The SPILL Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Assembling the Oil Rig Dice Tower
• Object
• Setup
• The Disaster Begins
• Playing the Game
• Spill Phase
  • 1. Assemble Oil Dice
  • 2. The Spill
• Action Phase
  • Move (1 AP)
  • Push Back an Oil die into the bag (1 AP)
  • Remove an Oil die from the game (3 AP)
  • Rescue a Healthy Marine Animal (1 AP)
  • Rescue a Contaminated Marine Animal (2 AP)
• Specialist Abilities
• Resource Cards and Activation Cubes
• Extra Actions (Gain up to +2 AP)
• Action Phase Clean Up
• Win / Lose Conditions Check
• Adjusting the Difficulty
• Weather Effects
• Play Order (Quick Reference)
• Credits

Components

• Game Board
• Situation Board
• 36 Marine Animal tokens – 6 sets of 6 (octopus, seahorse, dolphin, turtle, ray, pelican)
• Weather Effect tokens – 5 full sets of 5, and extras for Harsh Weather rules
• 15 Resource cards
• 9 Win Condition cards
• 3 Win Condition markers
• 12 Activation cubes
• 8 Ship tokens
• 8 Specialist mats
• Dice bag
• 60 black Oil dice
• 4 blue Weather dice
• 1 Spill Out token
• 9 Spill Out tokens

Assembling the Oil Rig Dice Tower

Components: 6 cardboard perimeter walls, 2 funnels, 4 short legs (top), 4 long legs (bottom), base, decals

Perimeter walls: Slot together matching labels.

Connect the 2 'X' slots to form the center partition.

Next, connect slots 3 and 4.

Connect corners A, B, C, D and 1, 2.

See instructions on the decal sheet for placement of stickers onto the tower.

Tower: Gently, but firmly, connect the two funnels with the 4 short legs, as shown. Then connect the funnels to the base with the 4 long legs.

(Note: the legs can be disassembled for packing away. Use care when assembling and dismantling to prevent any damage to the structures.)

Place the assembled tower over the center partition, through the slots in the base.

Position the fully constructed tower at the center of the game board. Orient it like a diamond, so the corners of the perimeter walls align with the blue corners printed on the board and the X shaped cross pieces align with the white quadrant lines.

Object

Prevent a catastrophic environmental disaster.

Your team will LOSE if one or more of these conditions exists at the end of a turn:

1. Sickbay holds at least 1 each of the 6 different Marine Animal types, contaminated by oil.
2. Sickbay holds at least 3 of a single type of Marine Animal, contaminated by oil. (There are 6 of each type.)
3. The board contains 6 or more Spill Outs, each Spill Out defined as a column of three Oil dice filling a Sector.

These losing conditions are a constant threat. If you cannot remedy the losing condition(s) by the end of the turn's Action Phase, the game ends immediately in disaster.

The team WINS if you have completed all three objectives listed on your Win Condition card – AND no losing conditions exist on the board.

Otherwise, the game ends when the bag is emptied of dice and the player who emptied it completes their turn. The empty bag signifies the capping of the wellhead to stop the flow of oil. If no losing conditions exist, the team WINS.

Setup

1. Place the board and oil rig tower at the center of the table. The board's circular grid is divided into 4 Quadrants and each Quadrant has 6 numbered Sectors.

   The outermost black space, marked with the die icon, is where ship tokens travel.

   The three spaces above it are all part of the same Sector. The Oil dice and Marine Animals in these three spaces (A, B, C) can be reached by a ship within that sector.

2. Place all the Marine Animal tokens onto the matching icons on the board. Each Marine Animal token has a Healthy side and Contaminated side, marked with oil. All tokens should be face-up, on the Healthy side, to begin the game.

3. Win Condition cards are marked with one, two or three gold dots. The more dots, the more challenging the game. For your first game, use the cards with a single dot. Thereafter, feel free to select any of the three sets - or combine them into a single mixed deck.

   Shuffle the selected set of Win Condition cards. Then draw one at random and place it face-up. Place the others back into the box. Place 3 activation cubes next to this card to mark off objectives as they are completed. Some may even start completed. Note: 3 purple tokens are included for use with two-dot and three-dot Win Condition cards.

4. Place the Situation board to one side of the Game board. Place the Spill Out token on one of the Spill Out tracks, in the first green space. These tracks further set the difficulty of the game. None are easy, but for your first few games, "Standard" is recommended.

5. Place 8 black Oil dice to one side. Then collect the remaining Oil dice and the 4 blue Weather dice and place them in the bag. Give it a good shake to mix them well.

6. Given your Win Conditions, choose 4 Specialists for the game you think best suited to the task. Or alternately, deal out 4 Specialist mats at random. (The random selection method is preferred by the design team.) Regardless of the player count, there are always 4 Specialists in play.

   • One player: You control all 4 Specialists, taking a turn for each.
   • Two players: Each player controls 2 Specialists, taking a turn for each.
   • Three players: Each player controls one Specialist. The fourth is a communal Specialist. Players will control this Specialist together.
   • Four players: Each player controls one Specialist.

7. Place your Specialist(s) face-up in front of you and gather their matching color Ship token(s). Place the remaining Specialist mats and Ship tokens to one side of the board for potential later use.

8. Give each Specialist a set of 5 Weather Effect tokens. Place them face-down (blue side) on the matching spaces of your mat.

9. Each Specialist begins the game with their Ship token in a different Quadrant on the board. Roll a die for each Ship and place it in the matching numbered Sector of their Quadrant.

10. Shuffle the Resource cards. Deal 2 to each Specialist. Select one to keep for the team and discard the other. (In a 3-player game, discuss the communal Specialist's cards as a team). Place the 4 Resource cards you chose face-up along the bottom edge of the Situation board. Put the discards on the bottom of the stack. Place the remaining activation cubes near the Resource cards.

The Disaster Begins

Drop the 8 black Oil dice you set aside down through the top of the oil rig. These dice represent the initial oil gushing from the damaged well. Each die will fall into one of the four Quadrants. Take note of each die's rolled value. Then place each in the matching numbered Sector of that Quadrant as shown.

When placing dice, always start in the ring of spaces closest to the oil rig. If another die is rolled in the Quadrant with that same number, place it on the next outer ring. Each Sector space can hold only one die, and each Sector column can hold a maximum of three dice. During Set Up, if more than two dice land in the same sector or if any dice cover Marine Animals, re-drop those dice. Repeat if necessary.

Note: If a second "5" fell into this Quadrant on the initial drop, the die would be re-rolled, as Marine Animals cannot be covered over to begin the game.

Playing the Game

This is a cooperative game in which you all win or lose together. Start by reading your Specialist's ability aloud to inform your teammates of your unique ability. The owner or host of the game will be first player. Alternatively, the highest roll of the die goes first. The first player will not change over the course of the game.

Specialists take turns in clockwise progression. On each Specialist's turn, complete the following steps:

Spill Phase / Action Phase / Action Phase Clean Up / Win-Lose Conditions Check

Spill Phase

(If this is the very first turn of the game, skip the Spill Phase and proceed immediately to the Action Phase.)

1. Assemble Oil Dice

a. The Active Specialist draws from the bag the required number of dice as shown by the Spill Out Tracker. This number starts at 3 dice, but will escalate over the course of the game.

b. If, near the end of the game, not enough dice are left in the bag for the required drop, take the needed number from the Removed Oil area of the Situation board. This will be the final drop of the game.

c. The Active Specialist must also add any dice from the EXTRA Action Pool, if the previous Specialist placed any there.

2. The Spill

a. Drop the collected dice into the oil rig and place them onto the board. As during Set Up, place each die in the Quadrant they fall into and onto the numbered Sector shown on the die face. Oil dice will start to fill the three available spaces of a given Sector. Always start with the space nearest the oil rig. If that space already contains a die, place it on the next outward spot in the same numbered Sector.

b. Check for Spill Outs. A "Spill Out" occurs each time a Sector fills the 3rd space, forming a column of three dice. Having six Spill Outs on the board is a losing condition, so preventing and removing them is a key strategy. Every time a Spill Out occurs, advance the Spill Out token on the Situation board by one space. This will escalate the danger over time by increasing the number of dice dropped every turn, from 3 to 4 dice - or as many as 6 dice on Ultimate difficulty.

Note that if you Push Back or Remove an Oil die from a Spill Out and it later fills back to 3 dice, it will trigger the Spill Out token again.

Spill Out tokens can be added to the board to more easily warn of a potential loss.

c. Manage Overflows: A Sector with three Oil dice in it is full and cannot accept any additional dice. When a die is due to be placed on a Sector that already has 3 dice, the oil "Overflows" into an adjacent Sector clockwise, filling the next available space in that Sector. Should the adjacent Sector also have 3 dice, the Oil die continues clockwise into the next Sector, until an available space is found.

Note: The Risk Engineer has the ability to redirect an Overflow die counter-clockwise instead, should it prove beneficial.

d. Check for Marine Animal Impacts:

1. If an Oil die lands on a Healthy Marine Animal, flip it to the Contaminated side. The die remains in the space.

   This animal is in danger of going to Sickbay if the die is not Pushed Back or Removed by the end of this turn's Action Phase.

2. If an Oil die lands on a Contaminated Marine Animal, send it immediately to Sickbay. The die remains in the space.

   Too many Marine Animals in Sickbay is a losing condition, so monitor this closely.

e. Check for Weather Effects: (see also Weather Effects)

Mixed in the bag are 4 blue Weather dice. When drawn, drop them with the rest of the dice into the tower. (You do not need to redraw additional Oil dice to replace them) Do not place the Weather die onto the board. Instead, check the rolled value against the Weather Effects chart on the Situation board. The effect is activated immediately.

All Specialists flip a matching Weather Effect token on their mat as a reminder of the effect for their turn. If the effect token is already face-up and another Weather Effect roll of the same type occurs, there is no additional effect.

After applying the effect, the Weather die is removed from the game.

f. When all the above steps have been taken for each die, The Spill Phase is complete.

g. IMPORTANT: Note any potential Losing Conditions that now exist. These MUST be remedied in the Action Phase or the team will lose.

Action Phase

The Active Specialist has 4 Action Points (AP) to spend on their turn and may perform the following actions, in any order or combination. (AP can be spent on the same action more than once.)

• Spend up to 4 Action Points to:

  Move 1-2 Sector spaces (1AP) — Rescue a Healthy Marine Animal (1AP)

  Push Back an Oil die (1 AP) — Rescue a Contaminated Marine Animal (2 AP)

  Remove an Oil die from the game (3 AP)

• The Specialist MAY spend activation cubes from one or more Resource cards.

• The Specialist EARNS activation cubes and places them on Resource cards

  • for each set of 3 Oil dice removed from the game.
  • for each full set of six different Marine Animals rescued.

• The Specialist MAY spend 1 or 2 EXTRA Action Points (unless no dice are left in the bag) If they do, they MUST draw one die for each Extra Action taken from the bag and place it in the EXTRA Action Pool on the Situation board.

Move (1 AP)

Spend 1 Action Point to move your ship along the outer edge of the board, one or two Sectors clockwise OR counter-clockwise. Other actions cannot be taken in the middle of a Move action. A Specialist's movement is not restricted to their starting Quadrant and may travel to other Quadrants. A ship must be in the same Sector as an Oil die or Marine Animal in order to affect it. Multiple ships may share a space.

Push Back an Oil die into the bag (1 AP)

Spend 1 Action Point to place an Oil die from the Sector your Ship occupies back into the bag. This can have the effect of eliminating a Spill Out or preventing future ones.

Note: eliminating a Spill Out on the board does not move the token back on the Spill Out Tracker. Pushing Back an Oil die is a low-cost way to deal with immediate threats, but it is a delaying tactic, not a long term solution.

Remove an Oil die from the game (3 AP)

Spend 3 Action Points to take an Oil die from the Sector your Ship occupies and remove it from the game. Removing oil is critically important (arguably the most important), but it costs most of your AP to accomplish.

Place dice removed in this way onto the Removed Oil section of the Situation board. Every die removed permanently reduces the threat on the board.

RESOURCE ACTIVATION: Every set of three Oil dice removed gives the team an orange activation cube which can be assigned to activate a Resource card.

Rescue a Healthy Marine Animal (1 AP)

Spend 1 Action Point to rescue a Healthy Marine Animal from the Sector your ship occupies. Place the Marine Animal token onto its matching spot on the Situation board. Place them into the topmost row first and proceed down the chart as you rescue more of the same Marine Animal.

RESOURCE ACTIVATION: Every full set of six different Marine Animals gives the team an orange activation cube which can be assigned to activate a Resource card.

Rescue a Contaminated Marine Animal (2 AP)

Spend 2 Action Points to rescue a Contaminated Marine Animal from the Sector your Ship occupies. If an Oil die is also present in the same space, the Oil die MUST be Pushed Back or Removed from the board before you can rescue the Marine Animal. Time is of the essence. A Contaminated Marine Animal still sharing a space with an Oil die at the end of the Action Phase is moved to Sickbay during Clean Up. You only have the current turn to rescue it.

When you place a Contaminated Marine Animal on the Situation board, keep the contaminated side face-up, as some Win Condition cards have objectives based on rescuing Contaminated Marine Animals.

STRATEGY TIP: You will want to save every Marine Animal you can, but don't forget about removing oil from the game. You must balance your efforts to win.

Specialist Abilities

Specialist abilities allow exceptions to the rules or change the cost of actions. Where this is true, follow the rules on the Specialist mat.

Ability Clarifications:

Marine Biologist: You can rescue animals from one Sector away (see example). Note: You cannot rescue an adjacent animal if it shares the space with an Oil die. Oil must be cleared first before a rescue can occur.

Environmental Tech: You MUST move into the Sector to activate your free push of an Oil die. Your ability cannot push a die for free in the Sector you began your turn in.

Marine Vet: You may rescue the Healthy Marine Animal for free, even if a Weather Effect increases the cost to rescue animals. Contaminated Marine Animals are not free, and therefore still increase their cost through this Weather Effect.

Risk Engineer: Your ability to move Overflow dice in a counter-clockwise direction is always active, even on other player's turns.

Sea Captain: The transport ability is part of your MOVE action. You may choose not to move any additional Sectors, but it will still cost the 1 AP it normally costs to move.

Meteorologist: You are personally immune to the Weather Effects shown on the card, even when others must suffer them (as a result, you only need the +1AP token on your mat). The second part of your ability is only active when a Weather Die is rolled on your turn. It gives you a 50% chance of gaining the +1AP Bonus for the whole team.

Requisition Officer: After using a Resource card that was pulled from the discard pile, remove it from the game.

Resource Cards and Activation Cubes

The Resource cards chosen at the beginning of the game are a team resource. They begin the game inactive. However, every time the team removes a set of 3 Oil dice from the game OR rescues a full row of 6 Marine Animals, they gain an orange Activation cube.

This cube is immediately placed on any ability on any card the Active player chooses. Note that many of the cards have two abilities, a lesser ability which costs one activation cube to use, and a more powerful ability that costs two or more. Cubes may be stored on one or more cards, but upon only one effect per card. Once placed, you are committed to that ability and may not move cubes to another location later, even on the same card.

Once a given ability on a card has enough Activation cubes on it, it is available for immediate use. It is not necessary to use this ability right away, so you may wait for a critical moment. Decisions regarding the placement of cubes and the use of Resources are open to discussion by the full team, however only the active Specialist may actually do so.

After an ability is used, the card and the cube are discarded. Replace it with a new Resource card drawn from the top of the Resource deck.

Extra Actions (Gain up to +2 AP)

The Specialist MAY spend 1 or 2 EXTRA Action Points (unless no dice are left in the bag) on their turn. If they do, they MUST draw one die for each Extra Action taken from the bag and place it in the EXTRA Action Pool on the Situation board. These dice are collected and dropped by the following Specialist as they assemble their dice in the Spill Phase. EXTRA Action Points can help you out of tight spots, but the added dice dropping on the following turn is a definite risk.

Action Phase Clean Up

1. Flip all face-up Weather Effect tokens on your Specialist mat face-down, ending their effect.
2. Any Contaminated Marine Animal still sharing a space with an Oil die is moved to Sickbay.
3. Add an orange cube to any Win Condition you have achieved this turn - and/or remove them from those no longer achieved.

Win / Lose Conditions Check

At the end of each turn, you must check to see if you have won or lost the game.

Your team has LOST if one or more of these conditions currently exists:

1. Sickbay holds at least 1 of all 6 different Marine Animal types.
2. Sickbay holds at least 3 of a single type of Marine Animal.
3. The board contains 6 or more Spill Outs, each Spill Out defined as a column of three Oil dice filling a Sector.

If not, your team has WON if you have completed all three objectives listed on the Win Condition card.

If neither is true, play passes clockwise to the next Specialist and a new turn begins.

When the bag is empty of dice, the game will end after the current turn. If no losing conditions exist, the team WINS.

Adjusting the Difficulty

The Spill is intended to be a difficult game to win. It can be made easier by ignoring the Spill Out track and dropping just 3 dice throughout the game. Of course it can be made more challenging by using the more difficult Spill Out tracks and/or using the more difficult Win Condition cards.

Harsh Weather Rule: This optional rule has the potential to make the Weather Effects more extreme. The rule allows certain Weather Effect tokens to stack with additional copies if you already have one, with cumulative effects. For example, "-1 Ship Move" could leave your ship unable to move with two tokens active. Marine Animals would cost +1 to rescue for each token. And, on the plus side, +1 AP could give you additional free actions for each token. Extra tokens have been supplied for this variant so you may add them to your Specialist mat as needed.

Weather Effects

When a Weather Effect token is face-up on your Specialist mat, your turn is impacted as follows:

• Resource cards cannot be used on this Specialist's turn. Activation cubes may be added to Resource cards, but not spent while this token is face-up on their mat. Since only the active Specialist can use a Resource, others cannot use them on their behalf.

• The Specialist's unique ability may not be used while this token is face-up on their mat.

  • You may also not swap Specialists (through Resource cards) if one or both have this token face-up.

• The Specialist's ship movement is reduced by 1 while this token is face-up on their mat.

  • The Sea Captain's "transport" ability is not affected, only standard movement.
  • Optional "Harsh Weather" rules allow this effect to stack with multiple tokens, which may reduce movement to zero on the Specialist's turn.

• Rescuing Marine Animals costs 1 additional AP while this token is face-up on this Specialist's mat.

  • The Marine Vet's first listed ability is not affected. Rescuing non-contaminated Marine Animals remains "free". But the ability to rescue contaminated animals will cost 1 additional AP.
  • Optional "Harsh Weather" rules allow this effect to stack with multiple tokens, which cumulatively increases the cost to rescue Marine Animals on the Specialist's turn.

• Drop an additional 3 Oil dice immediately. This effect does not have a token.

• The Specialist gains 1 bonus AP while this token is face-up on their mat. It's the only beneficial Weather Effect.

  • Optional "Harsh Weather" rules allow this effect to stack with multiple tokens, which cumulatively adds more additional Action Points.

During the Specialist's ACTIVE PHASE CLEAN UP, all face-up Weather Effect tokens are flipped face-down and their effects end.

Play Order (Quick Reference)

SPILLS PHASE: (skip this Phase on the first turn)

1. Assemble Oil Dice: a. The Active Specialist draws from the bag the required number of dice, as shown by the Spill Out tracker. b. Add any dice from the EXTRA Action Pool.
2. The Spill: a. Dice are dropped into the rig and assigned to Quadrants/Sectors. b. & c. Check for Spill Outs and manage Overflows. d. Marine Animal Impacts: If an Oil die lands on a Healthy animal, flip it to the Contaminated side. If an Oil die lands on a Contaminated animal, send it to Sickbay. e. Weather Effects: If a Weather die is dropped, check the rolled value against the Weather die chart. The effect is activated immediately. All Specialists flip face-up the matching effect token on their card as a reminder of the effect on their turn. f. Note any potential Losing Conditions. These MUST be remedied in the Action Phase.

ACTION PHASE:

The Active Specialist does the following, in any order or combination:

• Spend up to 4 Action Points to:
  • Move 1-2 Sectors (1AP) — Rescue an Healthy Animal (1AP)
  • Push Back an Oil die (1 AP) — Rescue a Contaminated Animal (2 AP)
  • Remove an Oil die from the game (3 AP)
• The Specialist MAY use activated Resource cards.
• Earned activation cubes are placed on Resource cards for each 3rd Oil die removed / each full set of Marine Animals Rescued.
• The Specialist MAY spend 1 or 2 EXTRA Action Points. (adding dice to the EXTRA Action Pool for each)

ACTION PHASE CLEAN UP:

1. Flip all face-up Weather Effect tokens face-down, ending their effect.
2. Move Contaminated Marine Animals in spaces with an Oil die to Sickbay.
3. Add a cube to any Win Condition you have achieved this turn.

WIN / LOSE CONDITIONS CHECK:

• At the end of each turn, check to see if you have won or lost the game.
• If neither has occurred, play passes clockwise to the next Specialist and a new turn begins.

Credits

Game design by Andy Kim. Illustrations by Kwanchai Moriya. Graphic Art: Curt Covert. Development: Curt Covert. Special Development Thanks to Emily Kim, Avonelle Wing, Fred Barnard, Alf Fischer. Rulebook editing: Linda Baldwin, Elton Lau.

"My enduring thanks to: Pam Walls, Sen-Foong Lim, Christopher Chung, Daryl Andrews, James Correia, Jocelyn Yu, Caleb Yu, Darren, Laura and Karissa Wong, my kids Abby and Evan, who love all the living creatures on the Earth and always remind me that we have so much further to go in keeping our planet beautiful. My wife Emily Kim, who is a constant source of inspiration, and my God who charged us to be stewards of this wonderous planet, and with whom, we can strive to do better!" - Andy

© 2022 Smirk and Dagger Games. All Rights Reserved.