Rattaneer Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Setting
• Game Objective
• Game Contents
• Game Setup
• General Rules
• Game Overview
• I. Action Selection Phase (Morning)
• II. Action Resolution Phase (Day)
  • The Actions in detail
• III. Preparation Phase (Night)
• Final Scoring
• Game Expansion
  • Game Setup (Expansion)
  • Action Resolution Phase (Day), Area 10 (Expansion)
• Ally Cards
• Treasure Cards
• Flowchart of the Game

Game Setting

It is the era of the Great Seafaring Mice. During this time, many mice traversed the vast ocean by boat, spending their days plundering and terrorizing ships. Such mice were fearfully known as 'Rattaneers'. One day, the legendary mouse pirate king who was the leader of all the Rattaneers decided to retire. He gathered all of his powerful subordinates and shouted loudly to them, "Which one amongst you will follow in my paw-prints?" You, the players, are these subordinates, sending out your pirate ships to gather treasure and earn the title of the next mouse pirate king!

Game Objective

Each player is Rattaneer, a mouse pirate aiming to earn the most victory points (VP) to win the game. To achieve this goal, players need to hire outstanding allies, increase their hired hands, and plunder ships to bring them back. However, if players don't connect to each other's areas, their voyages may not be successful...

Game Contents

• 5 Player tiles. The front and back correspond to different player colours (red, blue, yellow, green, black).
• 11 Area tiles. The Area tiles display the following information: Area Type, Priority Type, Area Number (determining order), Day Icon (resolved in the Action Resolution Phase), and Night Icon (resolved in the Preparation Phase).
• 1 Treasure tile. Front and back.
• 20 Ally cards. Each Ally card shows a card name, a Hiring Cost, an Ally Effect and a VP value.
• 76 Ocean cards. Ocean cards are divided into two types: Plunder cards and Shipping cards.
  • Plunder cards. There are 6 types: Gems, Coffee, Tobacco, Rum, Gold and Money. Each Plunder card shows an Enemy Strength, a Plunder Type and a Plunder Value.
  • Shipping cards. Each Shipping card shows a Shipping Icon, the Plunder Type for Shipping, and the Amount of Plunder and Money Required.
• 10 Pirate tokens: 2 x 5 colours (red, blue, yellow, green, black).
• 1 Companion Pirate (brown).
• 25 Deck Hand cubes: 5 x 5 colours (red, blue, yellow, green, black).
• 38 Money tokens (1 coin).
• 10 Money tokens (3 coins).
• 1 Land priority tile.
• 1 Sea priority tile.
• 10 Treasure cards (only for expansion use). Each Treasure card shows a name, a Treasure effect and a VP value.
• 1 Rulebook.

Game Setup

1. Arrange the area tiles in a row by their number: 1. Work Camp => 2. Tavern => 3. Ocean => ... => 9. Trading Port => 10. Legendary Island => F. Farm.

2. Place the Treasure tile face-up below 10. Legendary Island (face-down if playing with expansion).

3. Place all the Money tokens (1 and 3 coins) next to the Work Camp (this is called the 'bank'). After that, put the same number of Money tokens as the number of players on the Work Camp tile (e.g. three coins for three players, four coins for four players and so on.)

4. Shuffle the Ally cards face-down to create a deck. Place the deck next to the area tile 2. Tavern. Then draw 2 cards from the deck face-up and place them below 2. Tavern. Next to the Ally deck, leave space for a discard pile.

5. Shuffle all of the Ocean cards face-down to create a deck. Place the deck next to the area tile 3. Ocean. Then, for each tile 3. to 8., draw and place 2 cards face-up below each tile. Next to the Ocean deck, leave space for a discard pile.

6. Each player picks their colour from red, blue, yellow, green, black and receives the following items:

   • 1 player tile
   • 2 Pirate tokens
   • 1 Deck Hand cube (in the corresponding colour)
   • 2 Money tokens (2 x 1 coin)

   Place the remaining Deck Hand cubes together to form the stock. For 2 to 3 players, neutral players' Deck Hand cubes will be used. Choose one of the colours not chosen by players and place the following number of Deck Hand cubes of the selected colour in the playing area:

   • For two players: 2 Deck Hand cubes
   • For three players: 1 Deck Hand cube

   The last remaining colour will not be used in the game, return it to the box.

The setup is now complete!

General Rules

Money tokens. Money tokens are assumed to be infinite. Money can be made change for at any time.

Open Information. Money, face-up Plunder cards and Ally cards are all open information. The number of face-down cards are open information, but not the content. However, owners may check their content at any time.

Game Overview

This game will be played in rounds until the game end condition is satisfied (to a maximum of 10 rounds). After that, the final score is tallied and the game ends. Each round is divided into the following phases:

• I. Action Selection Phase (Morning)
• II. Action Resolution Phase (Day)
• III. Preparation Phase (Night)

After these three phases are carried out in order, the round ends. Each phase is explained in order below:

I. Action Selection Phase (Morning)

This phase determines which area tile each player places their Pirate and Deck Hand cubes on.

1. All the players prop their Player tile with one hand and place their Pirate tokens and Deck Hand cubes with their other hand such that their placement are not visible to other players. On the Player tile, there are numbers corresponding to each area tile as well as an X. The following placement rules are in effect:

   • Pirate tokens can only be placed from 1 to 10, and never on the X.
   • The 2 Pirate tokens have to be placed in different areas.
   • Deck Hand cubes can be placed from 1 to 10 or X. They may be placed with or without the Pirate tokens. However, their effect is different when placing them with or without the Pirate tokens. When placing them in the same area (3-8 only), they add to the battle strength. Any number of Deck Hand cubes may be placed. When placing them separately from Pirate tokens, they serve to connect areas. In this case, only one Deck Hand cube may be placed. Any number of Deck Hand cubes may be placed on the X.

   When placing Deck Hand cubes in the same area as Pirate tokens (areas 3-8), you may put as many as you like. When placing them in areas different from the Pirate tokens, you may only place one Deck Hand per area. You may place as many as you like on the X. These will not be played this round and will remain in the player's hand.

2. When all players have placed their Pirate tokens and Deck Hand cubes, all players lay down their Player tile. Each Pirate token and Deck Hand cube is now moved to the corresponding area tile. The Deck Hand cubes are left on the X for the moment.

   Special rules for 2 to 3 players. If you are playing with 2 or 3 players, Neutral Deck Hand cubes will be placed on empty area tiles. Starting from area 1 and going upwards, place 1 Neutral cube for each empty area. Place 2 for a 2 player game and 1 for a 3 player game. The Neutral cube is placed on the earliest empty area.

   Example (3 player game): Morgan, L'Olonnais and Kidd are playing a 3 player game. Morgan places their Pirate token in areas 1 and 2, and a Deck Hand cube in X. L'Olonnais puts their Pirate token in areas 2 and 5, with 1 Deck Hand cube also in 5. Kidd places in areas 3 and 10, and places their Deck Hand cube on 9. Since it is a 3 players, one Neutral Deck Hand cube is placed, and the first empty area is 4. As there is an empty space in 6, all subsequent Pirate tokens are placed on the Farm, and all the Deck Hand cubes are returned to the players' hands. As a result, Kidd moves their Pirate token on 10 to the Farm, and returns his Deck Hand cube on 9 to their hand.

II. Action Resolution Phase (Day)

In this phase, the actions in each area are resolved, starting from 1 onwards in numerical order. Only area tiles with Pirate tokens will have actions resolved. In rare cases, if you are unable to carry out that area action, move that Pirate token to the Farm. If there are Deck Hand cubes but no Pirate tokens, no action will be taken. When there are no Pirate token or Deck Hand cubes remaining on the numbered areas, F is resolved.

Resolving multiple players with Pirate tokens in the same area. The order of actions is resolved by the two Priority tiles, the Land Priority tile deciding the order on land and the Ocean Priority tile deciding the order on the ocean. Land is defined by areas 1 and 2. The Ocean is defined by areas 3 to 10. If there are multiple Pirates in an area, actions are resolved starting from the player with the respective Priority tile and going clockwise.

The Actions in detail

1. Work Camp (Land Priority). In Land Priority order, take 1 coin from the Work Camp tile. This is repeated until there is no money left on the tile.

Example: L'Olonnais and Kidd placed Pirates on the Work Camp. Morgan currently owns the Land Priority tile. From Morgan, L'Olonnais is next clockwise and takes 1 coin. Then Kidd takes 1 coin. As there are 3 coins in total, L'Olonnais ends up with 2 coins and Kidd 1 coin.

2. Tavern (Land Priority). In Land Priority order, carry out (a) or (b) ONCE only.

• a) Purchase an Ally card. Pay for the cost shown on the Ally card, placing it in front of them. Allies are effective the moment they are acquired.
• b) Purchase one Deck Hand cube. A player pays 1 coin to obtain 1 Deck Hand cube from the stock to their hand. Only one may be bought per round. However, this cannot be done if there are no cubes remaining in the stock.

Example: Morgan and Kidd placed Pirates in the Tavern. Morgan has the Land Priority tile. Morgan pays 4 coins and hires the Ally card Master fencer. Kidd pays 1 coin and obtains 1 Deck Hand cube from the stock.

3-8. Ocean (Ocean Priority). For each Ocean area (3 to 8), do the following steps in order:

1. Battle Step
2. Plunder Step
3. Shipping Step
4. Ship Discard Step

1) Battle Step. This step is not performed when there are no Plunder cards, or when there are no Plunder cards with the enemy strength icon. Add up the total Battle Strength of all players with a Pirate token in the area.

• Battle Strength: Tally Strength indicated by Ally cards, Treasure cards (expansion only), and 2 for each Deck Hand cube.
• • Deck Hand cubes without Pirates of the same colour have no Battle Strength.

Compare the total Battle Strength of all players to the number of Enemy Strength icons on all of the cards in the area and carry out either a) or b):

• a) Battle Strength >= Enemy Strength. The battle is won, and any Deck Hand cubes are returned to the stock (not hand). Proceed to the 2) Plunder Step.
• b) Battle Strength < Enemy Strength. The battle is lost, and the action ends immediately without proceeding to the next step. The Pirate token(s) on this tile is/are placed on the Farm and any Deck Hand cubes are returned to the player's hand (not the stock).

Example: Morgan and Kidd placed Pirates in area 3. The 3 Plunder cards placed below this area are: 1 6-Gem card (2 Strength), 1 5-Gem card (1 Strength) and 1 2-Rum card. Kidd has the Sea Priority tile. First, in 1) Battle Step, Morgan placed one Deck Hand cube worth 2 Strength. Kidd has the Ally card "Magician" worth 1 Strength. The total strength is Morgan's 2 strengths + Kidd's 1 = 3. As both totals are 3, the players win! Morgan loses his Deck Hand cube to the stock and players proceed to 2) Plunder Step. Here, Kidd goes first and takes the 6-Gem card, Morgan takes the 5-Gem and finally Kidd takes the 2-Rum.

2) Plunder Step. This step is skipped if there are no Plunder cards available in the area. In Ocean Priority, players take Plunder cards one by one and place them face-up in their playing area.

• • Shipping cards cannot be obtained.
• If there is a Gold icon on the card, immediately flip it face down when acquired.
• If the acquired loot card shows a Money icon, immediately receive the coins stated and discard the card. Repeat this until all Plunder cards are obtained.

3) Shipping Step. This will be skipped if there are no Shipping cards available in the area. In Ocean Priority, players may flip Plunder cards according to the conditions on the card and by possibly paying coins.

• • Flipped Plunder cards are worth VP at the end of the game.

If there are two or more Shipping cards, you can flip Plunder cards in any preferred combination.

The Shipping card will be discarded in step 4. All players with a Pirate on this tile may take the Shipping action, and multiple players may use the same Shipping card.

Shipping Card Example: For this card, the possible actions the player can take are as follows:

• Do not flip any cards.
• Flip one Rum or Coffee card for free.
• Pay one coin to flip 2 Rum or Coffee cards.
• Pay two coins to flip 3 Rum or Coffee cards.

Example: L'Olonnais and Kidd placed Pirate tokens on area 4. The Plunder Step has just ended. On Area 4 there are two Shipping cards: A. Up to 3 Rum and B. Up to 2 of Any. L'Olonnais flips 2 Rum cards with Ship A and pays 2 coins to flip 1 Gem and 1 Tobacco with Ship B. Kidd really wants to flip two Tobacco, but only has 1 coin and can only flip 1 Tobacco with Ship B.

4) Ship Discard Step. Place all of the Shipping cards in this area on the discard pile.

9. Trading Port (Ocean Priority). In Ocean Priority, players may flip up to 3 Plunder cards face-down for no cost. These are worth VP at the end of the game.

10. Legendary Island (Ocean Priority). In Ocean Priority, place one of your Deck Hand cubes (either from an area tile or from your hand) on any empty square on the Treasure tile. Only the bottom right rectangle may accommodate more than one Deck Hand cube. At the end of the game, VP will be awarded for these treasures. Once placed, Deck Hand cubes may never be moved, so be careful!

F. Farm. Receive 1 coin from the bank for each Pirate token.

III. Preparation Phase (Night)

In this phase, the board is refreshed for the next round. Perform the following A to D in order:

• A. Retrieve tokens
• B. Area preparation
• C. Rotate Priority tiles
• D. Check for Game End

If the Game End condition is met in the previous round, only carry out A and proceed to final scoring.

A. Retrieve tokens. All players retrieve Pirate tokens and Deck Hand cubes from all area tiles.

• • For 2 to 3 players, place the Neutral Deck Hand cube(s) to the side for future rounds.
• • Do not remove any Deck Hand cubes from the Treasure tile.

B. Area Preparation. Prepare each area in order starting from area 1 onwards, details below:

1. Work Camp. Take the same number of coins as the number of players from the bank and place it on the area tile (3 coins for 3 players, 4 coins for 4 players, and so on). If there are remaining coins, add the new coins to this amount.
2. Tavern. Draw 2 cards from the Ally Deck and place them at the bottom of the area tile in order. If there are ever 4 or more cards, discard the older cards (topmost) such that there are only 3 cards remaining. 3-8. Ocean. Draw Ocean cards to be placed face-up under each area. Depending on the number of remaining Ocean cards, the number of cards to be drawn changes.
   • 0 cards: Draw and place two cards.
   • 1 to 3 cards: Draw and place 1 card.
   • 4 cards: Do not draw. If there are insufficient cards, do not draw any cards.
3. Trading Port and 10. Legendary Island: No preparation necessary.

C. Rotate Priority tiles. Players who have possession of the Land Priority tile and Ocean Priority tile pass their tile to the player on the left.

D. Check for Game End. The game ends when one of the following conditions a) or b) are satisfied.

• a) The Ally deck is empty
• b) The Ocean deck is empty

• If a deck was depleted in the current round, the game will end. The next round is played, and final scoring is carried out.

Final Scoring

First, each player can turn over 1 Plunder card for free. After that, each player tallies the following:

• The value of each face-down Plunder card
• The value of each Ally card in the lower right
• Points for each Deck Hand cube on the Treasure tile
• End game scoring for any Ally cards
• 1 VP for every 2 coins
• End game scoring for any Treasure cards (Expansion only)

• Any leftover face-up Plunder cards have no value.

The player with the most VP wins! In the case of a tie, the player with the most money wins. If this is also tied, all tied players win.

Game Expansion

The expansion allows you to enjoy a more exciting game by adding Treasure cards. It is almost the same as a normal game, but adds the following elements.

Game Setup (Expansion)

2. Place the Treasure tile under the Legendary Island tile with the back side facing up (dark background). Shuffle the Treasure cards, draw 5 and place them face-up under the Treasure tile. The remaining cards are not used and should be returned to the box. If the card "Companion Flute" is amongst these cards, place the Companion Pirate token on this card. If not, return it to the box.

Action Resolution Phase (Day), Area 10 (Expansion)

When placing a Deck Hand cube on the Treasure tile, obtain 1 Treasure card if placed on a square with the following icon. At the end of the game, gain the VPs stated on the Treasure tile, as well as any stated on Treasure cards.

Ally Cards

The Ally cards shown in this rulebook are listed as printed. The Game Contents section states 20 Ally cards; the rulebook's card reference shows 15 of them.

• Gunner. Add 1 to your Battle Strength.
• Master fencer. Add 2 to your Battle Strength.
• Liquor dealer. Gain extra VP for flipped Rum at the end of the game. Gain 1VP/2VP/4VP/6VP for 1/2/3/4+ Rum.
• Tobacco dealer. Gain extra VP for flipped Tobacco at the end of the game. Gain 1VP/2VP/4VP/6VP for 1/2/3/4+ Tobacco.
• Coffee dealer. Gain extra VP for flipped Coffee at the end of the game. Gain 1VP/2VP/4VP/6VP for 1/2/3/4+ Coffee.
• Jewel dealer. Gain extra VP for flipped Gems at the end of the game. Gain 1VP/2VP/4VP/6VP for 1/2/3/4+ Gems.
• Black marketer. Flip 2 extra Plunder cards at the end of the game (in addition to the 1).
• Pilferer. In the Action Resolution Phase 3-8. Ocean areas, 2) Plunder Phase, you may obtain 1 Plunder card (ignoring Ocean Priority) before the other players. Ocean Priority then resumes.
• Bogus money artisan. Gain 1 coin from the bank during the Preparation Phase.
• Bargainer. In the Action Resolution phase 3-8. Ocean areas, 3) Shipping Step, reduce the money required for shipping by one coin. The cost does not go below 0.
• Surgeon. In the Action Resolution phase 3-8. Ocean areas, 1) Battle Phase, return Deck Hand cubes to your hand instead of the stock.

Treasure Cards

Treasure card names and effects are transcribed as printed. Note: in the printed rulebook the artwork for "Friendship Goblet" is the skull flag, and the artwork for "Flag of the Pirate King" is the goblet; each effect is kept under the heading it is printed beneath.

• Exquisite Wine. In the Action Resolution phase 2. Tavern, you may pay 2 coins extra to do an additional hire action (i.e. 2 Allies, 2 Deck Hand cubes or 1 Ally and 1 Deck Hand cube). Pay the regular hiring cost.
• Companion Flute. Take the Companion Pirate token. This is treated as a regular Pirate token but is removed from the game when used. Like Deck Hand cubes, it may be placed in the X area if the owner does not wish to use it on the current turn.
• Craftsman's Compass. At the end of the Action Selection Phase (morning), you may optionally move one of your Deck Hand cubes one space to the left or right.
• Book of the Sage. Gain 1 VP per 2 flipped goods at the end of the game.
• Masters Sword. Add 2 to your Battle Strength.
• Friendship Goblet. Obtain 2 VP for each Deck Hand cubes in hand at the end of the game. Do not include Deck Hand cubes on the Treasure tile.
• Flag of the Pirate King. Gain 2 VP per Ally card at the end of the game.
• Scale of the Merchants. Whenever you pay money, pay one coin less. The cost may not go below 0.
• Red Diamond Ring. No effect besides the VP value.
• Black Pearl. No effect besides the VP value.

Flowchart of the Game

I. Action Selection Phase (Morning)

1. Each player props up their player tile and allocates all their Pirate tokens and Deck Hand cubes.
2. Lay down all player tiles. Move the assigned Pirate tokens and Deck Hand cubes to the corresponding areas. In a 2-3 player game, place Neutral Deck Hand cubes on empty area tiles (2 players = 2 Deck Hand cubes, 3 players = 1 Deck Hand cube).
3. If there are any Pirate tokens to the right of empty areas, move them to the Farm.

II. Action Resolution Phase (Day)

Resolve areas in numerical order.

• 1 Work Camp: Distribute the money on the tile.
• 2 Tavern: Hire 1 Ally card for stated cost or 1 Deck Hand cube for 1 coin.
• 3-8 Ocean:
  1. Battle Step: Compare the combined Player Strength with the Enemy Strength.
     • Combined Player Strength >= Enemy Strength: Victory. Return all Deck Hand cubes to the stock. Proceed to 2.
     • Combined Player Strength < Enemy Strength: Failure. Return all Deck Hand cubes to players' hands. End of action.
  2. Plunder Step: Take 1 Plunder card at a time until all are taken.
  3. Shipping Step: Pay coins to flip Plunder cards for VP.
  4. Ship Discard Step: Discard all Shipping cards.
• 9 Trading Port: Flip 3 Plunder cards for free.
• 10 Legendary Island: Place 1 Deck Hand cube from an area or your hand to a space on the Treasure tile.
• F Farm: Gain 1 Coin.

III. Preparation Phase (Night)

• A. Retrieve tokens
• B. Area Preparation:
  • 1 Work Camp: Add 1 Coin per player.
  • 2 Tavern: Draw 2 cards from the Ally Deck and place them, discarding to 3.
  • 3-8 Ocean: Draw Ocean cards depending on the number of remaining Ocean cards: 0 cards: 2; 1 to 3 cards: 1; 4 cards: 0.
• C. Rotate Priority tiles: Pass Priority tiles to the player on the left.
• D. Check for Game End: If the Ally or Ocean deck is depleted, the next round is the final round and final scoring is carried out.

Final Scoring

Tally the following. Most VP wins, and money breaks ties.

• Plunder card value
• Ally card value
• Treasure tile value
• 1 VP for every 2 coins
• Ally card end game scoring
• Treasure card end game scoring