New lands are waiting to be discovered and to provide a new homeland - rich with valuable resources - for its settlers. Good planning and clever tactical decisions are needed as the dice tower affects the fate of all players, and only those who monitor the cubes in the dice tower, closely watch their competitors, and keep the dangerous pirates in mind stand a chance ofbecoming a famous discoverer and winning the game.

Components

Common components:

• 1 dice tower
• 49 cubes
• 1 storage board
• 24 progress tokens
• 40 commodity tokens
• 50 production tokens
• 6 pirate markers
• 16 island tiles
• 5 treasure chests
• 8 frames
• 4 time markers
• 37 neutral landscape tiles
• 1 planning token
• 1 rulebook

Each player's components:

• 1 player sheet
• 2 ships
• 3 scoring discs
• 16 village tiles
• 1 victory point disc
• 1 player order disc
• 12 trading posts
• 2 victory point tiles

Setup

Set-up example for 4 players:

1. Setting Up The Islands

   

   Lay out the 16 island tiles to form an island area. Arrange the tiles as in the illustration above and while following these rules:

   1. Make sure that no water zones are completely surrounded by land.

   2. If land spaces on adjacent tiles connect, they must connect orthogonally, not just diagonally.

   Next, place the frame around the 16 island tiles.

   
   

   Place the time markers in ascending order on the print- ed time marker space on one of the frame tiles.

   Islands with 20 or more land spaces are referred to as "big islands". All other islands are small islands. Place one treasure chest on each big island.

   Place the commodity tokens on the appropriate spaces of the islands.

   Place the neutral landscape tiles face down next to the island area; place the planning token here as well.

2. Arranging the player components

   

   Each player receives a player sheet and keeps it in front of him.

   Each player chooses a player color and takes the 12 trading posts, 2 ships, 16 village tiles, 3 scoring discs, 1 victory point disc, 1 player order disc, and 2 victory point tiles of his color.

   Each player places 1 scoring disc on the first space of his progress, cannon and gold tracks. For now, the players keep their trading posts, ships, victory point disc and player order disc next to their player sheet.

   The players place their 16 village tiles face down next to the neutral landscape tiles.

3. Setting up the storage board

   

   Place the storage board next to the game board (i.e., the island area).

   Mix the pirate markers well and place 5 of them face down on the pirate spaces. Return the remaining pirate marker unseen to the game box. Reveal one of the pirate markers at random.

   Mix the progress tokens face down next to the storage board, then place one progress token face up on each space of the progress area.

   Mix the production tokens face down next to the storage board, then place one production token face up on each of the production spaces.

   Modifications For 2 And 3 Players

   With 2 players, return the production tokens for 3 and 4 players to the game box; with 3 players, return only t hose for 4 players to the game box. Only fill the production spaces up to the number of players.

   Each player places his victory point disc on space 0/50 of the victory point track.

   Stack all of the player order discs at random on the first space of the special action track.

   The player whose disc is on top is the first player. All other players receive one gold for each other player preceding them in player order. To track this gold, players move the disc on the gold track of their player sheet to the right the appropriate number of spaces.

4. 

   Preparing The Dice Tower

   Place the dice tower next to the storage board.

   Drop all 49 cubes into the tower, then place any cubes that land in the tray on the appropriately colored storage space of the action circuit.

Now, set-up is complete and players can start the game.

Game Play

The game is played over 5 game rounds; each game round consists of 7 phases. During each phase, each player takes exactly one action in the given player order.

There are 7 actions, each associated with a different color:

For the first phase of a game round, the starting player drops all blue cubes on the storage space into the dice tower.

Place all the cubes that land in the tray in the action space of the action circuit. These cubes indicate which actions can be chosen during this game phase and how often they can be used:

• The colors of the cubes emerging from the tower determine which actions are available this phase.

• The largest number of cubes of a single color deter- mines the number of action points (AP) that can be spent on a single available action during this game phase.

Beginning with the player whose disc is farthest along the special action track, each player in the given player order chooses one of the available actions and performs it. Multiple players can choose the same action.

If more than one disc is stacked on a space - as at the beginning of the game - these players take turns in order from top to bottom of the stack.

If a player cannot or does not want to use all of the ac- tion points available, he may forfeit any or all of them.

After all players have performed their actions, move all cubes from the action space to their respective storage spaces to end the current phase.

To start the next phase, drop all the cubes in the next storage space in clockwise order into the dice tower. (For the second phase, the black cubes; for the third phase, the red cubes; etc)..

After the phase in which the white cubes are dropped into the tower, the game round ends, intermediate scoring takes place, then players prepare for the next round.

Note: If a storage space is empty or no cubes fall out of the tower, skip this phase, with players taking no actions.

If cubes fall out of the tower at an inappropriate time (e.g., some- one bumps the table), leave the cubes in the tray until the start of the next phase. Drop these cubes into the tower along with the cubes on the appropriate storage space for this phase.

Here Are The Actions Explained In Detail:

The Blue Action: Move Ships

The first time a player chooses this action, he places his two ships on any spaces of his choice on the frame.

Each action point allows the player to move each of his ships to an orthogonally adjacent water space.

An unlimited number of ships can stand on a frame space, but each water space on an island tile can hold only one ship. A ship on a water space does not block the passage of other ships.

Example: With 4 AP available, the red player places his first ship on a frame tile for free and can sail 4 spaces. He decides to move only 3 spaces to land on an anchor space and establish a trading post. He forfeits the remaining 1 AP for this ship. He also uses 4

If a ship ends its movement on an anchor space, the player can establish one of his trading posts on the adjacent trading post space, provided that it's not occupied. This player can now build on this island.

The first player to establish a trading post on an island scores 3 victory points for his discovery.

Note: Each corner frame consists of three water spaces, while each small frame consists of one water space.

Example: With 5 AP available, the red player moves his ship to another anchor point on this same island. He then places a second trading post on this island, but he scores no victory points as this island has already been discovered.

Note: A player may establish more than one trading post on each island.

The Black Action: Load Cannons

The player moves the cannon scoring disc on his player sheet one space to the right for each action point, up to a maximum of 12.

Example: With 4 AP available, the red player moves his cannon disc 4 spaces to the right on the cannon track.

The Red Action: Plan

With this action, the player can take neutral landscape tiles or his own village tiles from the general supply and place them next to his player sheet.

Taking one of his own village tiles, regardless of its size, costs 1 AP. Taking a neutral landscape tile costs 1-6 AP, depending on its size. A player can take only one neutral landscape tile during each game phase.

Example: With 4 AP available, the red player takes one 2-square neutral landscape tile as well as a 4-square and a 3-square village tile from the general supply.

The Brown Action: Progress

The player moves the progress scoring disc on his player sheet one space clockwise for each action point used. Each time he reaches or passes a space with imprinted victory points, he must take a progress token from the storage board and place it on his player sheet.

At the end of the game, the player scores victory points equal to the highest number reached or passed.

Example: With 5 AP available, the blue player moves his progress disc past the victory point space. Then he collects one progress token from the storage board and places it on his player sheet.

The Green Action: Build

With this action, the player can build the neutral landscape or village tiles from the personal supply next to his player sheet face down on any island that contains at least one of his own trading posts.

Placing a village tile costs only 1 AP. Placing a neutral landscape tile costs 1-6 AP, depending on its size.

When Building, The Player Must Follow These Rules:

1. Tiles must be built only on land - never on water.

   
   
   

   Example: Part of the village tile is placed on a water space, which means that the tile cannot be placed here.

2. Each tile must be placed orthogonally adjacent to...

   1. either the player's own trading post.
   2. ...or a string of the player's village and/or neutral landscape tiles that connect to his trading post. (It doesn't matter which player built the neutral landscape tiles).

3. If a player builds over a commodity space, he takes that commodity token and places it on the corresponding space on his player sheet. Stack commodity tokens of the same type.

   
   
   

   Example: The red player placed his tiles on two commodity tokens: sugar and cotton. He takes these commodities and places them on his player sheet.

4. Players cannot build over a trading post, but they can build over an empty trading post space. In this case, a trading post can no longer be established on this space.

5. During each game phase, a player can build multiple tiles on one or more islands.

Players place newly built tiles face down, then they flip them face up and score them as follows:

Each village and landscape tile has two victory point values on it. When expanding on a small island, the player scores the smaller number of victory points; on a big island (marked by a treasure chest) the player scores the larger number of victory points.

Completing An Island:

When a player covers the last empty space of an island, he scores 3 victory points for completing the island in addition to the value of his tiles; if the island is a big island, he also takes the treasure chest, placing it next to his player sheet.

All players who own at least one trading post on this island now gain victory points as follows:

Example: The red player has built his tiles on a big island, so he earns 10 victory points (VP).

Each player locates the row that corresponds to the number of his trading posts on this island, then multiplies this number times the number on the topmost time marker. He scores victory points equal to this product.

An island can also be completed, if the last free space is a trading post space and a player establishes a trading post on it. Record all victory points scored during this action on the victory point track immediately.

Example: In the second game round, the red player builds a 2-square village tile and completes this island. He scores 2 VP for the built tile, 3 VP for completing the island, and 12 VP (3x4) for having 2 trading posts on the island. In sum, he scores 17 VP in addition to claiming the treasure chest. The blue player scores 4 VP (1x4) for his 1 trading post on this island.

Note: Move the treasure chest as needed when building tiles on an island.

The Yellow Action: Buy Production Tokens

With this action, the player can buy production tokens for 2-4 AP from the storage board. The AP cost of a production token equals the number on this token. The player stacks purchased production tokens on his player sheet with commodity tokens of the same type.

Note: Each player starts with a production token of each type of good printed on his player sheet.

Example: With 5 AP available, the red player buys two cotton production tokens for 5 AP from the storage board. He places them on his player sheet on top of his cotton commodity tokens.

Note: At the end of the game, combinations of matching commodity and production tokens generate victory points.

The White Action: Special Action

For this action, the player has two choices:

1. Change The Player Order:

   The player advances his disc one space on the special action track for each action point spent. If he lands on a space occupied by one or more discs, he places his disc on top of any disc(s) already on this space.

2. Take A Special Action:

   A player who has advanced at least once on the special action track will have his disc on a non- white space. The color of this space matches one of the actions described previously.

   If no cube of this color is in the action space, the player can still take this color's corresponding action. (In other words, for this action treat white cubes as jokers that match the color under a player's special action disc).

At the end of the game, the player scores victory points equal to the highest number on the special action track reached or passed.

Gold

Instead of performing an action, the player may take gold.

To do this, the player totals the number of cubes in the action space, divides this number by three, rounds up, then advances his disc on the gold track of his player sheet by this amount.

If his total gold would exceed 12, he immediately scores 1 victory point for each excess gold.

Example: Since 10 cubes lie in the action space, the blue player collects 4 gold. He already had 9 gold, so he places his gold disc on space 12 and immediately scores 1 VP for the one remaining gold.

Players can also receive gold as follows:

• If a player's disc reaches or has reached the end of the cannon, progress or special action track without the player being able to use all available action points that phase, he receives 2 gold, no matter how many action points he forfeits.

• After completing a big island, the player receives a treasure chest. He can remove this treasure chest from the game at any time and take 3 gold.

• Some progress tokens give players gold once or on a recurring basis.

Note: If a player has already reached the end of one of these tracks during an earlier phase and he takes this action again, he still receives 2 gold.

Example: With 5 AP available, the red player chooses the black action. He already has 10 cannons, so he can add only 2 more. The remaining cannons are converted to 2 gold.

Players can use gold as follows:

The cubes in the action space determine how many actions points are available for each action during a phase. For each 1 gold a player spends during a phase, he gains 1 additional action point.

Each gold a player owns at the end of the game is worth 1 victory point.

Example: With 2 AP available, the red player chooses the brown action, then spends 1 gold for 1 additional AP. Now he can advance 3 spaces on the progress track and claim another progress token from the storage board.

End of the Game Round & Intermediate Scoring

After the phase in which the white cubes are dropped into the dice tower (i.e., the seventh phase), the game round ends and an intermediate scoring takes place.

Each player must fire cannons equal to the strength of the pirates - that is, the sum of all face-up pirate markers. To do this, a player moves his disc on the cannon track that many spaces to the left.

If a player goes down to zero cannons and still has not matched the pirates' strength, he suffers damage equal to the full strength of the pirates and moves his scoring disc backwards on the victory point track that many spaces!

If a player still has cannons remaining after firing the required amount, he keeps these for the next game round.

Note: If a player's victory point total would be negative, he leaves his victory point disc on the 0/50 space.

Example: Six pirates are attacking the players. The blue player has only four cannons, so he must move his cannon disc to 0 and lose 6 VP.

Preparing the next game round:

1. Reveal one more pirate marker.

2. Replenish progress tokens:

   First, return all progress tokens in the right half of the progress area of the storage board to the game box. Slide any progress tokens in the left half of the progress area to the spaces in the right half. Place 4 new progress tokens on the left half of the progress area.

3. Replenish production tokens:

   Return all production tokens on the storage board to the game box, then refill the appropriate number of spaces with new production tokens.

4. Adjust the time marker. Remove the topmost time marker from the stack and place it in the game box.

Note: In many cases, fewer than 8 progress tokens will be on display after the first game round.

End of the Game

The game ends after the 5th game round. Players con- duct an intermediate scoring as usual, then final scoring takes place. Record all victory points on the victory point track immediately. Score the following:

1. Gold:

   First, convert treasure chests and one-time (1x) progress tokens that grant gold into gold on their owners' gold tracks.

   Note: Each gold that exceeds the gold track limit of 12 is immediately converted into 1 VP.

   A player now scores 1 VP for each gold on his gold track.

2. Goods:

   For each type of good, each player multiplies the number of commodity tokens that he owns of this type by the number of production tokens that he owns of this type. This product equals the number of victory points a player scores for this type of good.

   Note: The printed number on the production tokens has no meaning during scoring. Each production token counts as one. (Remember that each player starts with one production token of each type of good printed on his player sheet).

3. Progress:

   Evaluate all progress tokens marked "E". Additionally, each player scores as many victory points as the highest victory point value he has reached or passed on the progress track on his player sheet.

4. Special Actions:

   Each player scores as many victory points as the highest victory point value he has reached or passed on the special action track.

The player with the most victory points wins. In case of a tie, the tied player who is ahead of other tied players in player order wins the game.

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