Players are divided into teams of British and French pirates. In games with an odd number of players, there will also be a Dutch pirate. You will begin the game on either the Flying Dutchman or the Jolly Roger, but the other players on your ship will not necessarily be on your team.
Components
- Faux Box Box
- Rubber Playing Mat
- 8 Wood Treasure Tokens
- 75 cards
- Linen Bag
- 9 Wood Pawns
- 1 Wood Explosion Token
- Instructions
Object of the Game
During the game you will use Vote cards to participate in Attacks to get treasure from the Spanish Galleon, in Mutinies to maroon selfish captains, and in Brawls to control the two pieces of treasure on Tortuga.
You will also view, reveal, and force other players to reveal Event cards in order to help your friends and harm your enemies. When the Spanish Armada Event card is revealed, the team (French or British) with the most treasure wins the game.
Treasure in both ships' holds and in the French and British areas on Tortuga are added together. In games with an odd number of players, if teams are tied when the Spanish Armada card is revealed, the Dutch player wins.
In this example, if the Spanish Armada was revealed the French would win since they have 5 total treasures (3 on the Jolly Roger, and 2 on Tortuga), and the British only have 3 (2 on the Flying Dutchman, and 1 on the Jolly Roger.
Setup
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Lay out the playing mat in the center of the table. Place the orange explosion token aside.
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Pull out the needed Loyalty cards based on the table below. Shuffle and deal one to each player, face-down.
Secretly view your Loyalty card and place it face-down. This is your team. You may not reveal your Loyalty card until the game is over.
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Shuffle the Vote cards and deal 3 to each player face-down. You may view these cards at anytime, but you may not show them to other players. Place the remaining Vote cards in a face-down stack on the table to form the Vote deck.
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The Event cards have the Tortuga 1667 logo on their backs. Prepare the Event deck by first choosing 3 of the starred Event cards, either randomly or through group consensus. Place the other starred Event cards back in the game box, as they will not be used during the game.
Note: If you are playing with 2 or 3 players, also remove all Albatross cards from the Event deck. It is also recommended that you do not use the Facade or Cabin Fever starred cards.
Place the Spanish Armada card aside. Shuffle all other Event cards (including the 3 chosen starred cards) and place them in a face-down deck on the table.
Place the Spanish Armada card at the bottom of this deck. Place the top 5 Event cards of the completed deck face-down in a row next to the 1-5 spots on the playing mat.
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Each player selects a Brethren of the Coast card and places it in front of them. Place the pawns that match the selected Brethren of the Coast cards into the pouch and place any unused pawns back in the box.
Shake the pawns in the pouch and draw them out one at a time at random, placing them on alternating ships (Flying Dutchman and Jolly Roger) from top to bottom.
The first pawn drawn will be the captain of the Flying Dutchman, the second will be captain of the Jolly Roger, the third will be First Mate on the Flying Dutchman, etc.
If there is an odd number of pawns, the last pawn drawn will be the last pawn in line on the Flying Dutchman. Your pawn is the one that matches the color of your Brethren of the Coast card.
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Place 4 treasure tokens on the Spanish Galleon. Place 1 token in each team's treasure area on Tortuga. Give 1 treasure token to each captain. The captain of the Flying Dutchman should place their treasure token in either treasure hold on their ship.
Next, the captain of the Jolly Roger should place their treasure token in either treasure hold on their ship. During the game, treasure will be added to the treasure holds.
There is no limit to the amount of treasure that can be stored in either of the ships' holds.
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Play Begins with the Captain of the Jolly Roger selecting an action. Proceed Clockwise.
 Game set up is now complete! |
Game Play
Pawns will move around during the game. Whenever your pawn is at the front of a ship, you are that ship's Captain. Whenever your pawn is the second in line on a ship, you are that ship's First Mate.
Whenever your pawn is at the back of the line on a ship, regardless of the number of pawns on that ship, you are that ship's Cabin Boy.
It is possible to be the First Mate and the Cabin Boy simultaneously (if you are second in line on a ship with only two pawns) or to be the Captain and the Cabin Boy simultaneously (if you are alone on your ship).
There may never be more than 5 pawns on a ship. Whenever your pawn is the highest-ranking pawn on Tortuga, you are the Governor of Tortuga.
On your turn, you must perform any 1 action. You must state which action you are going to use before using it.
Players only get 1 total action per turn, but if you are a Captain, First Mate, Cabin Boy, or the Governor of Tortuga you may choose your action from the "All Players" potential actions list or from your position's potential actions list.
These actions are also listed on the back of your Brethren of the Coast cards.
Note: In 2-player games, each player gets to per- form 2 actions on each turn.
Potential Actions
Players can choose one of the following actions to complete on their turn.
All Players
View 2 Event cards
Secretly view the front of any 2 of the 5 face-down Event cards. After viewing, place them both back in their same positions face-down.
Reveal 1 Event Card
Flip over any 1 of the 5 face-down Event cards. Reveal this card to all players and resolve the consequences listed on the card. Replace the revealed card with the top card from the Event deck face-down.
Force another player to choose between 2 Event cards
Point to any 2 of the 5 face-down Event cards and choose any other player. The player you chose selects either of those 2 face-down Event cards without viewing it first, reveals it to all players, and resolves.
The other Event card remains in its position unseen. Replace the revealed card with the top card from the Event deck face-down.
Move to or from a Rowboat
Move your pawn from either ship or Tortuga to an adjoining Rowboat. Or, move your pawn from a Rowboat to the back of the line on Tortuga or to the back of the line on the adjoining ship.
Captains
Call for an Attack
Successful Attacks let you take treasure from the Spanish Galleon. If the Spanish Galleon is out of treasure, successful Attacks let you take treasure from the other pirate ship.
Maroon any crewmate to Tortuga
Maroon any other pawn on your ship to Tortuga. You may not maroon yourself.
First Mates
Call for a Mutiny
Successful Mutinies maroon your captain to Tortuga. See "Vote Cards" section for details.
Cabin Boys
Move 1 treasure on your ship from one hold to the other
Move 1 treasure token already on your ship from the British treasure hold to the French treasure hold, or vice versa.
Governor of Tortuga
Call for a Brawl
Brawls move the 2 pieces of treasure already on Tortuga to one or both treasure areas on Tortuga. See "Vote Cards" section for details.
Vote Cards
Attacks, Mutinies, and Brawls are all types of Votes. When a Vote is called for, all players participating in the Vote will put 1 of their Vote cards face-down into the middle.
For each type of Vote, the top Vote card from the Vote deck is also placed face-down in the middle. All cards in the middle are then shuffled and revealed, and the result of the Vote is carried out.
After the Vote is complete, mix and place all played Vote cards face-down at the bottom of the Vote deck. Each player who participated in the Vote draws a new Vote card from the top of the Vote deck.
Attack
The Captain of a ship may call for an Attack as their action. If the Captain is the only player on the ship, he may still call for an Attack. Only players on the attacking Captain's ship participate in the Vote.
Only the top section of the Vote card matters in an Attack and contains a Cannon, a Torch, or Water. Every 1 Water cancels out 1 Torch. If there is at least 1 Cannon, and at least 1 "successful" Torch played in the Vote, the Captain may take 1 piece of treasure from the Spanish Galleon and place it in either hold on his ship.
If the Spanish Galleon is out of treasure the Captain may take 1 piece of treasure from either treasure hold on the other pirate ship (Flying Dutchman or Jolly Roger), even if the other ship has no pawns on it, and place it in either hold on his ship.
Example: If 2 Cannons, 1 Torch, and 1 Water were played, the attack would fail since the Water cancelled the Torch and there were no "successful" Torches.
Example: If 1 Cannon, 2 Torches, and 1 Water were played, the attack would succeed since there is 1 Cannon and only 1 of the Torches was cancelled by water, thus leaving 1 "successful" Torch.
Example: If 2 Cannons and 2 Torches were played, the attack would succeed. However, you still only take 1 piece of treasure.
Brawl
The Governor of Tortuga may call for a Brawl as their action. If the Governor is the only player on Tortuga, he may still call for a Brawl. Only players on Tortuga participate in the Vote.
Only the middle section of the Vote card matters in a Brawl and contains either a British flag or a French flag. If a majority of the revealed cards are British flags, place both pieces of treasure on Tortuga in the British treasure area.
If a majority are French flags, place both pieces of treasure on Tortuga in the French treasure area. If there is a tie, place 1 piece of treasure in each area. The two pieces of treasure on Tortuga always remain on Tortuga, but they may be moved to either of the areas on Tortuga in future Brawls.
Mutiny
The First Mate of a ship may call for a Mutiny as their action. Only players on that ship, except for the captain, participate in the Vote.
Only the bottom section of the Vote card matters in a Mutiny and contains either a Skull or a Helm. If a majority of the revealed cards have a Skull, then the captain on the mutinying ship is marooned to Tortuga. If a majority have a Helm or there is a tie, nothing happens.
Two Vote cards in the game have two symbols in each section. Each symbol is counted towards the Vote total.
Example: Two Vote cards are revealed in a Brawl. One card has 1 British flag and the other special Vote card has 2 French flags. The French team would win the Brawl since it is 2 flags to 1.
Getting Marooned & Tortuga
If a pawn on a ship gets marooned to Tortuga, pawns ranked behind it on the same ship will move up to fill in the empty pawn position. If the Captain is marooned, the First Mate becomes Captain.
If everyone on a ship has been marooned, the treasure that is on that ship remains on that ship in the same treasure holds. That treasure still counts towards a team's total treasure unless it is moved later in the game. If a player boards an empty ship, they become Captain of that ship.
If you are marooned to Tortuga, your pawn is placed at the back of the line on Tortuga. For example, if Tortuga is currently empty then the "back of the line" is the Governor's position.
For another example, if Tortuga already has 2 pawns on it, the "back of the line" is the "3" position. While on Tortuga you still get turns and you may still perform player actions as normal.
If you are already on Tortuga and you get marooned again, two things happen to you. First, your pawn is moved to the back of the line on Tortuga and pawns that were ranked behind you move up. (If you are alone on Tortuga your position does not change).
Second, one of your Vote cards is chosen at random by another player and placed unseen at the bottom of the Vote card deck. You will play with fewer Vote cards for the rest of the game.
If you are marooned multiple times while on Tortuga, you will lose multiple Vote cards. If you lose all of your Vote cards you may still call for a Vote if in a position to do so but you will not be able to participate.
Rowboats
Moving to a Rowboat takes one action. Therefore, it takes two total actions to get from Tortuga to a ship or from a ship to Tortuga, since you must move to the Rowboat as one action, and move to the ship or Tortuga as the second action.
If there is a pawn currently on a Rowboat, no other pawn may move onto that Rowboat since each Rowboat holds only 1 pawn at a time. If your pawn is on a Rowboat, you do not participate in Votes. Y
ou are allowed to "sit" on the Rowboat and perform other actions (e.g., viewing and revealing cards) in order to block other pawns. If you are marooned while on a Rowboat, you must return your pawn to the back of the line on Tortuga, but you do not lose a Vote card.
End of the Game
As soon as the Event deck runs out and the only unrevealed Event cards left are the 5 in the row, shuffle those 5 cards and lay them out in a new row. The Spanish Armada card will be one of those final 5 cards and revealed cards will no longer be replaced.
Immediately when the Spanish Armada is revealed, the team with the most treasure wins the game. You can win with your team regardless of where your pawn is when the game ends.
In games with an odd number of players, if teams are tied when the Spanish Armada card is revealed, the Dutch player wins.
In games with an even number of players, if teams are tied when the Spanish Armada card is revealed, remove the Spanish Armada card from the game and shuffle all discarded and unrevealed Event cards into a new Event deck.
Do not shuffle in cards that are currently in front of a player, such as an Albatross, Letter of Marque, or a Treasure Map. Lay out 5 new Event cards in the row and continue playing where you left off. The first team to take the lead wins the game.
Important Gameplay Info
This game is about knowledge and communication. Revealing Event cards at random may hurt your team so it's often in your best interest to use an action to view the cards first, or to rely on the knowledge of a trusted ally.
You can also use your team's knowledge to force an enemy to reveal harmful cards and suffer the consequences. If your team is in the lead, it may be to your team's advantage to go through the deck quickly so that you can end the game before the other team catches up.
A big part of the game is managing the Vote cards in your hand so you don't get stuck using a card that works against your strategy.
If Attacking with your team, you can collaborate or mislead about who is going to play a Cannon, who is going to play a Torch, etc. In the Vote card deck there are 30% Cannons, 30% Waters, and 40% Torches (not counting the two special Vote cards).
Players may look through the discard pile at any time. A player may use their own paper or device to keep track of where viewed cards are in the line of Event cards (Tortuga 1667 is not a memory game!).
While you are encouraged to communicate verbally with others in the open about where certain Event cards are located, you may not pass notes, devices, whispers, or texts to share information.
As soon as an action is stated, Event cards are pointed to, a Vote card is played, or a pawn is let go of, there are no take-backs (unless house rules mercifully dictate otherwise).
Below you will find clarifications about each Event card and some advanced optional rules for experienced players. If you'd like, you may begin playing and read the rest as needed.
Remember, when the Spanish Armada card is revealed, the team with the most treasure wins the game!
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