Isla a la Vista Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Playing the Game
  • Phase 1: The Story
  • Phase 2: The Voyage
  • Phase 3: The Island
  • Easy Mode
  • Expert Mode
  • Sea Wolves Variant

Components

• 1 spyglass (longue-vue)
• 20 observation tokens (jetons d'observation)
• 30 treasure cards (cartes au trésor), double-sided
• 1 treasure island board (plateau île au trésor), double-sided
• 1 game board (plateau de jeu), double-sided
• 1 wooden boat (bateau en bois)
• 3 cardboard sails (voiles en carton)
• 1 cannon (canon)
• 1 die (dé)
• 15 story cards (cartes Histoire), double-sided
• This rulebook (Cette règle du jeu)

In Isla a la Vista, you sail on the same boat and win or lose as a team. After reading the story you find yourself in, you must quickly look at a card. With what you have remembered, you must find the treasure island by looking through the spyglass and spotting the right details. There are many islands in the Caribbean, but only one hides the treasure...

Setup

This is the setup for the normal difficulty level. For the other game modes, see the last section of this rulebook.

1. Place the game board on the table with the side showing 5 spaces facing up.
2. Place the 3 sails on the boat and set the boat on the space of the game board numbered 1.
3. Assemble the cannon (so that it looks like the illustration) and place the die on it. Set it aside.
4. Before the first game, place the stickers on the spyglass (there are two spare stickers). Keep it upright, with the viewing end facing down.
5. Take the observation tokens and remove one that shows a pirate flag with 2 skulls (return it to the box). Shuffle the remaining tokens face down and insert them, without looking at them, into the slots of the spyglass, picture side facing down.
6. Take only the treasure cards with two skulls (normal mode), then shuffle them. Leave them on their coloured side, covered by the treasure island board, next to the game board (as shown in the illustration).

The difficulty level of a card is shown in its bottom right corner: Easy, Normal or Expert.

Playing the Game

Phase 1: The Story

Every adventure has a beginning... Choose a story card and read it aloud to set the scene. Then reveal the first treasure card on the table, look at it for 5 seconds, and cover it again. The boat is ready to sail!

Note: if you are inexperienced sailors, you may look at the card for a few extra seconds.

Phase 2: The Voyage

Starting with the youngest pirate, you take turns in clockwise order. A turn consists simply of picking up the spyglass, looking through it, and saying one of these two phrases:

• "Island in sight!" (Île en vue !) — if you see an element of an island in the spyglass.
• "We are under attack!" (Nous sommes attaqués !) — if you see a pirate flag in the spyglass.

ISLAND IN SIGHT!

In this case, the person holding the spyglass must describe exactly what they see through it, without showing it to the others.

You must now make a team decision:

• If you do not remember that this element was present when you saw the treasure card, remove the observation token from the spyglass and return it to the box face down.
• If you think you saw this element on the card (no matter in which direction), move the boat forward one space, remove the observation token from the spyglass, and place it face down on the space the boat has just left.

Example: Babette Poildru exclaims, after looking through the spyglass: "Island in sight! I can see an erupting volcano."

WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!

In this case, you must fight off the pirates! The person holding the spyglass takes the cannon, loads it with the die, and pushes it with a finger, as shown in the illustration.

Note: when handling the cannon, we recommend placing the spyglass upright with the viewing end facing down.

• If the die shows an "explosion", you make the enemy pirate ship flee. Remove the observation token from the spyglass and return it to the box.
• If the die shows an "X", you have failed! The pirate ship attacks: you must remove one sail from your boat. Then remove the observation token from the spyglass and return it to the box.

WARNING! If your boat has no sails left, you lose the game.

The observation token with the pirate flag showing 2 skulls indicates a very dangerous ship and a longer battle. You must roll the die 3 times and get at least 2 explosions to make it flee.

Then the person holding the spyglass passes it to the next person clockwise, and a new turn begins.

Phase 3: The Island

If you have reached the last space with your boat, that is, if you have placed 5 observation tokens showing elements you believe you saw on the treasure card, you land on the island. You must now check whether this is the island shown on the treasure card!

To do this, reveal the treasure card. Then turn over the observation tokens placed face down on the game board, checking whether each element is actually on the island shown on the revealed card.

• If all the elements are on the island, you have won!
• If one or more elements are not on the island, you have landed on the wrong island and you lose the game!

In the example on the left, the crew believed there was a raft on the island, but there was none. They have landed on the wrong island! These pirates will need to be more careful the next time they find a treasure map...

In the example on the right, our pirates correctly memorised the 5 elements of the island. The treasure awaits them!

Easy Mode

This mode suits the youngest pirates. The rules are exactly the same, but with the following changes to setup:

• Play with the game board on its "3 spaces" side.
• Use the treasure cards with 1 skull at the bottom right, on the coloured side.
• Insert into the spyglass only the 10 observation tokens with a white dot.

Observation tokens without a white dot stay in the box.

Expert Mode

This mode suits experienced pirates. The rules are exactly the same, but with the following changes:

• Play with the game board on its "5 spaces" side.
• Use the cards with 3 skulls at the bottom right, on the coloured side. These cards include disturbing elements on the island.
• Insert all 20 observation tokens of the game into the spyglass.

Sea Wolves Variant

For the most fearless pirates, here is a challenge: play using the uncoloured side of the treasure cards. Can you find the island you are looking for?