In the harbor of Port Royal life is bustling and you hope to make the deal of your life. But don't risk too much or your cargo holds will be empty. Don't forget to reinvest your profit to gain the favor of Governors and Admirals and to hire various other persons that can further your goals.
Try to extend your influence and you might even be able to answer the call of one of the prestigious expeditions.
Components
- 120 Cards, comprised of 60 Persons
- 6 Expeditions
- 4 Tax Increases
- 50 Ships, 10 of each color
Setup
If you play with fewer than 5 players, first remove the special Expedition that is only needed for 5 players and put it back in the box. You can easily tell it apart, because it is the only card without a gold coin on its backside.
If you are playing with 5 players, put this card in the middle of the table instead. Now shuffle all remaining cards and set them face down on the table. This is the draw pile.
Leave a little space next to it for an open discard pile. Each player now starts with 3 coins that are dealt from the draw pile to each player as face down cards into their personal display, with only the golden coins showing.
Important note regarding the cards: The fronts of the cards are showing various Ships, Persons, Tax Increases and Expeditions. The back of every card features a golden coin.
Every time a player gains coins, draw the appropriate number of cards from the draw pile and put them face down and with every coin visible into your display without ever looking at the front. For every card, a player owns 1 coin.
Object of the Game
You will try to gain gold coins with which you will hire various persons who will give you permanent abilities to aid you. They, as well as Expeditions, will also yield you victory points which will bring you victory in a game of Port Royal.
Game Play
The player who last visited a harbor will be the start player. Beginning with him and then in clockwise direction, 1 player will be the active player. He will have to perform 2 phases in order - the 2nd of which might sometimes be skipped. If there is a 2nd phase, then, after the active player has acted, each other player will also have an opportunity to act in this phase. Then the active player changes. These 2 phases are:
- Discover: Draw cards from the draw pile into the harbor display
- Trade & Hire: Take cards from the harbor display
I. Discover
The active player must first draw a card from the draw pile to put into the middle of the table - this will form the harbor display. Now he has to decide if he wants to draw another card or stop. He can continue to make this decision until he stops voluntarily or 2 identically colored ships are in the harbor display (see below) which would force him to forfeit the rest of his turn. Should he stop, the 2nd phase begins.
There are 4 different card types:
- Persons
- Ships
- Expeditions
- Tax Increases
If the drawn card is a Person, it will go into the harbor display. Each person has an ability depicted on the top part of the card. It also has a shield 
with an amount of victory points. An explanation of all abilities can be found at the end of the rules.
If the drawn card is a Ship, the active player may put it into the harbor display as a possible source of income.
Alternatively he can repel the Ship and put it in the discard pile. To repel you must have 1 or more Sailors and/or Pirates in your personal display.
Additionally, the amount of Swords they give you, must be equal to or higher than the Swords depicted on the Ship. If this is the case you may put the Ship into the discard pile instead of the harbor display - otherwise it cannot be repelled and has to go into the harbor display.
You may only repel a Ship that has just been drawn; a ship with a Skull symbol can never be repelled.
Swords are never spent, i.e. you can use them multiple times during your turn.
Alex wants to repel the Flute with 2 
. Since his Sailor gives him 1 . and his Pirate 2 he has a total of 3 and he succeeds.
He can put the Flute on the discard pile.
If the drawn card is an Expedition, put it in the middle of the table but apart from the harbor display. An Expedition will stay there until a player claims it by fulfilling it.
To fulfill the requirements of an Expedition (visible on the bottom of the card) he has to have Persons with matching abilities in his personal display. He puts the matching Persons into the discard pile and takes the Expedition into his personal display, as well as a number of golden coins as depicted on the card. A player may claim Expeditions any time during his turn, and as many as he is able to.
Dagmar wants to claim an Expedition with 2 
. Therefore she discards her Priest () and her Jack of all Trades. She receives the Expedition card and 2 coins (from the draw deck).
If the drawn card is a Tax Increase, all players that currently own 12 or more golden coins lose half (rounded down) of their coins (i.e. with 12 or 13 coins the player loses 6 coins ). The cards are put onto the discard pile. Afterwards - depending on the Tax Increase drawn - either the player with the most Swords or the player with the least victory points gains 1 coin. In case of a tie (for example if no players have swords or victory points yet) all tied players gain 1 coin.
After the Tax Increase has been resolved it is discarded and play resumes as normal.
Here the player with the least amount of victory points gains 1 coin.
Here the player with the most Swords gains 1 coin.
A player can always stop voluntarily and proceed to the 2nd phase unless he draws a Ship that is of identical color to one that is already in the harbor dispay and that he cannot repel.
If that happens the player has to discard all of the harbor display (remember to keep Expeditions separate!) and he is forced to forfeit the rest of his turn. Phase 2: Trade & Hire will not take place, but all players with a Jester in their personal display gain 1 coin.
Play continues, with the next player in turn order becoming the active player and performing his Phase 1: Discover.
Should the draw pile ever be empty during game play, simply shuffle the discard pile and create a new face down draw pile.
II. Trade & Hire
In this phase the active player will be able to take 1-3 cards from the harbor display and then all other players will also get a chance to take 1 card. Exactly how many cards the active player will be able to take depends on the number of differently colored Ships in the harbor display:
0-3 differently colored Ships: take 1 card from the harbor display
4 differently colored Ships: take 2 cards from the harbor display
5 differently colored Ships: take 3 cards from the harbor display
Cards are taken one by one - so the ability of one card may be immediately used for the next card taken.
Trade
The player takes 1 Ship from the harbor display, and puts it into the discard pile. He now gains as many coins as are depicted on the banner at the top of the card.
Klemens takes the Flute from the harbor display, puts it onto the discard pile and gains 2 coins.
Hire
To hire 1 Person, a player has to pay an amount of coins (put onto the discard pile) equal to the cost depicted on the bottom part of the Person he wishes to hire. He puts the Person into his personal display and may from now on use the ability on the top part of the card (the banner). All abilities are explained at the end of the rules.
Andrea is hiring a Sailor. She pays 3 of her coins into the discard pile and puts the Sailor into her personal display.
After the active player has taken 1 or more cards (Ships or Persons), every other player in clockwise direction may now also take 1 card if able, following all rules. Before he can do this, however, that player has to give the active player 1 coin as compensation. Should he take 1 Ship, this coin may come from the income of that Ship.
After all other players have had a chance to take 1 card, all leftover cards are discarded. It is also possible that there were too few cards to give all other players a chance to take one.
Now the next player in clockwise direction will be the active player and starts with his Phase 1: Discover.
Example: It's Andrea's turn. She had drawn 5 cards into the harbor display during her Discover Phase. 4 of those were differently colored Ships which is why she was able to take 2 cards. First she took a Ship worth two 2 coins. Then she spent the money to hire 1 Person.
Now the other players may take a card, if able. Alex wishes to take 1 of the Ships that are left. He gives Andrea 1 coin for compensation, chooses 1 Ship, puts it onto the discard pile and takes the appropriate amount of coins. After the rest of the players also had a chance to take 1 card, the leftovers are discarded.
End of the Game
The end of the game is checked as soon as 1 player was able to acquire 12 victory points into his personal display.
The rest of the game round will be played to its completion, i.e. game play will continue until the player sitting to the right of start player will have been the active player.
Winner of the game will be the player who was able to acquire the most victory points in his personal display.
In case of a tie, the player who still has the most coins left is the winner. If the tied players are also tied in coins, they share the win.
End Of Game Variant
As an alternative you can play with the following End of Game:
The end of the game is checked as soon as 1 player was able to acquire 12 victory points as well as at least 1 Expedition into his personal display. All other rules stay the same.
Winner of the game will be the player who was able to acquire the most victory points and at least 1 Expedition. Tie braking stays the same.
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