Titanic

Titanic Rulebook

Table of Contents

Setup
- Key Concept
Gameplay
Game End & Final Scoring
- Final Scoring
Automaton Tiles (2–3P)

Setup

Place the Titanic Board in the middle of the table. Add the 4 Top Deck Tiles to the 4 spaces at the top of the ship, going from left to right (1–4).
Sort the 36 Location Tiles by type and place them on the board, starting with the green tiles numbered in the 900s, 800s, and 700s, followed by the grays (600s, 500s, and 400s) and, finally, the reds (300s, 200s, and 100s). Note: The 4 tiles on each level should be randomized. If you would like to play with a degree of historical accuracy, place them A–D.
Place the 9 Lifeboats on the board as shown, with the odd-numbered lifeboats on the left of the ship and the even-numbered lifeboats on the right of the ship, going from high to low.
Select a Collapsible Lifeboat based on the number of players (either 2–3, 4, or 5) and place it on the "Final" spot adjacent to top deck tile #4.
Place a Passenger Pawn on each passenger icon shown on the location tiles, according to their colors. Passenger colors: red = 3rd Class, gray = 2nd Class, green = 1st Class.
Place the lifesavers, action cubes, and star tokens in piles next to the board.
Separate the Star Cards by type (Item, Person, Location, Scene). Then, shuffle each deck and place them all face down near the board.
Shuffle and place the 12 Flood Cards near the board. Important: With 5 players, also add the 3 "No Flood" Cards into the deck.
Place the Door Tile nearby with the side face up that matches the number of players.
Place the Heart of the Ocean Token nearby.
Each player should take a Reference Card and Character Tile, as well as a matching Character Standee, Player Mat, and Score Marker. Place all score markers on the first space of the score track. Place your character tile inside the left slot of your player mat, ability-side up. Note: Before the first game, attach the 5 character standees to the plastic stands.
Shuffle and deal a random Private Objective Card to each player. These are kept private. Return the rest to the game box.
Distribute a number of action cubes to each player, referencing Chart A below. Place your action cubes on your player mat in the "Available" side of the "Actions" slots.

Chart A

Player Count	Number of Action Cubes
2	4
3	3
4	2
5	1

Place the 2 Flood Line Markers near the bottom of the ship, below the level 100 tiles.
The player most recently on a boat is the first player. Starting with the first player, each player places their character standee in one of the rooms on the 100 level in clockwise order. At the same time, each player should also take 1 passenger, lifesaver, action cube, or star token adjacent to their starting room.

Key Concept

To take a passenger, simply take the passenger pawn from the tile. To take any of the other available components, mark off the spot with the dry erase marker and take the matching physical piece.

Gameplay

Starting with the first player and going in clockwise order, players will take turns. A player's turn is split into three phases: 1) The Actions Phase, 2) The Flooding Phase, and 3) The Stars Phase.

1) The Actions Phase

A player may perform 5 types of actions: Move, Pick Up, Save, Play Star Cards, and Use Your Special Ability. Some actions will require action cubes. You should attempt to use all of your actions as efficiently as you can each turn — time is short!

To take any action requiring an action cube, slide the cube from the "Available" side of your player mat to the "Used" side.

› MOVE | 1 action cube

When taking a Move action, move your character to an adjacent room. There are two rooms on each location tile.

Movement is from room to room on the same location tile or orthogonally to an adjacent tile (up, down, left, or right).
You may not move through walls, represented by gray barriers on the location tiles.
You may enter flooded tiles that are above the flood line. A flooded tile is considered to be a single room. Walls on flooded tiles can be ignored; they no longer restrict movement.
Multiple characters can occupy the same room.

Movement & Pick Up Example: Rose uses a Move action to move into the flooded room, but there is nothing left on the tile to pick up. Then, she uses another Move action to move to Boiler Room 1 and pick up the action cube on her left.

(3-Player Example)

› PICK UP | Free action after moving

When taking a Pick Up action, pick up one adjacent passenger, lifesaver, action cube, or star token upon entering a new room. The component you pick up must be on the same tile, adjacent to the room you are in. This is a free action connected to the Move action. Whenever you pick up a component, cross out the matching symbol on the tile with the dry erase marker. If you want to take another Pick Up action in the same room, you must first exit the room and then reenter it.

Whenever you pick up (or "rescue") a passenger, place the passenger in one of the lifesavers on your player mat. If you do not have a vacant lifesaver, you cannot rescue a passenger.
Whenever you pick up a lifesaver, take one lifesaver token from the supply and add it to one of the empty lifesaver spaces on the right of your player mat. Each player starts with two lifesavers on their player mat and can add up to three more, for a maximum of five lifesavers.
Whenever you pick up an action cube, add it to the used side of one of the empty action slots on your player mat. Hence, you may not use an action cube on the same turn it was acquired. Each player can hold up to five action cubes; if you already have five, you may not pick up more.
Whenever you pick up a star token, place it near your player mat. You may spend star tokens during the Star Phase to acquire star cards.

› SAVE | 1 action cube

When taking a Save action, load any number of your rescued passengers onto an adjacent lifeboat for one action. You may only save passengers if you are in the room right next to the lifeboat; this will be the leftmost or rightmost room of the location tile, depending on whether the lifeboat is on the left or right side of the ship, respectively.

Loading passengers onto the lifeboats frees up your lifesavers.
Each lifeboat has a maximum capacity; you may only load as many passengers as there is room on the lifeboat.
Lifeboats are loaded numerically from back to front. To incentivize filling the lifeboats, the last few seats on each lifeboat score a number of bonus points, as indicated.

Score 3 points per red, 2 points per gray, and 1 point per green passenger you load onto a lifeboat, moving your marker on the score track accordingly. (While each passenger is valuable, it is more heroic to save red passengers because they are usually on the lower levels of ship.)

Lifeboat seat values: 3 points, 2 points, 1 point.

Additionally, each lifeboat also has room for one action cube. When taking a Save action, you may also choose to load an available action cube onto the empty slot to score 3 points. This represents that you personally helped passengers onto the lifeboat.

Save Action Example: Rose uses a Save action to load one red and one green passenger onto lifeboat #4, which is currently empty. She starts from the back and scores 3 points for the red passenger, 1 point for the green passenger, and 1 bonus point (for a total of 5 points). She also loads one available action cube for an additional 3 points.

› PLAY STAR CARDS | Free action

You may play any number of star cards at any time during your turn. Once played, star cards can generally be placed to the left of your player mat, as they may be needed during end-game scoring. Cards that are specifically labeled "End Scoring" should be played face down in the "End Game Scoring" slot. Finally, any permanent abilities should be played face up in the "Permanent Ability" slot.

Key Concept (star card types)

Item: Item cards provide no scoring, but they provide a useful one-time ability.
Person: Person cards provide a permanent ability.
Location: Location cards typically require being somewhere on the ship to score.
Scene: Scene cards either give you a dramatic opportunity or end-game scoring.

The card's available points are shown in the top right corner. Note that some values are variable, depicted by a "?" symbol.

You may hold a maximum of three star cards in your hand at a time. Cards in your "Played Cards" and other player mat slots do not count toward your hand limit.

› USE YOUR SPECIAL ABILITY | Free action

You may use the special ability on your character tile if your character is active side up. This is a free action, but use it wisely! After use, flip your character tile to its back side, or the "inactive side." To reactivate your special ability, your standee must be on any of the top deck tiles. Then, flip your character tile back to the active side. You may only use a special ability once on a given turn.

Extended Turn Example: Jack has three actions on his turn and decides to move to the Large Cargo Hold. He uses his first action to move into the flooded room and takes a free Pick Up action, taking the star token left floating on the tile. For his second action, he moves to the Large Cargo Hold and picks up the action cube, crossing it off. Before taking his third action, he decides to use his special ability. After flipping over his character tile, he also takes two other components for free: a green and gray passenger. Finally, for his third action, he takes a Save action and loads the gray and green passengers onto the lifeboat for 5 points (1 + 2 + 2 bonus). Before ending his turn, Jack exchanges one star token for one star card.

2) The Flooding Phase

After a player's Action Phase, the Flooding Phase begins. Execute the five steps in order:

DRAW the top flood card from the deck. The revealed number indicates what column of the ship will flood. Exception: In a 2-player game, draw the top two flood cards after a player's action phase.
REMOVE the lowest location tile from that column of the board. Keep the tile and any passengers on it temporarily for reference.
CHECK if a row of the ship is completely flooded. When this occurs, move the flood line markers up so that the newly flooded row is clearly below the flood line. At the same time, any remaining components below the flood line are now inaccessible and can be removed from the board. However, all passengers lost to sea should be placed on or near the iceberg, since they may be relevant to end-game scoring.
ADD any physical lifesavers, action cubes, and star tokens, along with any removed passengers that were not previously claimed from the location tile, to the newly flooded room. Note: This step only happens if the flooded room is above the flood line.
RESCUE any players below the flood line. As a penalty, they must first lose 3 points. Then, they float up to the next tile directly above the flood line in that column. That player may choose any room on that tile. Even in the event that the tile above is also flooded, it is still safely above the flood line. Note: This is not a standard move and, therefore, does not qualify for a free Pick Up action.

Flood cards revealed during the Flooding Phase can be discarded face up next to the draw pile to form a discard pile. Whenever the draw pile is depleted, shuffle the discard pile and form a new draw pile.

Flooding Phase Example: At the end of her turn, Rose draws and reveals the "2" flood card. She removes the lowest location tile in the second column. Since the entire row is now fully under water, the flood line moves up. Cal is beneath the flood line, so he floats to a new room on the next location tile above him and loses 3 points.

3) The Star Phase

The last thing you may do on your turn is spend star tokens to get star cards, at the cost of one star token per card (of any type). While this is happening, the next player may begin their turn. You are limited to three star cards in hand. You may discard star cards whenever you wish to make room.

You must wait until your next turn to play any cards you draw during this phase, including end-game scoring cards and permanent abilities.

Exception: Star cards may be played during this phase on your final turn.

Acquiring the "Heart"

As soon as there is a player definitively in the lowest position on the score track, that player claims the Heart of the Ocean token. The player who has the Heart may take one extra action each turn.

At the end of each round, once all players have taken a turn, check the score track. Give the Heart to the player with the lowest score. The current player holding the Heart keeps it in the event of a tie, as long as they are still tied for last. Otherwise, if there is not a player definitively in the lowest position on the track, set it aside until it can be claimed again.

Acquiring the "Door"

The first player to reach 20 points claims the door tile. In a 3- to 5-player game, the player with the door is safe from elimination; they do not need to race to the collapsible lifeboat to be safe. (Printed on the Door Tile: "3-5 Players Only. You are safe at the end. You may not step on the final Collapsible Boat.")

In a 2-player game, the door grants an extra star card instead; they will still need to make it to the collapsible lifeboat before the game ends.

Launching Lifeboats

A lifeboat will launch as soon as the flood line passes it or it is filled with passengers. An action cube is not required to be loaded onto the lifeboat for it to be considered full.

Example of a Full Lifeboat: (illustration only)

Collapsible Lifeboat

You must take a Move action to board the collapsible lifeboat. You may board it during any round of the game. If you are on the collapsible lifeboat before the ninth round, flip a flood card as normal, but skip the rest of your turn. When the collapsible lifeboat launches, any player not on the lifeboat is eliminated from the game.

The collapsible lifeboat is loaded from the back to the front (like the other lifeboats). Players are awarded the points shown on the space they boarded. The last player to board the collapsible lifeboat will suffer a penalty.

The player with the door cannot board the collapsible lifeboat. That character is safe and will float away on the door.

Note: In a 2-player game, the player with the door still needs to make it onto the collapsible lifeboat.

The collapsible lifeboat next to top deck #4 will launch as soon as the 900 level has completely flooded, indicating the game end.

Collapsible Lifeboat Example: At the end of a 4-player game, Cal and Ruth have made it to the collapsible lifeboat. Rose managed to claim the door and is safe. However, the Captain did not reach the collapsible lifeboat in time, so he is eliminated.

Private Objective

Private objectives are handed out during setup and should be kept face down in the "End Game Scoring" slot of your player mat. (You may reference your own card at any time.)

Each player has one objective (out of the five listed on any given private objective card). To identify which objective is yours for the game, match your player color to the colored section on the card.

You can score up to 10 points for your private objective during end-game scoring.

Private Objective Example: Jack (blue) matches to the blue objective on this private objective card.

(The individual objective wording is printed on the private objective card itself, not in the rulebook.)

Game End & Final Scoring

The game ends after nine rounds when all location tiles have flooded and all lifeboats have launched.

Any remaining passengers in lifesavers (on your player mat) are lost to the sea; discard them to the iceberg before scoring.

Final Scoring

The players who make it onto the collapsible lifeboat (and the door) may continue to score their points from their end-game scoring star cards and their private objectives. Add any points from these sources to your score.

If you reach the end of the score track, flip your score marker over to the "35" side and place it at the start to continue counting.

The player with the highest score wins! In the event of a tie, the tied player with the fewest action cubes is the winner.

Automaton Tiles (2–3P)

When playing with fewer than 4 players, it is suggested that players use the Automaton Tiles. There are three types of automaton tiles:

All components of one type are removed from an entire level.
The lifeboat on that level is launched, even if it is not full.
Nothing happens at all.

(Automaton tile illustration: "Action Cubes on this level are crossed out".)

Before the start of the game, shuffle the automaton tiles and deal one tile face down per level (nine total), opposite that level's lifeboat. Then, reveal the first automaton tile above the flood line and carry out the instructions listed on it.

During the Flooding Phase, reveal a new automaton tile each time the flood line rises.

Automaton Example: After a flood card is revealed, the entire bottom level is flooded. The Captain must be rescued; he loses 3 points and chooses to float up to the Switchboard Platform. Then, because lifeboat #1 is on a completely flooded level, it launches, even though it is empty.