Dice of Pirates
Dice of Pirates Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
What's in the Tin
7 Pirate Dice, each with these faces:
- Treasure
- Black Flag
- Pirate Ship
- The Kraken
Tokens & Extras:
- 24 Treasure Tokens
- 10 Plunder Tokens
- 1 Mercenary Ship
Setup
Players: 3-6. Time: 15-30 minutes.
Pick a starting player (for example; the most pirate-like player at the table), and hand them all 7 Pirate Dice and 1 Treasure token to start their active turn. Give all other players 2 Treasure tokens to start the game.
Win the game by holding 7 Plunder tokens on your active turn without holding 3 Kraken.
Players earn Treasure tokens from the sea with Treasure faces, or raid an opponent using Black Flag faces.
Player Turn
Always roll all dice handed to you at the start of your active turn at least once.
Resolve your turn rolls in the order of: Pirate Ship, then Kraken, lastly either Treasure or Black Flag.
Claiming a Treasure token or completing a raid ends the active turn. You may only do one per turn. Pass your dice clockwise at end of turn.
Resolve Ships
When the active player rolls a Pirate Ship, they choose opponent(s) to roll them again. This must be done before Kraken, Treasure or Black Flags may take effect. The opponent(s) must roll each ship with these results:
- Opponent's choice. Return to active player as any face of the die. Opponent earns 1 Plunder token for each die returned as a Treasure face.
- Opponent's choice. Hand the die to any player. It will count on their turn (after) their initial roll and any Kraken faces are resolved.
- Return to the active player who may choose to re-roll it along with all their dice showing the same face, or use them to raid.
- Return to the active player who may choose to re-roll it along with all their dice showing the same face, or leave them as is.
Beware the Kraken
3 or more of these will end an active turn after all ships are resolved, preventing victory or treasure. Roll once even if you start a turn with 3.
Claim Treasure
3 of these may earn 1 Treasure token from the sea, or 6 may earn 2 Treasure tokens. You may re-roll them along with all matching faces if you seek Treasure.
Raid an Opponent
3 or more of these may be used to start a raid on an opponent. You may re-roll them along with all matching faces if you seek Black Flags.
If the active player chooses to start a raid: Set aside all other dice, select an opponent, and roll all Black Flags used to start the raid. Any Pirate Ships change sides allowing the opponent to counter attack. Each player continues to re-roll Black Flags & trade Pirate Ships until all dice faces show Treasure or Kraken, then resolve the raid. Kraken are locked but have no further effect once a raid begins.
Every Treasure face either player holds at end of raid takes 1 Treasure token from their opponent, and either may discard a Plunder token to take Treasure as well.
Examples:
- 2 Treasure vs 1 Treasure: winner takes 1 Treasure token.
- 1 Plunder vs 1 Treasure: is a draw, nothing happens.
Unleash the Kraken
Any player may declare "UNLEASH THE KRAKEN" to invoke the power of a 6 Kraken roll. The effect varies by the 7th face shown.
The active turn still ends but:
- 6 Kraken + Black Flag: Kraken's Might: Active player earns 1 Plunder token.
- 6 Kraken + Treasure: Buried Treasure: Active player earns 1 Treasure token.
- 6 Kraken + Pirate Ship: Hurricane Winds: Distribute 7 Pirate Ship icons & resolve.
- 7 Kraken: Primordial Wrath: Active player loses 1 Treasure token.
The White Rose (Optional)
The White Rose may be hired into the game for the cost of 2 Plunder tokens, ending the turn. You must have already rolled, and show less than 3 Kraken. You cannot raid or claim any Treasure token the same turn as this action.
The White Rose counts as 1 Plunder token and stays with the player until they lose a raid, after which it switches to the winning side.
2 Player Showdown
Give each player 5 Treasure tokens and set the rest aside.
All normal rules apply EXCEPT for the following:
- Treasure tokens earned with 3 or 6 Treasure faces are taken from the Rival.
- During Pirate Ship re-rolls, Kraken are set aside until end of turn.
- Plunder all Rival Treasure tokens to Win the showdown.
Game Play & Victory
If any Pirate is eliminated (0 Treasure tokens), Crown Wins the game.
If the Crown is eliminated (0 Dice of Crowns gold icons), the Pirate with the most Treasure tokens Wins, and is crowned the new pirate King or Queen of the high seas.
Pirates roll first and play as they normally would EXCEPT:
- Pirate Ship faces are always given to other Pirates.
- Kraken returned from Pirate Ship must be given to another Pirate.
- 3 or 6 Treasure faces earn 1 or 2 Treasure tokens as usual but cannot exceed 5 Treasure tokens.
Under the Crown
Requires a copy of Dice of Crowns. Players: 3-6. Time: 30-45 minutes.
Choose a Crown player (such as the last player to win Dice of Crowns), and give them 7 Dice of Crowns gold icons and 2 Dice of Crowns blue icons for each other player. They roll with the Dice of Crowns dice, except when in a Raid.
All other players are Pirates and get 3 Treasure tokens to start the game. Give the Pirate to the left of the Crown player the Dice of Pirates dice. Play proceeds clockwise as normal from the first Pirate, and the two sides play largely as they do in their respective games with a few key differences.
Crown Play & Raids
Note: the Dice of Crowns symbols on this card are small in the source image. The names used here describe their visible appearance; the Dice of Crowns rulebook is not part of this document.
Crown rolls play as in Dice of Crowns EXCEPT:
- 5 or more Dice of Crowns skull faces may initiate Raids using up to available number of Black Flags.
- 3 or 6 Dice of Crowns Crown faces may earn 1 or 2 Dice of Crowns gold icons, but cannot exceed 7 Dice of Crowns gold icons.
- Dice of Crowns Crown faces from the brown Dice of Crowns icon are held by the Pirate until their turn.
- Dice of Crowns Crown faces held by the Crown may be re-rolled in sets like skull faces may be.
Raids work as normal except that Dice of Crowns gold icons or Treasure tokens are removed from play instead of being taken by the opponent, eventually eliminating a side.