The Lost Island Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• About the Game
• Game Contents
• Island Sheet
• Rumor Cards
• Terrain
• Setup
• Goal of the Game
• A Player's Turn
• Drawing Rules
  • Choosing the Terrain Type
  • Drawing on the Island Plan
• Bonuses
  • Bonus [±1]
  • Bonus [scoring]
  • Side B
  • Bonus [free terrain]
• End of the Game
• Scoring at the End of the Game
• Solo Mode
  • Goal of the Game
  • A Player's Turn

About the Game

In the game "The Lost Island" the participants become pioneers who have dared to explore and map a mysterious island. Each turn the players will draw one type of terrain on their sheets, based on rumors about the island. The winner is the one who, in spite of all the mirages, creates the most accurate plan.

Game Contents

• 1 island pad
• 12 rumor cards
• 3 dice
• 4 pencils

Island Sheet

The sheets from the pad are used by participants to draw their map of the island and to record game information.

Parts of the island sheet: the name of the island or the pioneer's name; the island plan, filled in by the player; the side (A or B); the terrain types and their uses; the available bonuses "±1"; the scoring area; the area for the drawing of each terrain type; the die for solo mode.

Rumor Cards

These cards describe features of the island and the conditions for scoring points.

Parts of a rumor card: card number; terrain types affecting scoring; example of the condition being met; scoring condition.

Terrain

Players will explore these types of terrain: Ruins, Plains, Swamps, Rivers, Forests, Mountains.

Setup

1. Each player receives an island sheet and a pencil.

2. All participants decide which side of the island sheets they will play on: A or B. Everyone must choose the same side. We recommend choosing side A in the first game.

3. Each player creates his own drawing for each terrain type — he sketches them in the corresponding areas of the island sheet. Players may draw the same terrain types differently.

   The die symbol next to a terrain type matters only for solo mode.

   Example of setup for 3 players: Marina decided to draw the terrain types in the way shown.

4. Shuffle the rumor cards and lay 4 cards face up in the center of the table. Put the remaining cards back in the box. We recommend choosing one of the ready-made sets of rumor cards in the first game:

   • Cramped Island: rumor cards no. 3, 4, 8 and 11
   • Peaceful Island: rumor cards no. 1, 5, 10 and 12
   • Skull Island: rumor cards no. 2, 6, 7 and 9

5. Place the 3 dice in the center of the table.

6. The oldest player takes the first turn. After that the right to take a turn passes clockwise.

Goal of the Game

Your goal is to score as many points as possible according to the conditions of the 4 rumor cards.

A Player's Turn

On each turn all players sketch a particular type of terrain on their island plans (1 cell — 1 drawing of terrain). The player taking the turn is called the active player.

1. On his turn the active player rolls the 3 dice lying in the center of the table.
2. The active player decides which type of terrain everyone will draw (to do this he crosses out 1 use of this terrain type on his island sheet) and announces it to the others.
3. The active player chooses 1 of the 3 dice and places it in front of himself. The die shows the number of cells on which this player will draw the announced terrain type.
4. Each other player must choose 1 of the 2 remaining dice; he does not take it from the center of the table. Several players may choose the same die.
5. All players draw the terrain type announced by the active player on as many cells of their island plans as their chosen dice show.
6. When everyone has finished drawing, the active player's turn ends. The next to take a turn is his neighbor on the left; he becomes the new active player.

Example: Marina is the active player. She rolls the dice and gets "1", "3" and "4". Marina announces that everyone will draw forests and crosses out 1 corresponding use on her sheet. Marina chooses the die with the value "3". Alexei and Ivan choose the die with the value "1". Larisa chooses the die with the value "4". Alexei chose the die with the value "1", so he draws 1 forest. Ivan chose the die with the value "1", so he also draws 1 forest. Larisa chose the die with the value "4", so she draws 4 forests. Marina chose the die with the value "3", so she draws 3 forests.

Drawing Rules

Choosing the Terrain Type

When choosing a terrain type, the active player must cross out 1 use of this terrain type on his island sheet. The number of uses of each terrain type depends on the number of players.

Players	Uses of each terrain type
4 players	1 use
3 players	2 uses
1–2 players	3 uses

If the active player has no uses left of a certain terrain type, he cannot choose it and must announce another available terrain type. If he has no available terrain types, the end of the game occurs (see below).

The other players may draw the terrain type announced by the active player on their island sheets even if they have already crossed out all the corresponding uses.

Drawing on the Island Plan

General rule: each new terrain must be drawn on a cell adjacent to a cell of terrain drawn on the current turn.

On the first turn each player chooses any cell on the island plan.

Example, first turn: Marina must draw 3 forests. She draws the first one. Now she needs to draw the second one on any cell marked in green. Marina decides to draw the second forest below the first. The last forest must be drawn on any cell marked in green.

On subsequent turns the first terrain must be drawn on a cell adjacent to a cell of terrain drawn earlier, on any turn.

Example: On the first turn Marina drew 3 forests. On the second turn she must begin drawing on any cell marked in green.

The player always draws the announced terrain type on as many cells as are shown on the die he chose. It is not allowed to fill fewer cells than the die shows, or to split them.

Bonuses

Bonus [±1]

Having drawn terrain on a cell with the symbol, the player receives the corresponding bonus. To show this, he immediately draws a diagonal line in an empty cell with the symbol on his island sheet. He will be able to use this bonus on one of the following turns.

A player (no matter whether active or not) may use this bonus on any future turn to change the value of the die he chose by 1, up or down. The bonus works for only one turn and only for this player. To show the use of the bonus, the player crosses out the diagonal line in the bonus cell with another diagonal.

Example: Marina draws on a cell with the symbol. Marina immediately receives the bonus. Marina chose the die with the value "2". She wants to fill fewer cells than it shows, so she crosses out the bonus and counts the value "2" as "1". She draws terrain on only 1 cell.

A player is entitled to use several available bonuses in one turn.

Example: Marina has 2 available bonuses, so, having chosen the die with the value "5", she could reduce it to "3" (crossing out both available bonuses).

This bonus does not allow filling fewer than 1 or more than 6 cells with a terrain drawing. Also, you cannot turn the value "6" into "1" or vice versa.

Bonus [scoring]

Having drawn terrain on a cell with the symbol, the player (no matter whether active or not) receives the corresponding bonus, which he must use at the end of the current turn. To do this, the player counts the points for each of the 4 rumor cards and takes the smallest of the 4 values (it may be equal to 0), writing it into a cell in the scoring area (a player with the symbol will count this value at the end of the game).

Example: Marina decides that now is a good moment and draws terrain on a cell with the symbol. At the end of the turn she scores points for rumor card no. 3, because of all 4 cards that one brings Marina the fewest points.

Side B

Side B of the island sheet is more complex. On it there will be 2 cells with the scoring-bonus symbol on the island, which gives the possibility of making 2 additional scorings. Use these bonuses by the same rules as for side A.

Bonus [free terrain]

When about to fill a cell with the symbol, a player (no matter whether active or not) may draw any type of terrain on it, ignoring the one announced by the active player. This bonus works only for that cell. If the player continues drawing terrain on the current turn, then on all the other cells without the symbol he draws the terrain type announced by the active player.

Example: Marina draws ruins, but on reaching the cell with the symbol she decides that it would be better to draw a forest on it. She does so, and then continues drawing ruins.

End of the Game

The end of the game occurs because of one of two events:

1. The active player has no uses left of any terrain type. In this case the game ends immediately.
2. At least 1 player cannot fill with terrain drawings the full number of cells shown on the die he chose. Such players draw nothing, and those who can still draw terrain do so on the current turn.

Example: Marina must draw 4 swamps, but she has only 2 empty cells on her island plan. She announces this and draws nothing. The game will end after the others finish drawing terrain.

The game can be ended deliberately. For example, if a player has 4 empty cells left and the dice with values "3" and "5" are available to him to choose from, he may deliberately choose the die with the value "5". However, as long as you have enough empty cells, you cannot end the game by trying to fill with terrain drawings an area where they cannot be placed. For example, if you have separate areas of 3 and 6 empty cells, you cannot choose the die with the value "5" to fill the area of 3 cells and thus end the game. You must have no possibility of filling the number of cells determined by the die with terrain anywhere on the island plan.

You may also use the [±1] bonus. For example, if a player has 3 empty cells and chose the die with the value "3", he may turn this value into "4" by using the bonus and end the game.

Note: having realized that the current turn may be the last, a player is entitled to demand that it be carried out in turn order, starting with the active player and then clockwise.

Scoring at the End of the Game

Players receive points according to the conditions of each rumor card and write them into the cells in the scoring area on their island sheets.

In the last cell each player writes the sum of the points for the rumor cards and the bonuses received. The participant with the highest total wins the game.

In case of a tie, the contender with fewer empty cells on the island plan wins. If there is a tie here as well, all contenders win.

Solo Mode

Goal of the Game

Your goal in solo mode is to score as many points as possible to reach the ranks listed below. Use 4 random rumor cards or the sets from the normal game setup. The points listed below correspond to side A. When playing on side B, increase the points needed to reach each rank by 20.

Rank	Points
Alley Explorer	75
Ordinary Explorer	90
True Explorer	110
Marco Polo	130

(The rank/points pairing was confirmed against the printed page; the text layer lists them out of order.)

A Player's Turn

In solo mode the normal rules for drawing, using bonuses, ending the game and scoring apply. However, there are some changes in the player's turn.

1. The player rolls all 3 dice.
2. The player decides which terrain type available to him he will draw (he has 3 uses of each terrain type) and crosses out 1 corresponding use on the island sheet.
3. The player chooses a die and places it in front of himself.
4. The player draws the chosen terrain type on as many cells of his island plan as the chosen die shows.
5. The player rolls the 2 remaining dice lying in the center of the table.
6. The player chooses a die and sets it aside — this die determines the terrain type to draw. The correspondence between die values and terrain types is shown on the island sheet next to the drawings of the terrain types. This choice does not count as a use of the terrain type, so the player crosses nothing out. Bonuses cannot be used at this stage.
7. The player draws the terrain type chosen in step 6 on as many cells of his island plan as the single remaining die shows.
8. The player takes all 3 dice and begins a new turn.

Example: Marina rolls 3 dice and gets "2", "4" and "5". Having decided to draw mountains, she crosses out 1 use and takes the die with the value "4" to draw 4 mountains. Marina rolls 2 dice and gets "1" and "5". She chooses "5" — this value corresponds to forests. The die with the value "1" remains in the center of the table, so Marina draws 1 forest on the island plan.