Pirates of the Spanish Main: Shuffling the Deck
Pirates of the Spanish Main: Shuffling the Deck Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 58 Adventure cards (with a glory mark on the back)
- 9 Ship cards (with an intact and a damaged side; 3 ships of each nationality: English, Spanish and Dutch)
- 9 Pirate cards (which correspond to the ship cards)
- 24 Movement cards
- 9 Cargo Hold cards
Setup
Take the 9 cargo hold cards, fold the bottom neatly and lay them out on the table.
Shuffle the ship cards and place them at random on top of the cargo hold cards, intact side up. This is called the ship row. The leftmost ship is on space 9 (the end of the row) and the rightmost ship is on space 1 (the front of the row).
Shuffle the adventure cards and place one face up to the right of the ship row. This is the active adventure card. Place the remaining adventure cards in a face-down pile to the right of this card.
Shuffle the pirate cards and deal each player 2 face down (in a two-player game, deal each player 3). These cards show players which ships they own and must be kept secret. Unused pirate cards are removed from the game without being looked at.
Shuffle the movement cards and place 3 of them face up in a row above the ship row. Place the remaining movement cards in a face-down pile to the right of them.
The first player is chosen at random.
Setup diagram (left to right): movement cards (face up), movement draw pile and discard; ship row, spaces 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1; then the active adventure card, the adventure pile and the adventure discard.
Playing the Game
On their turn a player must do one of the following:
- Play a movement card
- Repair ships
- Accuse a player
- Pass
After that, the player resolves the active adventure card.
When the turn ends, play passes clockwise to the next player.
1. Play a Movement Card
The player chooses 1 of the face-up movement cards. Following the card's instructions, the player rearranges the ship row accordingly. Below is a description of each movement card.
- Full Speed Ahead! The player chooses any ship and moves it 6 spaces forward. (x2)
- Lost at Sea The player chooses any ship and moves it 6 spaces back. (x3)
- Temporary Alliance The player chooses any 2 adjacent ship cards and moves both of them 3 spaces forward. The ships move as a group, not one by one. (x4)
- Caught in a Rip The player chooses any 2 adjacent ship cards and moves both of them 3 spaces back. The ships move as a group, not one by one. (x3)
- English/Spanish/Dutch Advance The player moves all 3 ships with the English/Spanish/Dutch flag 2 spaces forward in a row. The ships move one at a time, starting with the furthest ship. (1 of each)
- English/Spanish/Dutch Retreat The player moves all 3 ships with the English/Spanish/Dutch flag 2 spaces back in a row. The ships move one at a time, starting with the furthest ship. (1 of each)
- Sabotage! The player chooses any 1 intact ship and turns it to its damaged side. (x5)
- There Be Fog Ahead! If this card is played, the current adventure card is not resolved at the end of the player's turn. The adventure card is simply discarded and the player's turn ends. (x1)
General Rules for Movement Cards
A player may move any ships, whether or not they belong to him and whether or not they are damaged.
Ships must always move the full number of spaces shown on the movement card. If a ship cannot move fully because it is too close to either end of the row, it moves as far as it can.
When any ship moves, all glory cards under it move with it. Use the cargo hold cards to easily pick up and move all the cards associated with a ship.
The easiest way to move ship cards is to slide them down out of the row, adjust the rest of the row, and then slide the ship cards back into their new positions.
After a movement card is played, it is placed face up in the discard pile next to the movement draw pile. Then a new movement card is drawn and placed face up to replace it. If the draw pile has run out, the discard pile is shuffled to form a new draw pile.
2. Repair Ships
The player repairs all damaged ships in the row. He turns each ship card showing its damaged side to its intact side.
3. Accuse a Player
The player accuses another player of being a specific pirate. He announces this to all players. Example: the active player accuses by announcing, "I say that Adam is Captain Blackheart!"
If the accusation is correct, the accused player must show the corresponding pirate card. It stays face up on the table until the end of the game. Then the accusing player takes half of the glory (rounded up) from that pirate's ship card. He now owns this glory and places it in front of himself until final scoring at the end of the game. This glory cannot be lost. Example: the accusation in the example above was correct, so Adam shows his Captain Blackheart pirate card. There are currently 5 glory under the Captain Blackheart ship card, so the accusing player takes 3 of those cards and places them in front of himself.
If the accusation is incorrect, the accused player simply states that he is not the pirate in question. The accusing player cannot take another action. (Of course, if at the end of the game it turns out that a player lied about his ships, he has broken the pirate code and cannot win!)
If it has been revealed that a player is a specific pirate, no player may accuse anyone of being that pirate. Therefore no glory under that ship can be stolen until the end of the game. This makes the timing of accusations an important part of winning!
A player may accuse someone of being a pirate that he himself actually is, although this is especially sneaky!
4. Pass
The player simply announces that he passes.
If he wishes, he may discard 1 of the movement cards and replace it with a card from the draw pile.
Resolving the Active Adventure Card
After the player takes his action, the active adventure card is resolved. (The only exception is if the movement card "There Be Fog Ahead!" was played.) Each adventure card affects the ships differently:
- Ancient Relics / Native Alliance Ships at positions 3, 2 and 1 gain 1 glory if they are not damaged. (2 of each)
- Island Discovery / Parley Ships at positions 4, 3, 2 and 1 gain 1 glory each if they are not damaged. (2 of each)
- Neptune's Favor Ships at positions 5, 3 and 1 gain 1 glory if they are not damaged. (x4)
- Treasure Map The first 3 intact ships in the row gain 1 glory. (x6)
- Legendary Treasure The first 2 intact ships in the row gain 2 glory. (x2)
- Mermaids Ships at positions 6, 4 and 2 gain 1 glory if they are not damaged. (x4)
- Secret Charts The first 2 intact ships in the row gain 1 glory. (x3)
- Cursed Treasure The first intact ship in the row gains 2 glory and becomes damaged. (x2)
- Storm Ahead The last two intact ships become damaged. (x2)
- Maelstrom The last (furthest) intact ship in the row becomes damaged. (x5)
- Ghost Ship Ships at positions 9, 8 and 7 lose 1 glory each. The glory is discarded face up. (x2)
- Volcano The first intact ship in the row becomes damaged. (x2)
General Rules for Adventure Cards
A damaged ship can never gain glory. However, it can lose glory.
If an adventure affects the first/last 1, 2 or 3 undamaged ships, all damaged ships are ignored. Example: the active adventure card awards glory to the first 3 intact ships. The ships at positions 1 and 3 are damaged. Therefore glory is awarded to the ships at positions 2, 4 and 5.
If an adventure card awards glory to a specific position but the ship at that position is damaged, it does not gain glory, and that glory is not awarded to any other ship.
If an adventure card damages an already damaged ship, nothing happens to it.
Earning Glory
Glory is represented by adventure cards placed under a ship. These cards are placed face down (glory side up). The face of the adventure card has no effect when the card is used as glory.
If only 1 glory is awarded in a turn, take the active adventure card and place it under the corresponding ship, glory side up.
If more than 1 glory is awarded, take adventure cards from the top of the adventure deck to use as glory. Then use the active adventure card for the last glory gained.
In the advanced game, players may decide before the game to also use any discarded adventure cards to gain glory. When resolving the last adventure in the game, if there are not enough adventure cards for glory, glory is still awarded to the pirates in the final scoring.
Players may check at any time how much glory is under any ship. This is open information.
End of the Game
The game ends when the next adventure card must be drawn but the deck is empty.
Players reveal their identities by placing their unrevealed pirate cards face up on the table. Then each player takes all the glory from under the ship cards he owns. This is added to the glory he collected in front of himself during the game. Glory collected by ships that no one owns is ignored. The player with the most glory wins the game!
In case of a tie, the player who owns the most undamaged ships wins.
If players are still tied, the player with the furthest ship in the row wins.
Advanced Rules
For older or more experienced players, try adding one or both of these rules to your game:
Upcoming Adventures
During setup, instead of placing 1 adventure card to the right of the ship row, place a row of cards equal to the number of players. The leftmost of them is the active adventure card. At the end of each turn a new adventure card is added to the end of the row and the others shift left. Again, the leftmost card becomes the active adventure card. This lets players see several adventure cards ahead for planning. Near the end of the game there will be fewer adventure cards than at the start, as the game is coming to an end.
Movement Cards in Hand
During setup, instead of placing 3 movement cards on the table, deal each player 3 cards in a 3-4 player game and 4 cards in a 2-player game. Players keep these cards secret in their hands throughout the game. When a player takes the play a movement card action, he chooses 1 card from his hand. After use it is discarded and the player draws a new card from the deck. When a player accuses another player, he must discard a card from his hand, so that his hand size decreases by 1 (whether or not the accusation was successful). They cannot accuse other players when their hand size is 1. If the movement deck is exhausted, the discard pile is shuffled to form a new deck. When a player takes the pass action, he may discard 1 movement card from his hand and then draw a new one.
Symbol Examples
- Gain 1 glory; the ship must be at a specific place in the row and not damaged.
- Lose glory.
- Glory is awarded to intact ships in the order shown, regardless of their actual positions in the ship row. The arrow may also be used for other effects; see the card for details.
- The ship is damaged (turned to its damaged side). An already damaged ship cannot be damaged.
- The first intact ship in the row gains 2 glory, and the ship is now damaged.
- Reveal the player who controls this pirate.
Reference
On his turn a player must do 1 of the following:
- Play a movement card
- Repair ships
- Accuse a player
- Pass
After that, the player resolves the active adventure card.
When the turn ends, play passes clockwise to the next player.