Rainbow Pirates
Rainbow Pirates Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Card Types
COLOR Cards
These cards have one COLOR: RED, ORANGE, YELLOW, GREEN, BLUE, PURPLE, PINK, and JOKER (wild). These cards are used to assemble rainbows (numerical sequence) or groups of three or more identical cards (set) on your island to earn Treasure Points. COLOR cards can also block pirate attacks. JOKER cards can be used in place of any COLOR card on your island, but cannot be used to block pirate attacks. The colors are numbered 1 to 7 in rainbow order: 1 red, 2 orange, 3 yellow, 4 green, 5 blue, 6 purple, 7 pink.
BLACK Cards
BLACK cards represent a band of villainous pirates and their equipment, ready to attack, plunder and commit all sorts of vile deeds. You can play BLACK cards as actions, or place them on your island in groups of three or more to earn Treasure Points.
RAINBOW PIRATE Cards
RAINBOW pirates are magical pirates who live on your island in a state of absolute serenity. You can place them on your island, one by one. It is the card in the game that is worth the most. If you draw a RAINBOW PIRATE card, place it on your island on your next turn.
Setup
- Shuffle the deck of cards.
- Deal 7 cards to each player, face down.
- Form a face-down draw pile with the remaining cards. Place it in the middle of the table. Then turn over the two top cards of the draw pile.
- Play "Rock, Paper, Scissors" to determine the first player.
Setup layout: each player has an island (in front of them), where they place their cards to earn Treasure Points. In the middle are the draw pile, the discard pile (next to it) and the two turned-over cards beside the draw pile. The example shows a two-player setup; adapt it to the number of players.
Game Overview
GOAL OF THE GAME: The person with the most Treasure Points at the end of the game wins!
You earn Treasure Points by placing cards on your island and by going out (if possible). You can also make your opponents lose Treasure Points by attacking them with BLACK cards!
In Rainbow Pirates, each player takes a turn in turn order. During your turn, you may perform one, two or all three of the actions described below, in the order of your choice:
- Place cards on your island to earn Treasure Points.
- Rearrange the cards on your island, or take them back into hand.
- Play BLACK cards to attack your opponents or grant yourself advantages.
Once you have done all the actions you wanted to do, end your turn by drawing either the two turned-over cards beside the draw pile, or the two top cards of the draw pile (you cannot choose one of each). Play then passes to the player seated to your left. The game continues until someone goes out or until there are no more cards in the draw pile (see the section Winning the Game).
During Your Turn
During your turn, you may perform one, two or all three of the three actions below, in the order of your choice.
1. Place Cards on Your Island
The best way to earn Treasure Points is to place groups of cards on your island. At the end of the game, each card on your island earns you 1 Treasure Point (except RAINBOW PIRATE cards, which earn 5 Treasure Points each). The groups of cards you can place on your island are:
| Type | What to place |
|---|---|
| Groups of COLOR cards | At least three identical cards, or at least three cards that follow each other (numerical sequence) |
| Groups of BLACK cards | At least three BLACK cards |
| RAINBOW PIRATE cards | These cards are placed one by one on your island (even if nothing prevents you from grouping them if you feel like it) |
IMPORTANT: During your turn, you MUST place on your island all your RAINBOW PIRATE cards, as well as all COLOR cards bearing a number that can form a group.
You are not obliged to use your JOKER cards. You are also not obliged to place COLOR cards bearing a number if doing so would force you to rearrange the cards already placed on your island.
2. Rearrange Your Cards
You may rearrange the cards on your island to create new groups of cards, merge groups or split groups into smaller groups, etc. You may also take cards placed on your island back into your hand (but do not forget that every RAINBOW PIRATE card and every COLOR card playable MUST be placed on your island). If you have already placed a JOKER card on your island, you can move it later to replace another color, if you wish. You can also take it back into your hand if you no longer need it on your island.
*If, after having rearranged, some groups of cards on your island are no longer complete (that is, a group of fewer than 3 cards), take these cards back into your hand before the end of your turn.
3. Play BLACK Cards
You may play BLACK cards to attack your opponents or to grant yourself advantages. When you play a BLACK card, do so in the following order:
- Reveal the BLACK card. Place the BLACK card on the discard pile, face up (in games with 3 or more players, if your BLACK card only lets you attack a single opponent, you must declare which opponent you are attacking).
- Your opponent blocks the attack (or not). Your opponent (or opponents) may EITHER: a) Block your BLACK card, if they have the matching COLOR card in hand, by placing it on your BLACK card on the discard pile. - OR - b) Let out an "Aaarrgh" of pain if they do not have the matching card to block (or if they simply do not want to block). (See the section During Your Opponents' Turn.)
- Execute the card's action. If no opponent blocks your BLACK card with the matching COLOR card, carry out the action described on your card.
If, following your action, a group of cards of your opponent becomes incomplete (e.g. if your Cannon destroys one card of a group of three cards), those cards must immediately return to the hand of their owner.
End of Turn
Before ending your turn, make sure you no longer have any RAINBOW PIRATE card in your hand, nor any COLOR card bearing a number that you could place in a group. Then end your turn by drawing either the two turned-over cards beside the draw pile, or the two top cards of the draw pile (you can NOT choose one of each).
If you decide to draw the two turned-over cards beside the draw pile, replace them by turning over the two top cards of the draw pile. Play then passes to the player seated to your left.
During Your Opponents' Turn
If it is not your turn, the only action you can take is to block an opponent's BLACK card, provided you have the matching COLOR card in your hand.
Blocking BLACK Cards
You can block your opponents' pirates by "corrupting" them with their favorite item or person, indicated by a "little heart" symbol on each BLACK card. If the pirate of your opponent sees the person or thing they love most, they are happy and interrupt their attack!
If one of your opponents plays a BLACK card during their turn, you may block its action if you have the matching COLOR card in your hand, by placing that card in the discard pile, on the BLACK card that has just been played.
A single COLOR card is enough to block a BLACK card, even if that card targeted several opponents. For example, if the Captain is played against three opponents, a single green "Du temps pour moi" card is enough to protect all three opponents from the Captain's action.
Do not forget that only cards in your hand can be used to block a BLACK card. If a COLOR card is on your island when a BLACK card is played, you cannot use it to block that attack!
Note: it is in the discard pile that BLACK cards are played and blocked.
End of the Game
The game ends EITHER when a player goes out, OR when there are no more cards in the draw pile.
Going Out
Going out does not automatically make you win! The game ends, and you earn 5 bonus Treasure Points. To be able to go out, you must:
- Have no cards left in hand.* (If the last card you play is a BLACK card and it is not blocked, execute its action before ending the game.)
- Have at least two complete rainbows on your island. (A complete rainbow is a sequence of seven COLOR cards in numerical order; some cards may be replaced by a JOKER.)
To be able to go out, both conditions must be met. When a player goes out, the game ends immediately (the player does not draw new cards at the end of their turn, the other players can no longer place any card on their island nor take any other action).
*If you have no more cards in hand, but you do not have at least two complete rainbows on your island, you cannot go out. In this case, you finish your turn normally, by drawing cards, and pass to the next player's turn.
No More Cards in the Draw Pile
If there are no more cards to draw before a player goes out, the game ends. However, once the last card has been drawn, each player can still place cards on their island. At this stage, you can still place BLACK cards on your island (in groups of three or more), but you can no longer use their pirate actions.
Winning the Game
At the end of the game, count your Treasure Points:
- Put into the discard pile all the cards still in your hand (they neither earn nor remove any points, whatever they are).
- Add up all the Treasure Points of the cards on your island. Each card on your island earns you 1 Treasure Point (except RAINBOW PIRATE cards, which earn 5 Treasure Points each!).
- If you went out, you earn 5 bonus Treasure Points!
The player with the most Treasure Points wins.
Example of a Game
Example illustration: Player 1 has a hand, and an island with cards; Player 2 has a hand with a BLACK card and an island with two complete rainbows (labelled "COMPLETE rainbow!"), so this player can go out on their next turn.