"Land ho!" screeches Coco the parrot. He is on the lookout, circling high above your ships. In front of you lie the islands of Catan: many small islands with lush forests, golden yellow sugar cane fields, and volcanic cliffs studded with mysterious caves-an ideal home for adventurous pirates!
You immediately build your first pirates' lairs and your first ship, and since the islands are filled with goods and treasures, you soon are able to build more ships and pirates' lairs.
As you explore the group of islands further, you discover a towering isle laden with fabulous gold treasures. And while everyone is busy trying to be the first to build a pirates' lair on the gold island, Coco comes back from a reconnaissance flight. Agitated, he screeches, "Ghost Captain! Ghost Captain!"
What terrified Coco was the gloomy fortress on Spooky Island, built on a lonely rock surrounded by treacherous waters. Soon the Ghost Captain will notice that he is no longer the sole ruler of the islands of Catan.
Then he will try to prevent you from advancing further, wherever he can. But who knows, if the Ghost Captain bothers you too much, maybe Coco, your loyal parrot, will come to the rescue...
Components
- 106 die cut markers
- 4 player cost boards
- 1 two-sided game board
- 28 Pirate hideouts
- 32 Ships
- 1 pirate ghost
- 1 die
- 1 tray
- 1 box
- 1 rule book.
Object of the Game
The goal of the game is to be the first player to build your 7 pirates' lairs.
You can build a pirates' lair on any empty lair-site adjacent to one of your ships. You can build a ship on any empty ship-site adjacent to one of your pirates' lairs.
You need resources to build ships and pirates' lairs. These costs are shown on your building costs tile. You get resource tiles from the islands adjacent to your pirates' lairs.
Setup
Before you play your first game, carefully detach all parts from the die-cut cardboard sheets.
The Board - Place the board at the center of the table.
In a 3-player or 4-player game, use the side with four turtle isles in the upper-right corner of the water (circled in red on the right).
In a 2-player game, use the side with only 2 turtle isles.
Resource Tiles - Sort the resource tiles by the five types-cutlasses, goats, wood, gold, and molasses-and place them in a stockpile next to the board.
The Market - Take one tile from each of the five resource tile piles and place these tiles on the five booths of the marketplace depicted at the right side of the board (one tile on each booth).
Coco Tiles - Thoroughly shuffle the "Coco Tiles" and place them in a stack next to the board, with Coco, the parrot, facing up.
The Ghost Captain - Place the Ghost Captain on Spooky Island.
The Die - Place the die next to the board.
Your Pieces - Each of you chooses a color. Take the 7 pirates' lairs and the 8 ships of your color.
In a 3-player game, the white game pieces are not used, so you put them back into the box.
Some circles on the game board are colored. These are your starting lair-sites.
Place 1 of your pirates' lairs on each of the 2 sites for pirates' lairs of your chosen color. The sites for ships are marked with outlined, dotted lines.
Place 1 of your ships on the line of your chosen color.
Then place your remaining 5 pirates' lairs and your 7 ships in front of you as your supply.
Each of you takes the building costs tile that matches your color and places it face up in front of yourself.
Lastly, each of you receives a wood resource tile and a molasses resource tile from the stockpile. Place these resource tiles in front of you.
You are now ready to begin your adventure!
Game Play
Each turn the die is rolled. Each island displaying the number rolled produces a resource for each adjacent pirates' lair. For example, if a 4 is rolled, the treasure caves (lower left) would produce cutlasses, while the sugar cane (lower right) would produce molasses.
The youngest player starts the game and takes the first turn. Begin your turn by rolling the dice. Depending on what you roll, some players receive new resource tiles.
After rolling, since it's your turn, you may build and trade in any desired order. When you are done building and trading, your turn is over. You pass the die to the player on your left, who takes a turn.
Roll the Die
When it is your turn, you roll the die. Even though it is still your turn, other players may receive resource tiles. For each of his/her pirates' lairs adjacent to an island with the number rolled, that player receives 1 resource tile that matches the icon of that adjacent island.
Because you rolled the die, you must give your fellow players any newly earned resources from the stockpile.
Look at the picture below. You are the white player and roll a "4". You and the red player each have a pirates' lair next to the sugar cane island with a "4", so you each get a molasses tile.
A treasure cave island is also marked with a "4", so you must give the blue and the orange pirates 1 cutlass tile each.
Note: You receive 1 resource for each pirates' lair you have next to an island that produces.
For example, if the orange player has 2 lairs next to the "4" cutlass islands and a "4" is rolled, the orange player gets 2 cutlasses.
"Did you notice? There's no '6' at all on the game board, because if a '6' is rolled, something quite different happens..".
If you roll a "6", no one receives resource tiles. Instead, you move the Ghost Captain onto any other island of your choice. Then, you take 2 resource tiles normally produced by that island from the stockpile.
As long as the Ghost Captain is on an island, no one receives resource tiles for their pirates' lairs adjacent to that island when the island's number is rolled.
"So, if you roll a '6', no resource tiles are distributed. Instead, you move the Ghost Captain onto another island. You also take two resource tiles produced by that island from the stockpile.
Of course, the best thing you can do in this instance is to place the Ghost Captain on an island where only your opponents have built their pirates' lairs. Or, where you can take resources that you can immediately use to build something".
Build
On your turn, you can use resources to buy Coco tiles and to build pirates' lairs and ships. You may build/buy as long as you have the required resources.
A pirates' lair costs 1 cutlass, 1 molasses, 1 goat, & 1 wood.
A ship costs 1 goat & 1 wood.
A Coco tile costs 1 cutlass, 1 molasses, & 1 gold.
Whenever you want to build something, check your building costs tile to remind yourself what you can do with your resources. Whenever you build something, put the resources you spend into the stockpile.
Pirates' Lair
You may build a pirates' lair on an empty lair-site, but only if one of your ships is adjacent to it.
Ship
You may build a ship on any empty ship-site, but only if it is adjacent to one of your own pirates' lairs.
"You must always build in an alternating fashion. Either a pirates' lair and then a ship, or a ship and then a pirates' lair. So, you may not build past another play- er's pirates' lair or ship, and you may not share a lair-site or ship-site with another player".
Buy Coco Tiles
When you buy a Coco tile, the parrot helps you immediately. Turn the tile face up and take the action that is shown.
Back of a Coco tile.
Move the Ghost Captain as if you had rolled a '6'
Build a pirates' lair or a ship for free
Receive these 4 resources from the stockpile
Place your used tiles in front of you, Coco side up. Used tiles are used to keep track of how many Coco tiles you have bought.
''The Coco tiles can be very useful. You can receive resource tiles, a ship, or a pirates' lair as a gift. You can also get the chance to move the Ghost Captain".
A Pirates' Lair in the Castle
If you ever have the most Coco tiles in front of you, place one of your unused pirates' lairs on Spooky Island. If you are the first player to buy a Coco tile, you have the most tiles.. .for now.
If any other player has the same number of Coco tiles as you have, you must remove your pirate's lair from Spooky Island.
When the tie is broken, and once again a single player has the most Coco tiles, that player places a pirates' lair on Spooky Island.
Trade
While you may not always have the resources you need to build on your turn, you have the chance to trade with the marketplace or with the stockpile. You may only trade on your turn.
Marketplace
If you decide to trade with the marketplace, you can take any one of the resources from the booths. In return, you must place one of your own resources back on that booth. That way, there are always 5 resource tiles in the marketplace.
You can trade with the marketplace only once during your turn. If you want to trade some more, you may trade with the stockpile.
"As soon as 5 tiles of the same type are in the marketplace, the tiles are removed from the marketplace and returned to the stockpile. No w place 1 of each resource on the marketplace booths, just like at the beginning of the game".
Trade with the Stockpile
Another option you have is to trade directly with the stockpile of resources. Take any one resource tile from the stockpile, but in exchange, you must replace it with two of your resource tiles. Your two tiles must be a matched pair. You may trade with the stockpile as many tunes as you wish or are able.
"For example, you may place 2 goat tiles into the stockpile and take 1 wood tile from the stockpile in exchange".
End of the Game
As soon as a player builds all 7 pirates' lairs (of course, a pirates' lair on Spooky Island also counts!), the game immediately ends and that player wins.
An optional rule for advanced players:
Trading with your Opponents
Do not use the marketplace. Instead, the players may trade resource tiles among themselves.
If it is your turn, you may trade resource tiles with the other players. Let's assume you want to build a ship, for which you need 1 wood tile and 1 goat tile. You already have 1 goat tile, but unfortunately, you don't have a wood tile.
However, you have a cutlass tile you don't need at the moment. Now you can ask the other players whether someone wants to trade a wood tile for a cutlass tile. If someone wants your trade, swap the two tiles.
All trades must be 1 resource for 1 resource, but you can do this as many times as you like on your turn.
"It's important, though, that trading is only allowed with the player whose turn it is. Players who are not taking their turns may not trade with each other".
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