Sirenen in Sicht
Sirenen in Sicht Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Aim of the game
Try to score the most ship cards and crew members. Each ship card and each crew token is worth 1 victory point – whoever collects the most victory points will be the winner.
Material
- 52 playing cards – 4 cards each with values from 0 to 10 and 2 cards each with values -1 to -4
- 5 ship cards – with values 28, 30, 32, 34 and 36
- 6 tokens – 2 crew members (1 captain and 1 mate), 1 mug of rum and 1 octopus per player
- 1 rule book
Layout of playing and ship cards
The number on the playing cards represents their strength. The number on the ship cards represents the resistance value of that ship card. A ship card is scored when one player has cards played to his side of the ship card with a total value equal to or greater than the ship card's resistance. Alternatively, if both players have five cards played to their side of a ship card, the player whose played cards have a higher value scores the ship card.
Some playing cards have the move crew icon.
Additionally, each card has either a seastar or shell icon. These are only needed when playing with the optional rules More tactics from bow to rear.
Figure captions: "Playing card, strength -2" (labels: Icon move crew, Icon seastar); "Ship card, Resistance value 34".
Game setup
The five ship cards are set up between the players to form a ship, as depicted in the figure. Some space should be left on the sides of the ship for playing cards. A captain or mate token is placed on the ship card with value 30 and the other token is placed on the ship card with value 34. It does not matter which token is placed on which of the two ship cards.
The playing cards are shuffled and each player is dealt 4 cards. The remaining cards are placed as face-down draw pile next to the ship. Players take one mug of rum and one octopus token and place these tokens in front of them.
Randomly determine a start player.
Sequence of play
The game proceeds over several turns, until all ship cards are scored or one player collects 4 victory points.
Player turn
The player whose turn it is chooses one of two actions:
- Either play a card and then draw a card
- or use the octopus
Additionally, the player can use the mug of rum (regardless which action he selected).
It is then the next player's turn.
Game end
The game ends when all ship cards are scored or when one player collects 4 victory points. Each ship card and each crew token is worth 1 victory point.
Whoever collects the most victory points (or 4 victory points) is the winner. In case of a tie no one wins and the next ship that drops anchor will bring the decision, who is the winner.
Play a card
The player whose turn it is plays a card from his hand and places it face-up to either side of one of the ship cards. Then he draws a card from the draw pile and adds it to his hand. If the draw pile is exhausted, no card is drawn and players continue the game with their remaining cards.
When placing a card the following rules must be followed:
Card limit
If there are 5 playing cards on one side of a ship card, no more cards can be played on that side of the ship card.
This applies only to the side of the ship card, where there are 5 playing cards. If there are less than 5 cards on the other side of the ship card, players can still play cards to that side of the ship card.
If the number of cards is reduced to four or less, then players can play cards there again (to a maximum of 5 cards).
Move a crew member
If a card with the move crew icon is played to a ship card on which there is a crew member token (captain or mate), that token must be moved to an adjacent ship card. The player whose side of the ship card was played decides where the crew member moves.
A crew member that is on the bow or rear of the ship can move to the rear or bow respectively.
If the adjacent ship card already contains the other crew member token, the moved token is placed one more ship card over.
Ship cards that are removed (see Score a ship card) do not create gaps – for example, if ship card 32 is scored, cards 30 and 34 are treated as adjacent.
Exception: Crew members do not move when the number of ship cards in play is equal to the number of crew members in play.
Example: In a game between Klaus and Brigitta, ship card 36 (the ship rear) is scored already. The captain is on ship card 28 (the bow) and the mate is on ship card 34. It is Klaus' turn and he plays a 0 (a card that has the move crew icon) and plays it to Brigitta's side of the bow. Brigitta gets to decide where the captain moves. Ship card 28 is adjacent to 34 (the rear, 36, is scored already and not in play anymore). Brigitta moves the captain to ship card 34. The mate is present on that card and therefore the captain moves one ship card further to 32.
Score a ship card
A ship card is scored in on of two situations:
- The total value of the cards on one side of the ship card is greater than or equal to the value that is printed on the ship card (plus any mug of rum tokens). In this case, the player on that side of the ship takes the ship card and any token on it.
- There are 5 cards on both sides of a ship card. In this case, the player who has the highest total value of cards on his side of the ship gets the ship card and any crew member token on it. In case of a tie, no one gets the card or crew member token – the ship card (and crew member token on the card) are removed from play.
After scoring a ship card:
- Any mugs of rum on the ship card are removed from play.
- All playing cards on both sides of the ship card are removed from play. If there is an octopus on any of these cards, it is returned to its owner.
Use the octopus
The player whose turn it is can, instead of playing a card, use the octopus to move one of the cards that are already in play to another location at the ship. If a player has used the octopus already, he cannot chose this action unless he gets the octopus back as effect of scoring a ship card.
When the player uses the octopus, he selects any one of the cards that are in play, moves it to another legal location (on either side of the ship) and places his octopus token on the card he just moved.
Exception: A card on which there is already the opponent's octopus cannot be chosen.
When moving a card to a new location, the same rules apply as when playing a card (for details see Play a card):
- Card limit: The maximum number of cards on one side of the ship is five.
- Move a crew member: When relocating a card that has the move crew icon, the player to whose side of the ship the card is placed, must move a crew member, if there is one.
- Score a ship card: If there are 5 cards on both sides of a ship card or the total card values on one side of a ship card is greater than or equal to the printed value of the ship card (plus any rum mugs), then the ship card is scored.
Note: A player does not draw a card from the draw pile, when he uses the octopus.
Use the mug of rum
In addition to playing a card or using the octopus, the player can play the mug of rum on any ship card in play. A mug of rum increases the printed value of the ship card by 3. Both players' mug of rum tokens can be on the same ship card, which increases the printed value of the ship card by 6. After a ship card is scored, any mug of rum token on that ship card is removed from play. The players can use their mug of rum only once per game.
Variant – More tactics from bow to rear
When setting up the game, both players get an identical set of cards of their own. One player gets the playing cards marked with the starfish icon, the other gets the cards marked with the shell icon. Both players select four cards from their set as their starting hand. Each player shuffles their remaining cards and places them as face-down draw pile on their side of the table.
When drawing cards, players draw from their own draw pile.