Tobago FAQ
84 questions players ask · Updated Nov 12, 2026 · Full rulebook
Game Play
A) Play a Clue Card
- Must every clue card you play narrow down where the treasure can be?
- When do you place the site markers, and can you play clues before they are placed?
- When do you draw a replacement clue card after playing one?
- Do you have to exchange your whole clue-card hand, and how many cards is that?
- What can you do if none of the clue cards in your hand can be played?
B) Move Your ATV
Raising a Treasure
- Does raising a treasure end your turn?
- If your ATV already sits on a treasure at the start of your turn, can you raise it and still take your normal action?
- Can you raise a treasure that a clue card has narrowed to the space your ATV is on?
- If an amulet move puts your ATV on the only site for a treasure, can you raise it that turn?
- Does the player who raises a treasure get a card for their compass rose and the first pick in the distribution?
- Can two treasures share a space, and can you raise both on one turn?
- If a treasure becomes known on a space where two players stand, who can raise it?
- Can you pick up an amulet or raise a treasure during another player's turn?
- When you raise several treasures in one turn, do you distribute each one right away?
Distributing a Treasure
- Does it matter who distributes, or in what order players look at their drawn treasure cards?
- In what order is each treasure card offered, and can a player who passed be asked again?
- When a player passes on a card and later claims one, which compass rose is returned?
- Can the distributor discard the rest of the face-down treasure cards to stop a distribution early?
- Are the treasure cards a player collects hidden from the other players?
- Is an undistributed treasure card shown to the players before it is discarded?
Cursed Treasures
- Do curse cards go back into the deck or get reshuffled?
- When a curse hits and you have no amulet, which treasure card do you lose?
- Does a curse affect every player with a compass rose on the treasure, however many roses they have?
- Can a player who did not raise the treasure discard an amulet against a curse?
- Does a curse end the rest of the treasure's distribution, even if someone uses an amulet?
- If you hold an amulet when a curse hits, must you discard it to keep your best treasure card?
Starting a New Treasure Hunt
The Mysterious Appearance of the Amulets
- Can two amulets be on the same space?
- When new amulets appear, do the amulets already on the board stay there?
- When do the first amulets appear, and when do the statues turn?
- Does it matter whether the amulet for a statue's start space is placed before or after the treasure is distributed?
- Where does a statue's amulet go when its line of sight crosses several island spaces before the water?
- Can an amulet sit on the same space as a hut or a palm tree?
Picking up Amulets
- If an amulet is already under your ATV at the start of your turn, do you pick it up for free?
- If an amulet appears under your ATV after you raise a treasure, can you pick it up without spending a leg?
- Can you pick up an amulet on the last leg of a Move ATV action?
- Does picking up an amulet cost one of your three legs?
Amulet Powers
- Can you play several amulets in one turn, including ones you just picked up?
- Can you play an amulet before your normal action, or in between your other actions?
- Can you use an amulet between the legs of a Move ATV action?
- Can you pick up an amulet during a move that an amulet paid for?
- Does an amulet's extra move add legs to your current move?
- If your main action was playing a clue card, can you still use an amulet for an extra move, and the reverse?
- Can you use amulets to reach a treasure, raise it, and still take your normal action?
- Can you use an amulet to remove a site marker, even where the clues still allow that space?
- Can a treasure get stuck with several possible sites so nobody can raise it?
- Does removing a site marker with an amulet give you a compass rose or a stake in the treasure?
- Can you exchange your clue cards with an amulet and still take your normal turn?
- Can you exchange your clue cards without an amulet, and what does that cost?
Ending the Game
Game Setup and Components
- How far apart must two similar objects, such as two palm trees, be placed during setup?
- Can huts, palm trees and statues be placed on lake spaces during setup?
- Where do the ATVs start the game?
- How are the starting clue cards placed, and how does setup differ for two players?
- Where are the two curse cards placed in the treasure deck at setup?
- How many gold cards and curse cards are in the treasure deck?
- How many huts, palm trees and statues go on the island at setup?
- How many amulets come with the game?
- In what order do you set up the ATVs, the treasure maps and the starting clue hands?
- How does the board make 32 different islands?
How To Read the Clues
- Can a treasure sit on the space of a hut, palm tree or statue?
- Does 'within two spaces' mean exactly two, and how are the spaces counted?
- What is the difference between 'next to' and 'in sight of' clues?
- Can one clue say 'in sight of a hut' and another say 'not next to a hut', so the treasure is exactly two spaces away?
- Do ocean hexes count when measuring distance for a clue, and can an 'in sight' clue reach across the ocean?
- Does a 'within a lake' clue include the largest lake?
- Does an 'in sight of the largest lake' clue exclude every lake, or only the largest one?
- Does a 'not in the jungle' clue also exclude the largest jungle?
- Do earlier clue cards still count when narrowing a treasure, and are site markers only a visual aid?
- If two mountain areas touch, does a 'next to a mountain' clue allow the treasure on either one?
Tobago: VolcanoExpansion
- Can a volcano terrain triad cut off part of the ocean, and how is the cut-off hex treated?
- How are volcano terrain triads chosen or placed, and in what order?
- What happens when lava burns up a hut or palm tree that a treasure map depends on?
- Can you cross lava with an extra Move ATV action, and collect an amulet you land on?
- Can you cross lava without an amulet by giving up a treasure card, if you have none?
- Is Tobago: Volcano compatible with an older copy of the base game?