Treasure Island
Treasure Island Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Goal of the Game
Long John Silver: he has to escape and recover his treasure before the pirates!
The pirates: each pirate wants to be the first to find Long John Silver's treasure!
Game Content
- 5 screens (double-sided)
- 5 miniatures
- 4 Turn order tokens
- 4 mini Maps and 4 memo sheets (double-sided)
- 1 Island board
- 4 Character sheets
- 2 mini rulers
- 1 ruler
- 1 caliper
- 1 large search & 1 small search
- 5 markers
- 1 large compass & 1 small compass
- 1 Calendar board (double-sided)
- 11 District Hints
- 8 Compass Hints
- 7 Starting Hints
- 6 Chest tokens and 1 Treasure
- 1 Chest
- 1 Long John Silver mini Map (double-sided)
- 11 Black Spot Hints
- 8 Information tokens
The Island Board
The Island board features the following elements:
- Deep waters (Restricted area)
- Mountains (Restricted area)
- Volcano (Restricted area)
- Ruined temple
- Buildings (towns, huts, ships, Roads...)
- Ruins
- Pirate's starting position
- Towers (Black)
- Forests
- Trees
- Shallow waters
- Lakes
- District borders
- Temples (Blue, decorative)
- Rocks (decorative)
- Beaches (decorative)
- Undergrounds (decorative)
Setup
- The Island board that depicts the treasure island is placed in the middle of the table.
- The Calendar board is placed next to the south part of the island on the side that corresponds to the number of players.
- The Starting Hints, the Black Spot Hints, and the Compass Hints are shuffled separately and placed near the Island board.
- The caliper, the two search templates, the ruler, the two compasses, and a mini ruler are placed within reach of the players.
- Choose a player who will embody Long John Silver, he sits South of the game board, next to the Calendar board and takes:
- the black marker,
- the Chest,
- Long John Silver's miniature and 2 Information "Bluff" tokens and places them on the corresponding Calendar board spaces,
- he puts his screen in front of him and hides behind it:
- his mini Map, and one mini ruler,
- the 6 Information "Truth" tokens,
- the 11 District Hints,
- the 6 Chest tokens and the Treasure token.
- The pirate players take:
- miniatures depending on the number of pirate players playing against Long John Silver:
- 1 pirate: the player takes 3 miniatures of their choice,
- 2 pirates: each player takes 2 miniatures of their choice,
- 3 pirates or more: each player takes 1 miniature of their choice,
- each marker corresponding to their miniatures' color,
- a screen corresponding to one of their miniature's color,
- the Character sheet corresponding to the chosen screen,
- 1 Turn Order token corresponding to their screen color,
- a mini Map to hide behind their screen for which they choose the face to use,
- a memo sheet.
- miniatures depending on the number of pirate players playing against Long John Silver:
- Starting with the player on the right of Long John Silver, then in clockwise order, each pirate places their Turn Order token on the nearest free Skull space on the left of the 1st of June.
For your first game, I advise you to choose the most experienced player of your crew to embody Long John Silver.
"– I thought you said you knowed the rules, returned Silver, contemptuously. Leastways, if you don't, I do; and I wait here – and I'm still your cap'n, mind – till you outs with your grievances, and I reply; in the meantime, your black spot ain't worth a biscuit. After that, we'll see. – Oh, replied George, you don't be under no kind of apprehension: we're all square, we are. Oh, we see through you, John Silver; you want to play booty, that's what's wrong with you."
Long John Silver's Hints
Long John Silver possesses different types of Hints that he will have to give to the pirates depending on some circumstances.
Some hints require to draw information directly on the game board. In this case, Long John Silver must and is the only player allowed to draw these hints on the game board.
WARNING: the pirates must keep in mind that the treasure can be on the border of a hint.
When Long John Silver has doubts about a hint he has to give, he may ask pirates to close their eyes in order to verify the information directly on the Island board.
Some hints wear a Chest icon and are more advantageous to Long John Silver. For each hint of this kind Long John Silver wants to play, he must have previously given a Chest token to a pirate (cf. Chest tokens).
If Long John Silver ever has a hand of 3 Hints with a Chest icon, he may show these Hints to the pirates and shuffle them into the Hints draw pile, then draw 3 new Hints.
1) Starting Hints, Black Spot Hints and Information tokens
When Long John Silver plays a Starting Hint or a Black Spot Hint, he proceeds like this:
- play a Starting Hint or Black Spot Hint on the Calendar,
- draw the informations on the game board (if necessary),
- play an Information token,
- draw a new hint of the same type.
A) Play a Starting Hint or a Black Spot Hint on the Calendar
Starting Hints and Black Spot Hints are played face up on the Calendar board and give information to all pirates about the treasure's location.
Each Hint card shows: an Illustration, the Hint's name, the Hint's effect, a Chest Icon (on some hints), and Notes. For example, the PARROT hint reads: "2 or 3 players: Reveal two extra district hints, at random, to all pirates. 4 or 5 players: Each pirate reveals their district hint to their 2 pirate neighbors. (Charlotte chooses one)." with the note "Place an Information 'Truth' token face up under that hint."
B) Draw the informations on the game board
Long John draws most of starting hints and black spot hints directly on the game board, by using game tools (Tools to be used for each hint are reminded in the Starting Hints & Black Spot Hints reference).
Example: Long John Silver plays the "Distance" Black Spot Hint. He chooses a miniature on the game board and indicates that it is between 5 and 8 miles from the treasure. Then, he reports the information on the game board using the compass.
C) Play an Information token
After playing a Starting Hint or a Black Spot Hint, Long John Silver has to place an Information token of his choice face down below this Hint. There are two kinds of Information tokens: Information "Bluff" and Information "Truth". They allow Long John Silver to lie or tell the truth when he plays a Starting Hint or a Black Spot Hint.
If he chose a Information "Truth" token, the Hint he gives has to be right, he cannot lie: pirates take this Hint into account when searching for the treasure.
If he chose a Information "Bluff" token, the Hint he gives may be right or wrong: pirates must not take this Hint into account when searching for the treasure.
The Information tokens have a common Back, and show either Bluff or Truth on the front.
At the beginning of the game, Long John Silver only has Information "Truth" tokens. The first Starting Hint he plays is always associated to a Information "Truth" token.
Then he will receive 2 "Bluff" tokens as the game progresses, depending on the Calendar events. From the second hint, there will be a doubt on the good faith of Long John Silver. We will see later how to raise the doubt about that!
D) Draw a new hint of the same type
Long John Silver draw a Starting Hint or a Black Spot Hint depending of the hint he just played.
2) Compass Hints
Compass Hints allow pirates to know 2 directions where the treasure is not hidden. Compass Hints are given by Long John Silver when a player triggers a Compass special action.
The two zones containing a skull indicate that the treasure is not in these two directions.
3) District Hints
Each District Hint allows players to eliminate one of the 11 Districts of the Island when searching for the treasure. Pirates keep their Hint secret: they cannot show or tell their District Hint to any other pirate.
The black zone containing a skull indicates that the treasure is not in this District.
Long John Silver may write on his mini Map which Hints he gave to each pirate by writing their initials.
The mini Maps serve as a reminder. It is recommended to write on them the personal information and the verified information.
The measures taken on the game board always prevail over the mini Map.
4) Chest tokens & the Treasure
The Chest tokens allow Long John Silver to give an advantage to a pirate in his scavenger hunt.
As a counterpart, Long John Silver will be allowed to play a Starting Hint or a Black Spot Hint wearing a Chest icon for each Chest token he has previously given.
When Long John Silver gives a Chest token, he crosses it out on his Mini map.
There are two kinds of Chest tokens:
- Item tokens that allow 1 additional action during the pirate's turn and then are discarded.
- Information tokens that give secret information about the Treasure's location.
Chest tokens are single use and are given to the pirates when they make an unsuccessful Search (see Small search).
Preparation Phase
1) Pirates starting locations
Each player places their miniatures on their starting locations and draw a circle on the dotted line of their locations.
The starting location of each pirate is given on the back of their screen.
2) Burying the treasure
Once the miniatures are standing on their locations, Long John silver hides the treasure on the Island. To do so, he materialize the treasure's location by drawing a black cross on his mini Map.
He may choose any location except:
- inside the "2 miles" pirate Starting location.
- restricted areas surrounded by a red line.
- any dotted line border.
Examples: "The treasure is in the forest." This location is valid. "The treasure is in the mountains." This location is invalid. "The treasure rides the forest and the mountain." This location is invalid.
3) District Hints
Long John Silver puts aside face down the District Hint corresponding to the District that contains the treasure.
Long John Silver shuffles face down the remaining District Hints, draws the top one, looks at it and gives it to the player on his left. Long John Silver repeats this process in clockwise order until each pirate has been given a District Hint.
WARNING: the District Hint containing the treasure is never shuffled with the other District Hints. Long John Silver can only use it when he chooses to play an Information "Bluff" token with the "Manuscript" Starting Hint.
4) Starting Hints
Long John Silver draws 3 Starting Hints.
5) Compass Hints
Long John Silver draws as many Compass Hints as the number of pirates + 3 and places the remaining ones back in the box.
Game Sequence
A game of Treasure Island is played in a series of turns until a player (a pirate or Long John Silver) finds the Treasure.
Long John Silver and the pirates play differently:
- Long John Silver updates and resolves the Calendar events. In addition, he answers when a Pirate performs search action and asks if the Treasure has been found.
- Each day, a different pirate plays a number of actions defined by the Calendar.
A turn consists of the following steps:
- Calendar update (Long John Silver),
- Calendar event, if applicable (Long John Silver),
- Choose actions to resolve (Pirates).
The Long John Silver's Calendar shows the Calendar spaces and their Events, along with spaces for the Starting hints and the Black spot hints, and spaces for the Information tokens.
1) Calendar update
Long John Silver moves the Turn Order token placed on the oldest Calendar space to the next available one. He then tells the involved pirate they may prepare their action(s).
2) Calendar event
If the Turn Order Token is placed on a space with an event, Long John Silver has to resolve this Event before the pirate may resolve their action(s).
Depending on the kind of Event of the Calendar, Long John Silver applies the following rules:
Starting Hint — Long John Silver chooses and plays a Starting Hint from his hand.
Information "Bluff" token — Long John Silver recovers an Information "Bluff" token, he may use it later when playing a Starting Hint or a Black Spot Hint.
Prison — The owner of Turn Order token which is on Prison space chooses one of the 9 towers of the Island board and places Long John Silver's miniature on it. The pirates may discuss about where to place the miniature, but the active pirate is the one who makes the final decision.
The Black Spot — Long John Silver discards his Starting Hints and then draws 3 Black Spot Hints.
Black Spot Hint — Long John Silver chooses and plays a Black Spot Hint from his hand.
Escape — Long John Silver escapes! (See Long John Silver's escape.)
"Silver was roundly accused of playing double – of trying to make a separate peace for himself – of sacrificing the interests of his accomplices and victims; and, in one word, of the identical, axact thing that he was doing. It seemed to me so obvious, in this case, that I could not imagine how he was to turn their anger. But he was twice the man the rest were; and his last night's victory had given him a huge preponderance on their minds. He called them all the fools and the dolts you can imagine, said it was necessary I should talk to the doctor, fluttered the chart in their faces, asked them if they could afford to break the treaty the very day they were bound a treasure hunting."
3) Choose actions
During their turn, a player chooses one of their miniatures and performs 1 or 2 actions of their choice, depending on the number of stars shown on the Calendar space their Turn Order token is placed on.
There are two kinds of actions:
- Normal actions,
- Special actions.
A) Normal action
There are three kinds of Normal actions:
- Horse move,
- Foot move & Small search,
- Large search.
Horse move
A Horse move allows a miniature to move up to 6 miles.
The player takes the ruler and traces a line on the Island board, starting from their actual location (the cross) and following these rules:
- the ruler cannot be moved while drawing the line,
- it is forbidden to pass through or stop in restricted areas (surrounded by a red line).
When the line is drawn, the player marks the end of the line with a cross, their new location. He moves his miniature on this new cross.
The lines drawn during the game shall never be erased, except stated otherwise. All moves must be drawn as they will be used to resolve some hints.
Foot move & Small search
The player may resolve 1 Foot move and 1 Small search in the order of his choice.
- Foot move
A Foot move follows the same rules as a Horse move, but only up to 3 miles.
- Small search
This action allows to look for the Treasure by using the Small search template.
The player places the template on the island board with the following restrictions:
- the cross showing the miniature's actual location must be apparent inside the template,
- the template must not completely cross a restricted area, but it may partially overflow on it.
Then they draw a circle inside the template and ask Long John Silver if the Treasure is hidden inside this circle.
Long John Silver cannot lie and chooses one of the three following answers depending on the case:
- the circle contains or touches the Treasure location: the Treasure has been found. Long John Silver secretely places the Treasure token into the Chest and gives it to the active player who wins the game. If Long John Silver has any doubt he must consider that the Treasure has been found;
- the circle does not contain the Treasure's location: the Treasure has not been found, Long John Silver simply tells the search is unsuccessful;
- the circle does not contain the Treasure's location: the Treasure has not been found, but Long John Silver decides to give a Chest token to the active player to unlock one of his Hints wearing a Chest icon. He secretly places the Chest token of his choice into the Chest and gives it to the active player! (See Chest tokens.)
The circles drawn during the game are never erased, except stated otherwise. All searches must be drawn, because they reminds areas already searched, and are used for some hints.
Large search
A Large search action follows the same rules as a Small search, but using the Large search template.
B) Special action
Each pirate has their own special actions, written on their Character sheet.
The presence of at least one checkbox near a special action indicates this action may be used a limited number of times. When a player uses this kind of special action, they must mark one of the corresponding empty checkboxes on their Character sheet. When all checkboxes of a given action are marked, this action is not availble for this game any more.
Special actions with with an "infinite" symbol may be used at will but still count as an action each time they are used.
Compass
A player may choose to get a secret information about the Treasure's location.
To do that, they place the large compass around their miniature, aligning it with North of the Island board.
Long John Silver chooses a Compass Hint from his hand at gives it to the player. He cannot lie about it.
The player cannot show or tell which hint this is.
The player may use the Small compass to carry this information to their mini Map.
Verification
The pirate may look at the back of an Information token among those played by Long John Silver on the Calendar board.
The player cannot show this token to the other pirates, but he may say what he saw (but can lie about it).
Full Gallop
The pirate may move anywhere on the Island board, except in restricted areas.
The player draws a cross anywhere on the Island board to indicate their new location. He do not trace a line to link their previous location to the new one. He moves his miniature on this new cross.
Special ability
Each pirate has at least one Special ability that is described bellow:
King Georges — Anne may use her monkey to search a remote area: he does a Small search anywhere on the Island board following all Small search rules without taking into account the location of the player figurine.
Compass — Anne may play the Compass action twice during the game.
Spyglass — Olivier may use his spyglass to search an area at a distance: he does a Large search anywhere on the Island board following all Large search rules without taking into account his own location.
Thoroughbred — When he plays a Horse move, Olivier may travel 2 "6 miles" moves instead of 1.
Fortune — When he makes a Large search, he traces the circle with the outer edge of the Large search template.
Ancient Scrolls — Charlotte gets 2 random additional District Hints.
Long John Silver's Escape
As soon as a Turn order pawn is placed on the Calendar board's Escape space, Long John Silver escapes from his cell. From now on, the Calendar board is no longer used and players play clockwise starting with Long John Silver. Long John Silver may only perform Horse moves (up to 6 miles). Pirates still have 2 actions per turn until the end of the game.
If Long John Silver manages to place his miniature on the treasure's site before any pirate finds it, Long John Silver wins the game!
Winning the game with Long John Silver will take a lot of cunning and willpower. Be brave, old sea-dog!
Specific Zones of the Treasure Island
- RED: Restricted Area
- GREEN: Forests & Trees
- BLUE: Fresh Water et Lakes
- GREY: Buildings, roads, boats & Ruins
Starting Hints & Black Spot Hints
Player: The term player refers to both Long John Silver and the pirates.
Miniature: The term miniature refers to both the Long John Silver's miniature and the pirate miniatures.
Note that at the beginning of the game, the Long John Silver's miniature is not yet on the game board and therefore cannot be designated.
Starting Hints
DECOY (Chest icon) — Secretly locate the miniature closest to the treasure. Name it and any other miniature of your choice without saying which is which.
DON'T LOSE YOUR BEARINGS — 2 or 4 players: Choose 1 miniature. 3 or 5 players: Choose 2 miniatures. For each one, reveal if the treasure is North or South of its position. For each, draw a line from East to West through its position on the board.
VAST EXPANSE — Designate a miniature within 8 miles of the treasure. If that is impossible, say so. Draw an 8-mile circle around the miniature on the board.
A FEW MORE MILES — Designate a miniature which is more than 6 miles away from the treasure. If that is impossible, say so. Draw a 6-mile circle around the miniature on the board.
SEXTANT — Position the big compass on a miniature of your choice. Indicate 3 directions. The treasure is in one of them. Use the big compass and draw the directions on the board.
MANUSCRIPT — Reveal two extra district hints of your choice to all pirates. Place the District hints on this hint. If you play an Information "Bluff" token, you can play the District hint that contains the treasure.
ALTITUDE — Choose one of these three statements. The treasure is more than:
- 4 miles from the volcano
- 2 miles from deep water
- 5 miles from the ruined temple
Mark the chosen area by drawing on the corresponding dotted line on the map.
Black Spot Hints
CONFESSION (Chest icon) — Each pirate can ask you one question which can be answered by yes or no. State and answer publicly one of these questions. Play Information Token after you answer the question.
WHICH WAY? — Designate 2 miniatures. For each, indicate whether they moved closer or further away from the treasure during their last move. You can not choose a miniature which used the Full Galop Special action as last move.
PARROT (Chest icon) — 2 or 3 players: Reveal two extra district hints, at random, to all pirates. 4 or 5 players: Each pirate reveals their district hint to their two neighbor pirates. (Charlotte chooses only one). Place an Information "Truth" token face up under that hint.
COMPASS — Position the big compass on a miniature of your choice. Indicate 2 directions. The treasure is in one of them. Use the big compass and draw the directions on the board.
ILLUSION — Secretly locate a miniature less than 4 miles away from the treasure. Name it and any other miniature of your choice, without saying which is which. If that is impossible, say so. Draw a 4-mile circle around the two designated miniatures on the board.
RIGHT UNDER YOUR NOSE — Designate the miniature who passed closest to the treasure. Only consider movement lines and position crosses. Ignore search area's circles.
INSTINCT (Chest icon) — Indicate if the treasure is within 1 mile from a search area or not. If the treasure is exactly 1 mile away from a search area, consider it is less than 1 mile away.
BERMUDA TRIANGLE — Designate 2 black towers and 1 miniature to form a triangle that contains the treasure. If that is impossible, say so. Draw the triangle on the board.
GETTING CLOSE — Designate a miniature currently standing less than 6 miles away from the treasure. If that is impossible, say so. Draw a 6-mile circle around the designated miniature on the board.
DEDUCTION (Chest icon) — Indicate 2 types of zones that do not contain the treasure:
- Fresh Water & Lakes
- Buildings & Ruins
- Forests & Trees
You can check the map in the Specific zones of the Treasure Island section.
DISTANCE — Designate a miniature. Indicate the distance between it and the treasure: 4 to 7 / 5 to 8 / 7 to 9 miles. If that is impossible, say so. Draw the 2 corresponding circles around the designated miniature.
Chest tokens
Item tokens
- Perform an additional move of 7 miles during your turn.
- Perform an additional action of your choice during your turn.
- Perform an additional Small search during your turn.
Information tokens
- The treasure is west of the current position of the miniature that made the search.
- The treasure is east of the current position of the miniature that made the search.
- The treasure is not in the district where the miniature made the search.
Credits
Thanks: A tremendous wink to Mr. Stevenson for Treasure Island, his everlasting creation. Laure, your continued support helps me move forward: thank you. Cédric Millet, you are once more linked to this game's genesis. So, once more: thank you my friend.
I would like to also thank, in an approximate chronological order starting from summer 2015: my brother Thomas, Annecy Ludique members, my sister Claire, Bruno Cathala, Laurent B, the Impératrice family, Vincent Dutrait, Sabrina and Fabien, Alexis LG, the Essen Team, JOCA Geneva members, Ben and Pierreline, Philou C and Jérôme E, Matthew Dunstan, the couz Maiz, my Pipich, at the Cafetière: Ludovic Maublanc, Corentin Lebrat, and Antoine Bauza, and Bruno once more, Aurel, Maxime and François, Thierry the Belgian, Lucie B, Mr. Actions at Cannes Games festival, Maël C, Christophe M. And throughout the project, the Matagot Team, mainly Hicham, Mathieu, Sabrina and Joseph.
For Côme, Juliette, and Margaux.