Shark Attacks!
Shark Attacks! Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
16 dice:
- 11 blue swimmer-dice with faces: 3 x water-wave, 1 x 1 swimmer, 1 x 2 swimmers, 1 x 3 swimmers
- 4 red shark-dice with faces: 3 x water-wave, 1 x 1 shark fin, 1 x 2 shark fins, 1 x 3 shark fins
- 1 yellow event-die with faces: 2 x rain, 2 x sunny, 2 x Shark Attacks!
6 yellow placards ("Shark Attacks" signs)
In addition, you will need a pen and a piece of paper.
Players: 2-6. Time: 15-30 minutes. Age: 10 and up.
Introduction
You are the owner of a fashionable beach hotel. When business is booming, many tourists swim in the waters. Unfortunately, the waters are frequented by sharks, and the negative publicity of a shark fatality drives visitors away. Therefore, try to maximize the number of guests in the water, while saving as many as possible in case of shark attack.
You get victory points for happy beach guests in the water, or for those successfully saved from shark attack.
Setup
- Separate the dice by color and place in the middle of the table, along with the six yellow signs.
- Choose one player to be the lifeguard. He gets the pen and paper, so he can record scores and see when the end of the game arrives (the recommended ending score is 100 points).
- The Starting Player is the one who has the most recently seen a shark. If this cannot be determined, take turns rolling the four red shark-dice, and the person rolling the most sharks is the Starting Player.
Gameplay
The Starting Player goes first, then proceed clockwise.
On your turn, get 7 blue dice, unless your beach has yellow "Shark Attacks" signs displayed. For each sign, reduce the number of blue dice by one.
1. The Swimmers Enter the Water.
Roll all your blue dice, which determines how many swimmers there are in the water at your beach.
1.1. Beach Decision
After throwing your blue dice, choose one of three options:
a) If satisfied with your score, write down the number of swimmers and end your turn. If you have one or more "Shark Attack" signs on your beach, remove one and return it to the center of the table.
b) If your dice throw shows only swimmers (i.e. no "water-waves" are showing) then you can have a Beach Party, which ends your turn. Write down the number of swimmers and double it for your score, and remove two of the "Shark Attacks" signs from your beach.
c) Re-roll your water-wave dice (the blue dice results whose face shows the "water-waves") to get more points. But before you roll these, first roll the yellow Event Dice. There are three possibilities:
- Sun. It's a hot day, and the beaches are packed. Therefore, get one more blue dice from the middle of the table. Then proceed per "1.2 More Swimmers Enter the Water".
- Rain. It's a rainy day, and many swimmers leave. Therefore, put one of your blue dice back into the center of the table. Then proceed per "1.2 More Swimmers Enter the Water". Note: If you lose your last blue dice, then you can throw a Beach Party per 1.1b.
- Shark Attacks. Bummer, dude! Somebody spots a dorsal fin, changing the gameplay completely. Put all your water-wave dice back to the middle of the table. Then, in order to get the swimmers already in the water safely out, take their dice and make a roll with them together with 1 red shark dice. Then proceed per "2.0 Swimmers Flee the Water".
1.2. More Swimmers Enter the Water.
Roll all your dice that don't show any swimmers to see how many more swimmers have entered the water. Then proceed as per "1.1 Beach Decision", to see if you are satisfied, or you wish to proceed further.
2.0 Swimmers Flee the Water.
Take all the dice showing the swimmers earlier in the water, and make a roll with them together with 1 red shark dice.
2.1 Determine Shark Attack Casualties
The red dice are evaluated in order of the number of shark fins. The dice that show triple-fins attack first, then double-fins, then single-fins. Ignore dice that show a water-wave.
A Triple-fin eats:
- 3 swimmers if present,
- or else eats 2 swimmers and 1 swimmer if present (a 2-swimmer die and a 1-swimmer die),
- or else eats three 1-swimmer dice if present,
- or else eats two 2-swimmer dice if present,
- or else eats one 2-swimmer die if present,
- or else eats two 1-swimmer dice if present,
- or else eats one 1-swimmer die if present,
- or else eats nothing.
A Double-fin eats:
- a 2-swimmer die if present,
- or else eats two 1-swimmer dice if present,
- or else eats a 3-swimmer die if present,
- or else eats a 1-swimmer die if present,
- or else eats nothing.
A Single-fin eats:
- a 1-swimmer die if present,
- or else eats a 2-swimmer die if present,
- or else eats a 3-swimmer die if present,
- or else eats nothing.
Dice that are eaten in a shark attack are removed to the middle of the table. For each one removed, take a yellow "Shark Attacks" sign and lay it in front of you (i.e. on your beach). Take the sign from the pool in the middle of the table. If there are no more yellow signs there, take one from the beach of the opponent of your choice. The Maximum of "Shark Attacks" sign you can get is 6.
All uneaten swimmers escape and are put to the side for calculating points. If the throw shows just blue "water-wave" results (all the dice faces show water-waves), then proceed per 2.2.
2.2. More Swimmers Flee the Water.
After the throw, all blue dice showing the "water-wave" face must be re-rolled, together with the red shark dice. After each throw in which there were shark attack casualties, add another red dice to represent sharks attracted by the blood (up to a maximum of four shark-dice). Then proceed as per 2.1.
Keep rolling until all the swimmers are eaten or escaped (i.e. no more swimmers are in play). For each swimmer who escapes, add one point to your score.
2.3. Special Case: "Blessing in Disguise".
If all the swimmers escape, with none being eaten, then the whole episode is regarded as a harmless and exciting adventure with positive publicity. Therefore in this case your score for escaped swimmers is tripled.
2.4. Notes on the Number of Fleeing Swimmers
Q: How can more swimmers flee the waters than entered the waters?
A: Not all the escapees are hotel guests. You get positive publicity for rescuing swimmers that are not hotel guests, such as snorkelers and divers.
Q: How can fewer swimmers flee the water than in the earlier case when all the swimmers escape?
A: Well, there are other ways to escape than swimming to the private beach. Perhaps a boat has rescued some swimmers. You only get publicity for those guests that you rescue off your beach.
End of the Game
Once a player has reached a total of 100 points, the game immediately ends.