Your ship has struck a reef and it is sinking fast. Quick! Run for the lifeboats! If your sailors can make it to an island they'll survive and you may win. But watch out! Those lifeboats are full of leaks and may sink as well. Also, your fellow shipmates are not very cooperative. Everyone is constantly swimming from one lifeboat to another in the hope of finding a faster more water-tight lifeboat. And just when you are sure that everyone is decided on what to do next, some wise guy pulls rank and orders everyone to do something else. Well what did you expect--its every man for himself.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The trickiest part of this game is the construction of the Vote Wheels. Each Vote Wheel is made from:
The adhesive strips are double-sided so be careful. Remove the protective backing to one side of a double-sided adhesive strip and apply that to one side of a "U-Shaped" Cardboard Vote Wheel Cradle. Next, remove the protective backing to one side of another double-sided adhesive strip and apply that adhesive strip to the other side of the same "U-Shaped" Cardboard Vote Wheel. Next, remove the protective backing from the other side of the double-sided adhesive strip that is already stuck to one side of the "U-Shaped" Cardboard Wheel Holder. Fit this over a Rectangular Cardboard Vote Wheel Front and press. Finally, remove the protective backing from the adhesive strip on the other side of the "U-Shaped" Cardboard Vote Wheel Cradle and press on the Rectangular Cardboard Vote Wheel Back. Congratulations! You've made a Vote Wheel. Now make five more. NEVER expose more than one sticky side of an adhesive strip at a time or you'll just hate yourself.
The 15 blue "Leak Markers" are set to one side of the board. The leak markers are the same as the "Hat Markers" except they are blue.
Someone is selected to go first and that person is given The Start Stick.
The Start Player places his boat in one of the first row of Bow Outlines (at the bottom of the board, opposite the islands). The other players follow in Clockwise order. The Black Boat is placed in any of the remaining first row Bow Outlines.
The Start Player now places any one of his pawns (large or small) into any seat (hole) in any of the boats. The other players follow in clockwise order until all pawns have been seated . NOTE: You are not required to put any of your pawns into your own boat. In fact, the only reason you need to select a boat is for tie breaking purposes. If at the end of the game two or more players have the same score, then whoever's boat reached an island the soonest will win. If none of the tied players' boats reached an island, then whichever of the tied players sits closest to the owner of the first boat to reach an island (in a clockwise order) will win.
All players discuss/argue/threaten among themselves over which boat should receive a leak. Finally, the Start Player calls for a vote. Each player secretly turns their Vote Wheel until the color of the boat they want to give the leak to appears in the Triangular Window. When every one is ready, all votes are revealed. The boat that received the most votes gets the leak.
If there is a tie, the Start Player decides which of the tied boats will receive the leak.
The Start Player then calls for a vote. Each player in the boat to receive the leak now secretly turns their Vote Wheel to the color of the pawn they want to leave the boat. When everyone is ready, the votes are revealed. Again, the color that received the most votes is the color that must lose a pawn from the boat.
If there are more than one pawn of the selected color in the leaky boat, the owner gets to decide which pawn is removed. If there is a choice, it is better to remove a little pawn before a big pawn because big pawns score more when (if) they reach an island.
GREEN has 2 little pawns 2 votes. RED has 1 big pawn 2 votes. WHITE has 1 big pawn and 1 little pawn 3 votes. PURPLE has 2 big pawns 4 votes.
If GREEN, RED, and WHITE all vote for PURPLE, then PURPLE will have to remove one of its pawns (the vote would be 7 to 4). If PURPLE votes for WHITE and anyone else votes for WHITE then WHITE will lose a pawn. Lets say that PURPLE voted for GREEN, GREEN and RED voted for PURPLE, and WHITE voted for RED. In this case, there is a 4 to 4 tie between GREEN and PURPLE and the Start Player will decide whether GREEN or PURPLE will have to lose a pawn.
Once the pawn is removed, the leak is put in its place.
The boats only move straight ahead. Each is heading for a particular island and they can move towards only that island.
The players discuss/argue/threaten among themselves over which boat should be moved. Finally, the Start Player calls for a vote. Each player secretly turns the Vote Wheel until the color of the boat they want to move is in the Trangular Window. When everyone is ready, the votes are revealed. Whichever boat received the most votes is moved one row closer towards the islands. Ties, as always, are resolved by the Start Player. As soon as a boat reaches an island, the pawns are removed and points are scored. Each island scores different points. The higher amount at each island is awarded to any large pawns that arrive there. The smaller amount is for the small pawns.
Beginning with the Start Player, and continuing in a Clockwise direction, each player must remove one of their pawns from any boat and set it behind that boat. Once all players have done the same, then, starting with the Player that LAST removed a pawn and working back to the Start Player, each player must put the pawn they removed back into a different boat. If there are no seats available in any of the other boats, then your man drowns and is removed from the game.
You may not jump out of and back into the same boat. It must be a different boat or you drown.
More than one pawn may jump INTO the same boat as long as there are empty spaces in the boat and you are not jumping back into the same boat you jumped out of.
During any vote, rather than turning the Vote Wheel so that a color appears in the Trangular Window the player may attempt to wear the Captain's Hat. To wear the hat, turn the Vote wheel so that the Captain's Hat appears in the Triangular Window.
When the votes are revealed, if you are the only voter to choose the Captain's Hat then you get to Pull Rank. To Pull Rank means that you and you alone decide the outcome of the vote. Everyone could have voted against you, but it doesn't matter. You are the Captain and you decide the outcome.
Unfortunately, if more than one player dials the Captains Hat then nobody may wear the hat and the vote is resolved as if those players who selected hats did not vote at all. If everyone dialed hats, then everyone must vote again.
Even more unfortunately, each player is allowed only 3 ATTEMPTS to wear the Captain's Hat. When the votes are revealed, any and all players that selected a Captain's Hat must discard one of their three Captain's Hat Markers. Remember, you do not have to succeed in your attempt to wear the Captain's Hat to lose a Captain's Hat Marker. They are precious. Use them wisely.
Translated by Michael Schloth
Distributed by Mike Siggins from The Rules Bank