Traitors Aboard Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Setup
• How to Play
• End of the Game
• Three Important Tips
• Credits

Contents

• 8 Role cards: 6 Pirate cards, 2 Mutineer cards
• 42 Loot cards: 20 "+1" cards, 12 "-2" cards, 10 "0" cards
• 34 Action cards: 22 Plank cards, 3 Good Riddance cards, 3 Empty Your Pockets cards, 3 Spyglass cards, 3 Miraculous Catch cards

Loot cards:

• "+1" card: increases the value of the Chest by 1.
• "0" card: does not affect the value of the Chest.
• "-2" card: decreases the value of the Chest by 2.

Setup

Players take on the role of either a Pirate, who aims to fill the chest sufficiently, or a Mutineer, who seeks to sabotage the crew's collection.

Prepare the Role cards and the Plank cards according to the number of players. Remove the remaining Role cards and Plank cards from the game, as they will not be used.

Number of players	Pirate cards	Mutineer cards	Plank cards
3	2	1	12
4	3	1	14
5	4	1	16
6	4	2	18
7	5	2	20
8	6	2	22

Shuffle the Role cards and deal one, face down, to each player. Each player then finds out which role has been assigned to them and keeps this information secret.

Shuffle the Loot cards together with the Action cards, deal 3 cards to each player, then form the Draw pile with the remaining cards, face down, in the middle of the table. Finally, reserve a space next to the Draw pile to accommodate the stack of cards representing the Chest as well as another space for the Discard pile, away from the Draw pile and the Chest.

You are now ready to begin.

How to Play

The most talkative player goes first. On their turn, the player must perform one of the following two actions: place a Loot card or use an Action card.

Place a Loot card, face down, on top of the Chest and announce the value of the card (Note: it is forbidden to place an Action card in the Chest). The player is allowed to lie about the value of the Loot card they have placed to preserve their secret identity.

Use an Action card by revealing it to all other players and apply its effect. Once the card's effect has been resolved, the player places the Action card, face down, in the Discard pile. There are 5 types of Action cards:

• Plank: the player places the Plank card in front of the player of their choice (they cannot place it in front of themselves). When a player receives three Plank cards, they are thrown overboard: they reveal their Role card, place the three Plank cards they received as well as all the cards they have in hand, face down, in the Discard pile, and leave the game. After being thrown overboard, the player continues to participate in discussions and advises other players (without looking at their cards) in an attempt to help their team win the game.
• Good Riddance: the player takes the two cards from the top of the Chest without looking at them and places them, face down, in the Discard pile.
• Spyglass: the player takes the three cards from the top of the Chest (if there are fewer than three cards, the player takes all the cards from the Chest), shuffles them, then looks at them without showing them to the other players before placing them back, face down, on top of the Chest, in the order of their choice.
• Miraculous Catch: the player draws three cards, adds them to their hand without showing them to the other players, and places the two cards from their hand that they do not wish to keep, face down, on top of the Draw pile, in the order of their choice.
• Empty Your Pockets: the player selects the player of their choice (they cannot select themselves) who must immediately place all the cards in their hand, face down, in the Discard pile before drawing three cards.

Finally, the player draws a card (unless they played the Miraculous Catch card) to always have three cards in hand. Their turn is now over and it's the turn of the player on their left to play.

End of the Game

The game ends immediately when one of the following four conditions is met:

1. At the very beginning of their turn, a Pirate announces that they believe the Chest holds at least the target value, then reveals their Role card. The Pirate then reveals the contents of the Chest to the other players and adds up the values of the Loot cards in the Chest (Note: a Mutineer cannot perform this action).

   • If the Chest holds a value greater than or equal to the target value, the Pirates win.
   • If the Chest holds a value strictly lower than the target value, the Mutineers win.

   Number of players	Target value of the Chest
   3	5
   4	8
   5	11
   6	6
   7	9
   8	12

2. All Mutineers have been thrown overboard. The Pirates win.

3. The Mutineers are no longer outnumbered: there are as many Mutineers as Pirates aboard the ship. The Mutineers win.

4. There are no more cards in the Draw pile. The Mutineers win.

Three Important Tips

• Constantly discuss, question, and share information (true or false) with the other players to coordinate your efforts or betray them at the right time. It is important to regularly ask the other players which cards they have in hand and to remember the cards they announce in order to identify the Mutineers who would get lost in their lies (Note: it is forbidden to show your cards). A player who does not wish to say what they have in hand may have something to hide...
• Work together with the other players in order to use your Action cards strategically, as they will allow you to have a significant impact on the course of the game. However, be careful not to reveal the presence of any Spyglass cards you might have in hand so that you can use them when the Mutineers least expect it!
• From one game to the next, some players may have very different and surprising strategies and behaviors. Always try to pay attention to what other players say and do: inconsistencies can easily occur...

Credits

Game Design: Jean-Xia Chou Development: Duncan Chauvin Executive Producer: Romain Chemière Illustrations: Laura Bazzoni

© 2024 SAVANA SAS. All rights reserved.