Dead Man's Draw Rulebook

Table of Contents

Contents
Set Up
Gameplay
- Draw a Card
- Draw if you Dare!
Gameplay Continued
Suit Abilities
- Anchor
- Hook
- Cannon
- Key & Chest
- Map
- Oracle
- Sword
- Kraken
- Mermaid
Traits
Mermaid Variant Rules
Pirate Party Game Variant
A Note From Mayday Games
Credits

1 Rulebook
60 Loot Cards: Loot Cards are divided into ten different suits. Each suit has six cards with a value of 2-7, except the Mermaids which range 4-9 in value.
17 Trait Cards: Traits are special powers that give each player a unique ability that can be used over the course of the entire game (see Traits).
6 Game Variant Cards: Used to modify play or change how players win the game.
4 Gameplay Cards
4 Suit Ability Reference Cards
3 Mermaid Variant Cards: Identified with a chest icon on the bottom of each Mermaid Variant Card.

Set Up

The Main Area in the center consists of three parts:
1. To form the Discard Pile, remove the Loot Cards with the lowest number from each suit. (Nine Loot Cards with the value of 2, and one Mermaid card with the value of 4.) Shuffle these ten Loot Cards together. Place the Discard Pile face up on one side of the Main Area.
2. To form the Draw Pile take the remaining fifty Loot Cards and shuffle them. Place this deck face down on the opposite side of the Main Area.
3. The Play Area is the empty area between the Draw Pile and Discard Pile where Loot Cards are drawn and played. Leave enough room here for ten cards to be played in a row.
The Banks are the areas directly in front of each player. Each player's Bank should be large enough to fit ten stacks of cards, called Suit Stacks (one stack for each of the ten suits). This is where a player's collected loot is placed each turn.
Shuffle the Gameplay Cards (one card per player always including the "Starting Player" card). Deal one card to each player to determine the starting player. These cards also serve as player aids.

Gameplay

On your turn, choose to:

DRAW A CARD from the Draw Pile. If the drawn card is the same suit of any card in the play area it is a BUST! Your turn is over and all cards in the Play Area go to Discard Pile. If the drawn card is not the same suit of any card in the Play Area, place the drawn card in the Play Area and activate it's Suit Ability.

COLLECT THE LOOT! Take all the cards from the Play Area and place them in your Bank.

Draw a Card

On your turn draw the top card from the Draw Pile and place it face up in the Play Area.

The Most Important Rule: Any time a card is placed in the Play Area, whether from the Draw Pile, Discard Pile or any player's Bank, you MUST activate the Suit Ability. The only exceptions are the Key & Chest cards whose Suit Abilities only activate when both are collected.

Draw if you Dare!

You may now choose to continue drawing cards. If the card just drawn is NOT from the same suit as any other card in the Play Area, add it to the Play Area and activate its Suit Ability. However, if the suit of the card just drawn is same as any other card in the Play Area, you Bust! When you Bust, all cards in the Play Area are immediately placed in the Discard Pile (including the card that caused the Bust). You DO NOT activate the suit ability of the card that caused the Bust. You DO NOT score ANY points if you Bust, and your turn is over. You continue drawing cards until you either Bust or choose to stop drawing cards and Collect.

Gameplay Continued

Collect, Bank

Instead of drawing another card you may Collect. When you Collect, move all the cards from the Play Area to your Bank. Organize the cards in your Bank by suit, creating one Suit Stack for each of the ten suits. Cards in each Suit Stack should be placed in descending order (7 on the top down to 2 on the bottom). Your Suit Stacks must be able to be seen by all players, and the cards in each Suit Stack are public knowledge.

End of Turn

A player's turn ends after he or she either Busts or Collects. Play then proceeds to the left.

Game End

The game ends after the turn in which the last card is drawn from the Draw Pile. The player who draws the last card gets to finish his or her turn as normal, either by Busting or Collecting. Players may count the number of cards remaining in the Draw Pile at any time.

Determining Winner

You only score the most valuable card of each suit. Players each add the value of the top card of each Suit Stack in their Banks to determine their scores. The player with the highest score is the winner.

Tie

If there is a tie, the tied players count the number of cards in their Banks. The tied player with the most cards in the Bank wins the game. If there is a tie after that, both players share the victory.

Suit Abilities

Anchor

Collect all cards drawn before the Anchor, even if you Bust.

Example: Eliza has two cards in the Play Area, a Mermaid and a Cannon. She draws an Anchor, then draws another Mermaid and gets a Bust. The first Mermaid and the Cannon are moved to her Bank. The Anchor and second Mermaid are discarded.

Hook

Choose the top card from any Suit Stack in your Bank and place it into the Play Area. You MUST play a card from one of your Suit Stacks even if the only available card will cause a Bust. If your turn ends in a Bust, you will not recover your card that was moved to the Play Area by the Hook. It is discarded with the rest of the cards. If you do not have any cards in your Bank, this Suit Ability is nullified.

Cannon

Place the top card of a Suit Stack from any other player's Bank into the Discard Pile. If there are not any cards in any opponent's Bank, this Suit Ability is nullified.

Key & Chest

If there is a Key & Chest in the Play Area when you Collect, draw as many bonus cards from the Discard Pile as you moved into your Bank.

Example: Zach chooses Collect and he has five cards in the Play Area. Two of them are a Key & Chest. After he moves five cards from the Play Area into his Bank, Zach shuffles the Discard Pile and adds five more bonus cards to his Bank.

Map

Shuffle the Discard Pile and reveal three cards from the Discard Pile. You must place one card in the Play Area, even if this causes a Bust. If there are no cards in the Discard Pile when the Map is drawn, the ability is nullified. If there are less than three cards, draw the remaining cards.

Oracle

Reveals the next card on top of the Draw Pile.

Example: Eliza places an Oracle into the Play Area and flips over the top card of the Draw Pile. She may decide to place the revealed card into the Play Area, or flip the card back over and leave it on top of the Draw Pile, choosing to Collect instead. If the Oracle is the last card in the Draw Pile, the ability is nullified.

Sword

Steal the top card from any other player's Suit Stack and place the stolen card in the Play Area. You must choose a Suit Stack of an opponent that you do not have in your own Bank, even if the chosen card will cause you to Bust.

Example: Zach draws a Sword. Zach has Anchor, Hook, and Cannon Suit Stacks in his Bank. Zach cannot select an Anchor, Hook, or Cannon from Eliza's Suit Stacks.

Kraken

Forces you to place two additional cards in the Play Area before you can Collect. You will draw two cards from the Draw Pile, unless the first card drawn is a Hook, Sword or Map. Any of those three Suit Abilities adds an additional card to the Play Area. Both scenarios fulfill the Kraken, since at least two additional cards were added to the Play Area.

Mermaid

This suit does not have an activated Suit Ability, but card values range from 4-9, rather than 2-7.

Traits

Traits add a powerful special ability to each player and remain active the entire game. All Traits must be activated if possible. At the start of the game, shuffle and deal each player two Trait cards. Players choose one Trait card to keep and discards the second back to the game box. Players then reveal their chosen Trait card to the other players.

Golden Scales, Mermaid

Mermaids are worth an extra five points.

Casanova, Mermaid

Mermaids are Banked as soon as you draw a Mermaid from the Draw Pile. If you have a Kraken in play and you draw a Mermaid, it does not count towards the Kraken because the Mermaid is Banked before it is placed in the Play Area.

Plunderer, Key & Chest

Bonus cards are randomly drawn from one opponent's Bank instead of the Discard Pile. Shuffle all the cards in your opponents Bank before you take your bonus cards. You cannot split this between two or more players. If there are fewer cards in the chosen opponent's Bank than your bonus, take all the cards from his or her Bank. Do not take the difference from the Discard Pile.

Treasure Hunter, Key & Chest

Double the amount of bonus cards from the Discard Pile when you Collect a Key & Chest.

Navigator, Map

Instead of picking one of three random cards from the Discard Pile, you may pick any one card from the entire Discard Pile.

Master Gunner, Cannons

Discard the entire Suit Stack instead of just the top card.

Scavenger, Cannon

Place the card discarded by your Cannon into your Bank instead of the Discard Pile.

Mystic, Oracle

Reveal three cards instead of one. You may not change the order of the cards revealed.

Swordsman, Sword

Steal the top card from an opponent's Suit Stack, even if you have that Suit Stack in your Bank.

Miser, Hook

When you place a Hook in the Play Area, the Hook and the card it adds are protected from a Bust.

Example: Eliza has a Cannon in the Play Area, and subsequently draws a Hook and adds a Mermaid. Next she draws a Cannon which causes a Bust. Eliza adds the Hook and Mermaid to her Bank, but the two Cannons are discarded as normal.

Captain's Hook, Hook

Must play two cards from your Bank instead of one.

Safe Harbor, Anchor

The Anchor card and the next two cards after the Anchor are protected from a Bust. If you cause a bust one or two cards after the Anchor, you do not collect the card that caused the Bust (because the card that caused the Bust does not enter the Play Area).

Fisherman, Kraken

Krakens are Banked as soon as you draw a Kraken from the Draw Pile.

Beastmaster, Kraken

All opponents must add four cards instead of two when the Kraken is drawn.

Misfire, Cannon

Each opponent that draws a Cannon must place the top card of a Suit Stack from his or her own Bank into the Discard Pile.

Parry, Sword

Opponent's Sword must steal a Kraken. If there is not a Kraken to steal, discard the Sword without any effect.

Davy Jones' Locker

Choose only one opponent in a game. Bank their cards when they Bust.

Mermaid Variant Rules

To play Dead Man's Draw with the Mermaid Suit Ability, remove the 8 and 9 value Mermaid cards from the Loot Cards. Add the 2 and 3 value Mermaid cards to the Loot Cards. Add the Siren Trait card to the rest of the Trait cards. Set Up is the same as the original game. Play is the same except the Mermaid suit now has a Suit Ability.

Mermaid Suit Ability

Replay a card in the Play Area. When you place a Mermaid into the Play Area, select a previous played card in the Play Area, move it to the right of the Mermaid, and activate the chosen card's Suit Ability.

Example: Eliza draws a Mermaid and activates the Mermaid's Suit Ability. There is an Anchor and a Cannon in the Play Area; therefore, Eliza can choose either card. She opts for the Cannon. Eliza moves the Cannon card to the right of the Mermaid, activates the Cannon's Suit Ability, and discards one of her opponent's cards from his/her Bank. If Eliza chose the Anchor instead of the Cannon, she would move the Anchor to the right of the Mermaid, which would now protect the Mermaid and the Cannon from a Bust.

Siren Trait, Mermaid

When your opponent draws a Mermaid, you immediately Bank the card selected by the Mermaid Suit Ability. The Siren Trait activates before the selected card's Suit Ability activates.

Example: Zach has selected the Siren Trait card. Eliza draws a Mermaid and picks a Sword. Zach immediately places the Sword in his Bank and Eliza does not get to activate the Sword's Suit Ability.

The Casanova Trait is changed while playing with the Mermaid Suit Ability.

Casanova Trait, Mermaid: When you add a Mermaid to the Play Area, immediately Bank the card selected by the Mermaid Suit Ability. Therefore, you do not activate the Mermaid Suit Ability because it was placed into the Bank, not the Play Area.

Anchors

If either the Siren or Casanova Trait collects an Anchor, the cards that the Anchor protected from a Bust are still protected from a Bust after the Hook is Banked.

Pirate Party Game Variant

Dead Man's Draw is a tense push your luck game for 2-4 players. If you would like to play with 5-8 players, combine an additional copy of Dead Man's Draw and shuffle the two games together. At the beginning of the game you will have 20 cards in the Discard Pile and 100 cards in the Draw Pile. Mix all the Trait Cards together, but still give just two Trait Cards to each player. Play resumes as normal.

A Note From Mayday Games

Mayday Games worked very closely with Stardock Entertainment to capture the original tabletop card game. Players familiar with the digital versions will notice some slight differences in game play. In the physical version of Dead Man's Draw, players may cause a Bust from the actions taken when playing a Map, Sword or Hook Suit Ability.

At MaydayGames.com, find official Stardock Entertainment variants used in the digital versions of Dead Man's Draw.

http://maydaygames.com/dead-mans-draw.html www.deadmansdrawgame.com

Credits

Producer: Ryan Bruns
Game Design: Derek Paxton, Leo Li, Chris Bray
Illustrator: Leo Li
Graphic Design: Allison Litchfield, Benjamin Shulman
Rulebook: Daniel Peterson, Paula Hiatt
Mayday Games Play Testing: Adam Drew, London Malmrose, Daniel Benson, Jordon Field, Seth Hiatt, and Leo Wild.