requirement that needs to be achieved after a maximum of three rolls in order to place an influence token on it. Also, each ship has three positions – Captain position, Quartermaster position and Sailing master position. Each position is worth different amount of victory points at the end of the game. On each ship tile, there is a Cannon icon. Each time a player claims any position after scoring a requirement on his first natural roll Cannon icon is triggered and that player is given Doubloon bonus stated on claimed tile.
Ship requirements
The ship requirements are:
- Two pairs
- Three of a kind
- Straight
- Pair and three of a kind
- Four of a kind
- Five of a kind
Turn structure
The player who most recently sailed becomes the first player. The game lasts for 10 rounds. Every round each player has one turn. At the beginning of a turn, a player may purchase Captain bonus cards before the first roll. During each turn, players roll five dice in order to meet any of the ship requirements. After every roll, a player can put aside any number of rolled dice and roll again the rest. Each turn a player can make a total of three rolls.
Once the player is done with rolls and manipulation he or she must place one of the Influence tokens on one of the ships or port tiles.
Dice manipulation
On every turn, after each roll, a player can spend Doubloons to manipulate one of his dice. There is no limit to the number of manipulations. As long as a player can afford it he or she can use the Port abilities. Player simply needs to place 2 Doubloons to one of three port tiles depending on manipulation he/she wishes to perform.
Placing and pushing influence tokens
Once a player is done with dice rolling and manipulation they must place one of their Influence tokens. Tokens are placed according to the result of rolls and ship requirements.
In case a player doesn't have any of requirements, they place one Influence token to any of three port tiles.
Influence tokens can be pushed on lower position or even off the ship. Each player has 10 Influence tokens with different values. Influence tokens with higher value always push lower value tokens on position below, Influence tokens of lower value are always placed below those of higher value and Influence tokens of the same value can be placed above tokens of same value or be placed below tokens of same value or overtake the same position and push opponent's token off the ship.
Example: John (BLUE PLAYER) scored three of a kind requirement and decided to place his Influence token worth 3 points on an unoccupied Captain position.
Example: Mary (GREEN PLAYER) scored three of a kind requirement and decided to place her Influence token worth 2 points. Since Captain position is occupied with 3 Influence points she can only claim lower positions with her 2 Influence points. She decided to claim Quartermaster position.
Example: Harry (RED PLAYER) scored three of a kind requirement and decided to place his Influence token worth 4 points. Since he is using the higher value of influence points he can push down current holder of Captain position. By doing so, he will push both players to lower positions.
Example: Amy (PURPLE PLAYER) scored three of a kind requirement and decided to place her Influence token worth 3 points. Now since she is using same Influence value as John (BLUE PLAYER) she has three options.
- A) She can push the blue player to lower position and by doing so push Mary (GREEN PLAYER) of the ship.
- B) She can place her token bellow BLUE PLAYER and push GREEN PLAYER off the ship.
- C) She can overtake John's position and push him directly of the ship.
Option C: Once an Influence token is pushed off the ship, owner of pushed Influence token places it on an unoccupied spot on any of three Port tiles.
Note that players can't directly push their own Influence tokens with the same value!
Port tiles
During the game, players will use their Doubloons to manipulate their dice. All Doubloons will stay on the port tiles until the end of the game.
When the game ends every player will add up their influence tokens on each tile. The player with most Influence points has the first pick for Doubloons and takes an equal number of Doubloons as the number of Influence points. The second player does the same and the process is repeated until all Doubloons are divided.
At the end of the game Armory Tile has 15 Doubloons on it and the players need to divide them. Amy (PURPLE PLAYER) has 6 Influence points on the tile, Harry (RED PLAYER) has 4 points, John (BLUE PLAYER) has 3 points and Mary (GREEN PLAYER) has 2 points. Amy with most points takes her share first and claims 6 Doubloons. That leaves 9 Doubloons on the tile. Next on the pick is Harry (RED PLAYER) with 4 points and he claims 4 Doubloons. 5 Doubloons remain on the tile and John (BLUE PLAYER) takes 3 Doubloons which leave 2 Doubloons for Mary (GREEN PLAYER).
In case there are more Doubloons on the tile, simply repeat the process until all Doubloons are divided.
Captain bonus cards
- Each time you claim a Capitan position on any ship take 1 Doubloon.
- Each time you claim a Quartermaster position on any ship take 1 Doubloon.
- Each time you claim a Sailing master position on any ship take 1 Doubloon.
- Flip a die ability costs 1 Doubloon.
- Substract 1 from die value costs 1 Doubloon.
- Add 1 to a die value costs 1 Doubloon.
- Gain 5 Influence points in Armory tile.
- Gain 5 Influence points in Docks tile.
- Gain 5 Influence points in Market tile.
- Gain 1 Doubloon for every requirement met with first natural roll.
Fleet bonus cards
- Each time any player claims a Capitan position on any ship they take 1 Doubloon from general supply.
- Each time any player claims a Quartermaster position on any ship they take 1 Doubloon from general supply.
- Each time any player claims a Sailing master position on any ship they take 1 Doubloon from general supply.
- Each time any player meets any requirement with first natural roll they take 1 Doubloon from general supply.
- Each time any player places an Influence token on Single Malt they take 2 Doubloon from general supply.
- Each time any player places an Influence token on Tide Fever they take 3 Doubloon from general supply.
- Each time any player places an Influence token on Bounty Hunter they take 1 Doubloon from general supply.
- Each time any player places an Influence token on Monarchy they take 3 Doubloon from general supply.
- Each time any player places an Influence token on Wind Chaser they take 4 Doubloon from general supply.
- Each time any player places an Influence token on Coral Lance they take 1 Doubloon from general supply.
End of the game and scoring
The game ends when the last player uses his last Influence token. At that point divide Doubloons from all 3 Port tiles. Add up your Doubloons and add all Victory points from claimed positions on ships to your Doubloon total. Lastly, add points from all owned Capitan bonus cards (including the discarded cards). The player with most points wins the game!
The tiebreaker in all ties is the number of claimed Captain positions on ships. In the case of Captain position tie then apply the same rule for Quartermaster positions or Sailing master positions in case of another tie.
Scoring page illustration caption: "1 Victory point" (pointing at a Fleet bonus card example).