Walk the Plank! Rulebook

Table of Contents

Contents
Setup
Gameplay
Cards
Credits

1 Ship tile & 3 Plank tiles
1 Davy Jones' Locker tile
1 Captain's Favor token
15 Pirate Pawns (3 each of 5 colors)
50 cards (10 identical sets in 5 colors)

Setup

Place the ship tile and extend the 3 plank tiles from the ship's edge to form the plank. Place the Davy Jones' Locker tile at the end of the plank, as pictured.
Each player selects a color, takes the cards and pawns of that color, and places all pawns onto the ship.
Randomly determine a starting player and give him or her the Captain's Favor token.

Gameplay

The game is played over a series of rounds. At the beginning of each round, every player selects three cards and places them face down in the order they want them played.

Once everyone has chosen their cards, the player with the Captain's Favor token flips over his or her first card and performs the action for that card; you must perform the card's action if possible. Then the next player clockwise (left) from the starting player plays his or her first card, and so on around the table. After everyone has played their first card in this manner, this process is repeated for the second and third cards.

When all cards have been played, players take their cards back into their hands, except for cards with a Skully symbol, which can't be played two rounds in a row. Leave these cards face up during the next round and return them to your hand when that round ends. Finally, the player with the Captain's Favor token passes it counter-clockwise to the player on his or her right, beginning the next round. This means that the player who went last in the previous round will go first in the next round. (Remember that play will still be going clockwise to the left.)

Players who have no pirates left alive are out of the game. They play no further cards in the round after losing their last pirate, or in future rounds. Shove Left/Right cards skip past eliminated players to the next surviving player in order. Play continues until there are only two (or fewer) pirates left, or until pirates of only one color remain.

Once either of these conditions has been met, all face down cards of remaining players are played to complete the current round. At the end of the final round, those players with surviving pirates win the game, and are allowed to rejoin the ship's crew. A lone player can win if one to three pirates of a single color survive to tell the tale. Two players can win if each player has one pirate left alive. If nobody has any surviving pirates, you truly are the worst pirates—nobody wins!

Cards

Some cards have a 'Skully' symbol on the card; these can't be played two rounds in a row. At the end of a round in which one or more players use any of these cards, they set them aside face up, so other players know which cards can't be used during the next round. They are still set aside even if they had no effect. Any cards that were set aside from the previous round are returned to your hand.

Moving a 'space' refers to moving to one of the three plank tiles or to the ship itself. Any pirate that goes from the last plank tile to Davy Jones' Locker is considered dead and out of play for the rest of the game. Any or all pirates can be on a single plank or ship tile.

You must always perform the actions on the cards you play if possible, even if they are not beneficial to you at the time. Remember, you are the stupidest pirates on the crew—you might accidentally shove a friend or run off the plank yourself!

Shove Left & Shove Right

One of your pirates shoves another pirate belonging to the player sitting on your left or your right (depending on the card). The shoved pirate moves one space towards, or into, Davy Jones' Locker.

You must have one of your pirates on the same tile as the pirate you want to shove. If there are multiple tiles where both you and the player on your left/right have pirates, you may choose which pirate to shove. If no tiles contain both yours and the other player's pirates, this card has no effect. These cards skip past any eliminated players; meaning that if only two players remain, then Shove Left and Shove Right have the same effect. They never affect the player that played the card.

Shove Anyone

Similar to Shove Left and Shove Right above, this lets you shove any pirate on your tile, moving it out one space towards Davy Jones' Locker. If the only pirate you can shove is one of yours, you must shove that pirate (for example, when all of your pirates are on the same tile without any opposing pirates).

Extend the Plank! & Retract the Plank

These cards modify the number of plank tiles in play. Extending the plank adds a plank tile between the last plank tile and Davy Jones' Locker, up to a maximum of three plank tiles. It has no effect if there are already three plank tiles in play.

Retracting the plank removes the last plank tile next to Davy Jones' Locker, and any pirates in that space fall into the ocean and die immediately. There must always be a plank, so this has no effect if there is only one plank tile remaining.

Drag to Sea & Pull to Ship

One of your pirates either drags another pirate out one space towards Davy Jones' Locker, or pulls another pirate back one space towards the ship. Like the Shove cards, you need to have a pirate in the space in which you are performing the card's action.

Dragging lets you move one of your pirates and any other pirate on the same tile out one space towards Davy Jones' Locker. The second pirate can belong to any player, even you. Pulling has the opposite effect, moving your pirate and another one back towards the ship. There must be another pirate to pull or drag. These cards do nothing if all of your pirates are on tiles by themselves.

Run Around

Move any one of your pirates back one space towards the ship or out one space towards Davy Jones' Locker. If all of your pirates are on the ship, one must run onto the plank.

I don't wan'a die!

Move any one of your pirates either one or two spaces back towards the ship. Unlike Run Around, this has no effect if all of your pirates are already on the ship.

Charge!

One of your pirates moves out one space towards Davy Jones' Locker and then shoves any other pirate on the new tile one additional space towards doom. If there is no one to shove, your pirate still runs out but does nothing else. If the only pirates in that space are your own, you must shove one of them. You can also simply run off the end of the plank with this card because you are, well, stupid.

Note the symbol at the bottom. You can only play this card as your second or third card of the turn. Charge has no effect if it is the 1st card played during a turn.

Credits

Design by Shane Steely & Jared Tinney

Illustration by Poopbird

Art Direction & Graphic Design by Max Holliday