Take the Gold
Take the Gold Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Setup
To play, deal each player two cards face down--only the player can look at their hand. Put the rest of the cards in a central draw pile. The player that does the best pirate impression chooses who goes first!
To start your turn, draw a card; then, you may either play a card or pass your turn.
- You may only play 1 card per turn.
- All cards are kept in hand unless played.
- You can have a maximum of 5 cards in hand and must play or discard down to 5 before ending your turn.
- If at any point you have 0 cards in hand, immediately draw 2.
How to Play
The objective of the game is to be the first player to have 4 Gold Coins in hand.
Gold Coin: Collect 4 to win!
On your turn, you can play a Pirate to take a random card from another player; or a Two Pirates card to take up to two random cards.
- Pirate: Take a random card from another player!
- Two Pirates: Take two random cards from another player!
That player can block your Pirate by playing an Officer; or play a Two Officers card to stop Two Pirates.
- Officer: Stop one Pirate from taking your card!
- Two Officers: Stop one or two Pirates from taking your cards!
You can use a single Officer card to block one-half of a Two Pirates card, still allowing one Pirate to attack; and you can use a Two Officers card to block a single Pirate's attack.
You may only ever play 1 card per turn.
It's all fun and games until someone unleashes the Kraken! Playing The Kraken on someone makes them discard their entire hand, UNLESS they have the Pirate Captain!
- The Kraken: Make a player discard all of their cards!
The Pirate Captain can be used to stop the Kraken, or you can use him to take a Coin from another player. If they don't pay up, you get to take 2 random cards instead!
- Pirate Captain: Stop the Kraken! or Take a Coin from another player! (If they won't pay, take two random cards instead!)
The Pirate Captain can't be blocked by the Officers.
Winning
The first player with 4 Gold Coins in hand wins immediately. Rejoice proudly in victory!
or
If three Kraken are played successfully (not blocked by the Pirate Captain), the ship is destroyed and the game is over. If that happens, players reveal ONLY their coins. The player with the most coins in hand is the winner!
In the event of a tie, the players who tied discard their coins and continue play with their remaining cards until one player gets 2 coins.
All cards that are played or discarded go to a central discard pile, EXCEPT Kraken that have been successful in their attacks. Successful Kraken are set aside.
If the draw pile runs out, shuffle the discard pile and make a new draw pile, but make sure to keep successful Kraken separate!
Optional Rules
Two-Players: The third successful Kraken attack still ends the game, but it doesn't force the player to discard their hand.
Advanced Play: To make the game take longer and add another challenge, you must START the turn with 4 coins in hand. The game doesn't stop when you simply get 4.
For a longer game, increase the number of successful Kraken attacks required to 4 or 5.