Atlantica Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
  • 1 Game Board
  • 78 Diver Cards
  • 57 Treasure Cards
  • 1 Hurricane Card
  • 24 Ship Cards
  • 30 Research Cards
• Setup
• Game Play
  • The Diver Cards
  • The Possible Actions
    • 1. THE SUBMARINE - Take treasure card(s)
    • 2. THE HARBOR - Take ship cards
    • 3. THE TAVERN - Take diver cards or 2 cards of your choice
    • 4. THE RESEARCH STATION - Take research card(s)
    • 5. CATCH YOUR BREATH - Pass and take diver cards from the draw pile
• End of the Game and Scoring
  • Example of Scoring in a Three-Player Game
• Overview of the Treasure and Research Cards and How Many VP They Bring at the End of the Game
  • The Treasure Cards
  • The Research Cards

Game Components

1 Game Board

It shows 4 locations: the Submarine (A), the Harbor (B), the Tavern (C) and the central Research Station (D). The colored symbols in each location indicate how many divers in which colors are needed to be allowed to perform an action at that location.

78 Diver Cards

There are 13 diver cards each in the colors white, yellow, red, green, blue and purple. They are played to be able to perform actions.

57 Treasure Cards

There are treasure cards in 7 different colors, between 5 and 12 cards depending on the color. The treasure cards are collected by the players and bring victory points (VP) at the end of the game. After the game instructions it is explained exactly which treasure cards exist and how many times, and how many VP can be scored with them.

1 Hurricane Card

The hurricane card counts as one of the treasure cards and triggers the end of the game.

24 Ship Cards

There are 8 ship cards each of Cargo Boats, Freighters (cargo barges) and Transport Ships for the 3 card spaces A, B and C in the Harbor. 1 to 5 wooden crates are shown on the ships. The players need the wooden crates to stow their collected treasures.

30 Research Cards

There are 11 different research cards, 2 or 4 cards of each kind. Research cards are a good way to score additional VP on top of the collected treasure cards. After the game instructions it is explained exactly how VP can be scored with each research card.

Setup

The game board is placed in the middle of the table.

The diver cards are shuffled and each player receives 5 cards in hand. The remaining diver cards are placed as a face-down draw pile on the corresponding space in the Tavern.

The treasure cards are shuffled. With 2 players, 26 randomly drawn cards are set aside and returned to the box; with 3 players 18; with 4 players 9. With 5 players all 57 cards remain in the game.

From the treasure cards remaining in the game, 10 cards are counted off face down. The hurricane card is shuffled under these 10 treasure cards. These 11 cards are placed as a face-down pile on the Hurricane space of the Submarine. The remaining treasure cards are placed as a face-down draw pile on the corresponding space of the Submarine. The top 6 cards are drawn and laid face up on the treasure card spaces 1-6 of the Submarine.

The ship cards are shuffled separately by category - A Cargo Boat, B Freighter and C Transport Ship - and each is placed as a face-up pile on the matching ship card space of the Harbor.

The research cards are shuffled and placed as a face-down draw pile on the corresponding space in the Research Station. The top 4 cards are drawn and laid face up on card spaces 1-4 of the Research Station.

Game Play

Atlantica is played clockwise. The youngest player begins. The player whose turn it is may choose up to 3 of the actions 1 to 4, or passes and uses action 5, Catch Your Breath. Then it is the next player's turn.

1. The Submarine - take treasure card(s)
2. The Tavern - take diver cards or any two other cards
3. The Harbor - take a ship card
4. The Research Station - take research card(s)
5. Catch Your Breath - pass and take diver cards

(Note: the German text lists the Harbor as action 2 and the Tavern as action 3 in the detailed sections below; the order of actions 2 and 3 does not matter for play.)

The Diver Cards

For all actions except Catch Your Breath, players must play diver cards from their hand to be able to perform the actions at the various locations of the board.

Attention: At most 3 diver cards may be played per turn.

A player may split the up to 3 diver cards he plays among several locations, but may perform only one action at each location.

Special rule: If a player has no diver card of a certain color in hand, he may play 2 cards of any one other color in place of the one missing card (like a joker). He thus exceptionally plays up to 4 diver cards this turn. This is allowed only once per turn.

Played diver cards are put on a discard pile in the middle of the game board.

The Possible Actions

1. THE SUBMARINE - Take treasure card(s)

Some of Atlantica's treasures the divers find right beneath the water surface. But to recover as many treasures as possible, the daring must dive further into the dark depths. On the treasure card spaces of this location, 6 treasure cards lie in a row and can be collected. Collected treasure cards are laid face up in front of the players until the end of the game.

Dive just beneath the surface Possible if 1 green or 1 yellow diver card is played. The player may then take the treasure card from space 1 of the row and lays it face up in front of him.

Dive somewhat deeper Possible if 1 green or 1 yellow and 1 purple diver card are played. The player may choose 2 treasure cards of his choice from the first 3 spaces of the row.

Dive dangerously deep Possible if 1 green or 1 yellow and 1 purple and 1 white diver card are played. The player may choose 3 treasure cards of his choice from all 6 spaces of the row.

2. THE HARBOR - Take ship cards

New and ever larger ships must be chartered to bring Atlantica's treasures to museums all over the world. For each collected treasure card a wooden crate on a ship card is needed at the end of the game; otherwise the treasure card must be discarded.

Charter a small cargo boat Possible if 1 white or 1 red diver card is played. The player may take the top ship card from the left pile A, the Cargo Boats, and lays it face up in front of him.

Charter a large freighter Possible if 1 white or 1 red and 1 green or 1 blue diver card are played. The player may take the top ship card from the middle pile B, the Freighters. On the Freighters there are often more wooden crates shown than on the Cargo Boats.

Charter a huge transport ship Possible if 1 white or 1 red and 1 green or 1 blue and 1 purple diver card are played. The player may take the top ship card from the right pile C, the Transport Ships. On the Transport Ships there is often even more room for wooden crates than on the Freighters.

Note: Collected treasure cards bring VP at the end of the game only if a wooden crate is available for each card on a Cargo Boat, Freighter or Transport Ship. This does not mean, however, that during the game a player must first provide enough wooden crates on ships before he may take treasure cards. The treasure cards may be distributed among the ship cards as desired during the game and at the end of the game. Treasure cards of the same color need not necessarily be housed on the same ship!

3. THE TAVERN - Take diver cards or 2 cards of your choice

In the Tavern new divers are hired. And whoever buys all the divers in the Tavern a drink not only brings out new rumors... At this location the players receive new diver cards.

Hire a small diver team Possible if 1 yellow or 1 purple or 1 blue diver card is played. The player may draw 3 diver cards from the draw pile and lays them face down in front of him.

Hire a large diver team Possible if 1 yellow or 1 purple or 1 blue and 1 white diver card are played. The player may draw 6 diver cards from the draw pile and lays them face down in front of him.

Buy all the divers a drink Possible if 1 blue or 1 purple or 1 yellow and 1 white and 1 red diver card are played. The player may take 2 cards of his choice from spaces bearing a Tavern symbol. These cards must, however, be from two different locations.

Important: Only at the end of a turn may the drawn diver cards be taken into hand. The number of diver cards in hand is not limited!

4. THE RESEARCH STATION - Take research card(s)

In the central Research Station the leaders of the research teams gain more knowledge about sunken Atlantica and receive useful hints about the locations of the treasures. With research cards, additional victory points can be scored at the end of the game.

Make a chance discovery Possible if 1 blue or 1 red diver card is played. The player may take the research card from space 1 of the row and lays it face up in front of him.

Make a valuable discovery Possible if 1 blue or 1 red and 1 yellow diver card are played. The player may take one research card from any of the 4 spaces of the row.

Make two sensational discoveries Possible if 1 blue or 1 red and 1 yellow and 1 green diver card are played. The player may take two research cards from two of the 4 spaces of the row of his choice.

Note: With research cards additional VP can be scored at the end of the game, in part only in combination with treasure, ship, diver or other research cards. The effects of the individual research cards are explained in more detail after the game instructions. For research cards, no wooden crates on ships are required!

A player may own several identical research cards. Any requirements named on the cards (e.g. collecting certain treasures) need to be fulfilled only once by a player who owns a research card multiple times. He collects multiple VP for it. The other players must therefore watch carefully that a player does not score many VP too easily this way!

Refilling the cards: Only at the end of a player's turn are the treasure and research cards on the game board moved left. Afterwards the vacated spaces are filled with new cards from the draw piles. For treasure cards, cards are first to be laid from the pile that does NOT contain the hurricane card. Only when this pile is used up are cards laid from the Hurricane space.

Likewise only at the end of his turn may a player take into hand the diver cards he took in the Tavern.

5. CATCH YOUR BREATH - Pass and take diver cards from the draw pile

Even the most daredevil divers occasionally need rest and recovery. The player plays no cards but decides to sit out a turn. In return he may draw 5 diver cards from the draw pile and takes them into his hand immediately.

End of the Game and Scoring

An approaching hurricane forces the research teams to hurry. The ships, loaded with Atlantica's precious treasures, must begin their voyage before the hurricane arrives.

If the hurricane card is revealed when refilling the treasure card spaces after a player's turn, this player lays the hurricane card face up in front of him. Now every player has one more turn, including the player with the hurricane card. Cards taken during these turns are refilled as usual. Then scoring follows:

The players receive VP for their collected treasure cards that they can load into wooden crates on ships. To do so, each player first counts the number of his treasure cards and then the number of wooden crates on his ships. If a player has no wooden crate available for a treasure card, he must discard that treasure card; he may however freely choose which treasure card(s) he discards. Treasure cards are worth more VP the more treasure cards of one color a player has collected. After the game instructions it is explained exactly how many VP can be scored with the individual treasure cards.

After the treasure cards for which no wooden crates are available on a ship have been discarded, the players count the VP for their research cards.

As a reminder: For research cards no wooden crates on ships are necessary!

Finally the players add up the VP for their treasure and research cards. The player with the most VP wins. In case of a tie, the player with the most treasure cards wins.

Example of Scoring in a Three-Player Game

Maja scores a total of 40 VP: 10 VP for the 3 pink treasure cards, 15 VP for the 4 yellow treasure cards and 15 VP for the research cards (9 VP for the cards +2, +3, +4, 2 VP for the two ship cards, 4 VP for the 4 collected yellow treasure cards). For the orange and the blue treasure card she receives no VP because she has no wooden crate available on a ship for these two treasures.

Andreas scores a total of 50 VP: 4 VP for the purple treasure card, 13 VP for the 5 blue treasure cards, 16 VP for the 4 red treasure cards, and 17 VP for the research cards (7 VP for the cards +3, +4, 5 VP additionally for the 5 blue treasure cards, 5 VP for the three treasures in different colors).

Christian scores a total of 55 VP: 9 VP for the 2 purple treasure cards, 12 VP for the 3 orange treasure cards, 1 VP for the yellow treasure card, 10 VP for the 3 red treasure cards, 18 VP for the 4 green treasure cards and 5 VP for the 2 pink treasure cards. In addition, Christian has collected treasure cards of more than 3 different colors, for which he receives 5 additional VP for the research card.

Christian wins the game because he has collected the most VP.

Overview of the Treasure and Research Cards and How Many VP They Bring at the End of the Game

The Treasure Cards

The 57 treasure cards stand for Atlantica's varied culture. There are 7 kinds of treasures, between 5 and 12 cards depending on the kind:

Treasure	Cards	VP values
Architecture (Architektur)	12x	1 3 6 12
Pottery shards (Tonscherben)	10x	0 0 10 16
Gold	9x	1 4 9 15
Amphorae (Amphoren)	8x	2 5 10 16
Inscriptions (Inschriften)	7x	0 6 12 20
Statues (Statuen)	6x	3 8 15
Weapons (Waffen)	5x	4 9 16

Each treasure card shows: the number of cards that exist of this kind of treasure, and the victory points (VP) a player receives at the end of the game for the collected cards of a kind of treasure.

Example 1: If a player has 1 pink Amphorae treasure card at the end of the game, he receives 2 VP for it. If he has 2 pink treasure cards, he receives 5, with 3 cards 10 and with 4 a proud 16 VP. If he has even collected 5 pink treasure cards, he receives 16 VP for the first 4 cards and another 2 VP for the 5th pink treasure card.

Example 2: A player has only 1 orange Inscriptions treasure card at the end of the game. Unfortunately that gives 0 VP. Had he collected 2 orange treasure cards, he would get 6 VP.

Example 3: A player has 4 green Statues treasure cards at the end of the game. For 3 cards he receives 15 VP, and for the 4th green treasure card again the first value on the card, which is 3 VP, so 18 VP in total.

VP are of course only awarded at the end of the game if a wooden crate on a ship is available for a treasure card!

Do not forget: With 2, 3 or 4 players, 26, 18 or 9 randomly drawn treasure cards must be removed from the game before the start of the game!

The Research Cards

Card	Copies	Effect
+2	4	This research card is worth 2 VP.
+1 (blue Architecture)	2	The owner of this research card receives 1 additional VP for each collected blue Architecture treasure card, if wooden crates on ships are available for the blue treasures.
+3	4	This research card is worth 3 VP.
+1 (research cards)	2	The owner of this card receives 1 additional VP for every research card he has collected during the game - also for this card itself.
+4	4	This research card is worth 4 VP.
+1 (ship cards)	2	The owner of this research card receives 1 additional VP for each collected ship card.
3 / 7 - 5	2	This research card is worth 5 VP if its owner has collected treasures in at least 3 different colors and also has a wooden crate on a ship available for them.