Bad Maps Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Game Setup
• Player Setup
• Round Summary
• Land Ho!
• Objective Cards
• Make Maps
• Hunt for Treasure
  • Captains Prepare
  • Minions Follow Their Maps
• Map Cards
• Bumping, Falling, and Returning to the Sea
• End of Round
  • Minion Places
  • Scoring
• Prepare for Round 2
• End of Game
• Advanced Setup
• 2-Player Variant
• Haunted Caves

Overview

We'll plunder everything on the Island… twice!

Each game is played over two rounds. Each round, Captains gain Objective Cards and assign Map Cards to the Minions, trying to achieve their objectives. Minions then follow the instructions on those Map Cards and Captains see who scores.

Game Setup

Bad Maps can be played with a basic setup, giving all players a balanced start and the same abilities. Once players are familiar with the game, the advanced setup introduces variable starting positions and unique Captain abilities. We recommend playing the basic setup the first time through.

1. Place the Island Board in the center of the table with the pits and Minion start spaces facing up.
2. Place the 4 Minion Tokens on their respective start spaces. Point each Minion's arrow in the same direction as the arrow on their start space.
3. Shuffle the Round 1 Objective Cards, setting them to the side to form the Round 1 Deck.
4. Shuffle the Round 2 Objective Cards, setting them to the side to form the Round 2 Deck (used later).
5. Shuffle the Blackout Cards, setting them to the side to form the Blackout Deck.
6. Set aside the 4 Minion Starting Space Tokens (they are only used in the advanced setup), First Mate Token and Pit Tokens (introduced later).

Objective cards with 4+ and 5 player icons are only used in 4 and 5-player games, respectively.

When playing with three or more players, only use the Blackout Cards 3+ Player icon in the corner.

Player Setup

Each player:

1. Selects a Captain and places their Captain Board with the basic side facing up.
2. Takes all 9 Maps Cards that match their chosen Captain.
   • Note: Each Captain has the same set of Map Cards.
3. Takes a Spyglass Token, keeping it face-up. This can be used once per round on the player's turn to use a Captain Ability on their board.

Randomly determine a start player, giving them the Start Player Token. One suggestion is selecting whoever most recently got lost finding a new place.

Note: See Page 7 for Advanced Setup.

Round Summary

LAND HO!

1. Reveal a new Blackout Card.
2. Give each player 4 Objective Cards from the current round's Objective Deck. Captains each choose and discard 1 card face-down.

MAKE MAPS

3. Beginning with the Start Player, players assign Map Cards to the leftmost open Map Slots for any Minion (obeying the Blackout Card's restrictions). Place the First Mate Token next to the first Minion to receive a Map Card.
4. Once all Map Slots are filled, players choose and discard another Objective Card face-down.

HUNT FOR TREASURE

5. Beginning with the First Mate Minion, reveal and perform the Map Card instructions for the leftmost slot for each minion (clockwise), then continue to the next slot and so on.
6. Determine Minion places (1st, 2nd, or last place). Players reveal and keep Objective Cards that were successful, discarding others face-down.

END OF ROUND

• Round 1: Minions dig pits and return to their start space.
• Round 2: Round 2 continues, drawing Objective Cards from the Round 2 Objective Deck.

The highest-scoring Captain is the winner!

Land Ho!

Find the treasure… or don't?

Reveal the top card of the Blackout Deck. This determines which Map Slots require Map Cards to be placed face-up (light spaces) or face-down (dark spaces). This applies to each Minion's Map Slots individually.

Captains may not look at face-down Map Cards belonging to other Captains.

Give 4 Objective Cards to each Captain, drawn from the Round 1 Objective Deck in Round 1, or from the Round 2 Deck in Round 2.

Each Captain looks at their Objective Cards and chooses 1 to discard face-down, keeping the other 3 secret from other Captains.

• Note: By the end of the round, players will only have 2 Objective cards to potentially score. Players should KEEP THE CARDS they think MOST likely to be successful.
• Note: Players may each only score one Objective card per Minion each round.

Once all players have discarded an Objective Card, proceed to the MAKE MAPS phase.

Objective Cards

Objective Cards indicate how many points will be earned for a Captain if the indicated Minion ends the round in the place specified.

Make Maps

Players take turns assigning Map Cards to Minions' Map Slots, obeying the restrictions shown on the current Blackout Card.

Beginning with the Start Player, each player can perform the following actions, in any order:

• Place 1 Map Card (mandatory)
• Use a Captain Ability (optional)

Place 1 Map Card on the leftmost open Slot for any Minion. This card is placed face-up or face-down according to the current Blackout Card. This action is mandatory.

If this is the first Map Card assigned for the round, place the First Mate Token near the Slots for the Minion whose slot was just filled. This is now the First Mate Minion and will be the first to follow instructions during the HUNT FOR TREASURE phase.

Use a Captain Ability listed on their Captain board. This can only be done if a player has a face-up Spyglass Token. When using a Captain Ability, the player flips their Spyglass Token face-down to its used side. This action is optional.

When playing with the basic setup, each player has the same Captain Ability which allows the player to privately look at any face-down Map Card. With the advanced setup, each Captain has a unique ability. Some of these abilities do not require a Spyglass Token and will indicate when they automatically happen.

Note: Players begin the game with a single Spyglass Token, but may gain an additional Token before Round 2 (giving that player an opportunity to use a Captain ability during 2 different turns).

Play continues with the next player in clockwise order. Once all Map Slots have a card assigned, continue to the HUNT FOR TREASURE phase.

Note: Players may play on any Map Slot for any Minions. Players do not own or control any Minions, and multiple players may score Objectives for the same Minion.

Hunt for Treasure

Captains Prepare

Each Captain chooses and discards another Objective Card face-down. Each Captain should now have 2 Objective Cards remaining.

Minions Follow Their Maps

Beginning with the First Mate Minion and continuing clockwise around the Island Board, each Minion reveals the Map Card in their first Map Slot and performs the instructions on it. Continue with each Minion's second Map Slot, and so on.

Beginning with the First Mate Minion:

1. Reveal the Map Card in this Minion's first Slot (if it's face-down).
2. Move or Face this Minion's Token as indicated by the instructions on this Map Card. See the MAP CARDS section on page 5 for details on what happens as a result of these instructions.
3. Move the Map Card slightly off the Board to indicate that this card's instructions have been completed.
4. Continuing with the next Minion clockwise around the Island, repeat steps 1-4 until each Minion performs the instructions indicated on the Map Card in their first Map Slot.

Beginning again with the First Mate Minion, repeat steps 1-4 for each Map Slot until all Map Card instructions have been performed.

Continue to the END OF ROUND phase.

Map Cards

There are two types of Map Cards: Movement Cards and Facing Cards. Each Captain has the same set of Map Cards.

The back of each Map Card shows its type, giving a hint to which instruction it is when placed face-down.

Movement Cards: These cards instruct a Minion to move forward by 1, 2 or 3 spaces or backward by 1 or 2 spaces. The Minion moves in the direction it is facing for forward-movement cards and in the opposite direction for backward-movement cards. Most of the time, a Movement Card causes a Minion to move into an empty space and nothing special happens.

For other cases, see the BUMPING, FALLING, AND RETURNING TO THE SEA section.

Facing Cards: These cards instruct a Minion to face in a particular compass direction while staying in the same space. The four compass directions (N, S, E, W) can be found on the Island Board.

• Note: If a Minion is already facing the direction indicated, nothing happens.

Bumping, Falling, and Returning to the Sea

But it does say to go that way...

• If a Minion would ever move into a pit or into the sea, that Minion is instead returned to their start space (facing their starting direction) and their movement stops.
  • Note: Minions who end the round on their start space are disqualified. Captains will not score Objective cards for these Minions.
• If a Minion would ever move into a dirt wall (the solid edge of a pit), that Minion's movement stops immediately.
• If a Minion would ever move into a space containing another Minion, this Minion (the victim) is shoved in the direction of the moving Minion. This may in turn cause the victim Minion to fall into a pit or into the sea; if so, they'll return to their start space as normal. If the victim is shoved into a wall, movement stops for all Minions.
• Rarely, a minion will return to their start space when another Minion (the victim) is currently on that space. In this case, the returning Minion shoves the victim in the direction the returning Minion is facing. If the victim isn't movable, return the victim to their starting space.

End of Round

Captains score Victory Points based on the Objectives that were met on their remaining two Objective Cards.

Determine the place each Minion achieved based on their distance from the X.

Distance is determined by counting the smallest number of spaces without pits the Minion would have to travel through to reach the X. The Minion's direction does not matter for counting these spaces.

Any Minion ending on their own start space is disqualified. A Minion ending on another Minion's Start Space is not disqualified. Captains do not score Objective Cards for disqualified Minions.

Minion Places

• 1st Place: Minion(s) closest to the X. A Minion ending on the X is in 1st Place; Great job!
• 2nd Place: Minion(s) next closest to the X.
• Last Place: Minion(s) furthest from the X.
• Ties: All ties are friendly — if multiple minions are the same distance from the X, they share the same place (First, Second or Last Place). If tied for 1st Place, tied Minions are considered to only be in 1st Place — these Minion are not considered to be in 2nd place.

Note: It is possible for a Minion to be in First (or Second) Place and in last place simultaneously.

Note: Minions will never share a space on the Island.

Scoring

Captains score Objective Cards for each Minion that achieved the Objective listed. Each player keeps these scored cards face-up near their Captain Board. They're worth Victory Points equal to the number in the coin icon on the card. Discard any Objective Cards that did not score from this round face-down.

Each Captain may only score one Objective Card per Minion each round (i.e., "Red Minion gets 1st Place" and "Red Minion gets 1st or 2nd Place" cannot both score for a single player during a single round).

Multiple players may score Objectives for the same Minion, including the exact same Objective for any given Minion.

If this is the end of Round 1, perform the following steps to prepare for the next round. If this is the end of Round 2, instead proceed to the End of Game phase.

Prepare for Round 2

Minions each dig a pit when looking for the treasure.

1. Place a Pit Token on the space where the Minion ended (under their token), facing the dirt wall in the opposite direction the Minion is facing. Do not place a pit under a Minion that ended on the X or any start space.
2. Return each Minion Token to their starting space, facing in their starting direction.
3. Remove the First Mate Token from the Island Board.
4. Return all Map Cards to their respective Captains.
5. Flip over any used Spyglass Tokens to be face-up.
6. Give 1 additional Spyglass Token to the player(s) with the fewest points. They will be able to use their Captain Ability twice during the round (still only once per turn, during their turn).
7. Give the Start Player Token to the player with the fewest points. Ties are broken clockwise from the Round 1 Start Player. This player will be the Start Player during Round 2.
8. Start Round 2, beginning with the LAND HO! phase. During this round, the Objectives Cards are worth more points, but the Island is more treacherous with more pits.

End of Game

Captains add up Victory Points earned from all their scored Objective Cards. The highest-scoring Captain is the winner!

Ties are broken by the player with the highest number of scored Objective Cards, then by the player with the most points scored in Round 2, then by players who did not use their Spyglass Token, and finally by player order in the Round 2.

Advanced Setup

Once players are familiar with the game, they can use the advanced setup to give more variability between games.

During SETUP, place the Island Board showing the side without pits or Minion start spaces.

Randomly determine the position and direction of each of the 4 Minion start spaces and 4 starting pits in each Minion's "corner" of the Island Board, avoiding the shaded spaces shown below.

One suggestion is to divide the Minion Start Tokens and 4 pits evenly among all players to place as they would like (1 of each per "corner" of the Island).

Players each play with the advanced side of their Captain Board, giving each player a unique Captain Ability.

2-Player Variant

SETUP

• Only use the Blackout Cards that have the 2-Player icon in the lower-right corner to form the Blackout Deck.
• Before the MAKE MAPS phase — Using one of the unused Captain's Map Cards, assign a random card of the type indicated on the Blackout Card face-up in the respective slots for each Minion.
  • Note: These instructions will be performed as normal during the Hunt for treasure phase.

MAKE MAPS

• Each Captain assigns two Map Cards to two different Minions (if possible).
• Captains still fill in the leftmost open Map Slot for a Minion.
• If there are not enough open Map Slots for a Captain to assign Map Cards to two different Minions, assign them both to a single Minion.

Haunted Caves

As part of advanced setup, players may optionally play with the Haunted Caves expansion.

SETUP

• Along with other start tokens, randomly determine the position of both Caves, placing them in opposite "corners".
• Give each player a Ghost Pirate token.

CAVE TOKENS

• When a Movement Card would have a Minion enter a Cave, instead move that Minion to the other Cave (facing the same direction). Continue their movement, if needed. A minion already on the Cave exit is bumped as normal.
• When a Minion enters a Cave with another Minion (the victim) on it, the victim is bumped to the other Cave exit in the direction of the moving Minion.

GHOST PIRATE TOKENS

• When assigning a Movement Card to a Map Slot, a player may place a Ghost Pirate token on that card.
• When performing the instruction for this Movement Card, the Minion will move through any obstacle (Pit, Cave or other Minion) as long as their final space is not another Minion. Ending on a Pit or Cave token functions as normal.
• Give each player a Ghost Pirate token when preparing for Round 2.