Loot Island

1640 A.D. — a ghastly curse befell a beautiful island in the Indian Ocean. Soon, it was known that its dark magic would not only afflict whoever tried to take away anything from the island, but also haunt whoever even dared approach its coasts, making it the perfect location for pirates to hide their loot. 1902 A.D. — centuries later, pieces of ancient treasure maps were found by you and your fellow treasure hunters. Do you have the correct pieces of the map? Do the other players have matching pieces to help you find a route to the treasure? And...will you be able to get rid of the curse?

The player who finds the best balance between cooperating and competing, together with the right timing of actions, and a bit of luck, wins the game by having the most valuable treasures and breaking the curse of Loot Island!

Game Overview and Sequence of Play

Players are treasure hunters who, after finding pieces of ancient treasure maps, set sail for Loot Island to salvage the hidden loot that is buried there. The game is played over 5 rounds. Each round represents one day and consists of 3 Phases:

Phase 1: Preparation

A new exploration day begins: The ship leaves the previously explored coast and moves to the next coast in search of new treasures, a new page of the logbook is written, and players receive new maps.

Phase 2: Actions

Players play their Map cards from their hand, either to use the Small Islands to obtain a personal advantage, or to play to the Landings of the Main Island, along with their Compass discs, in an attempt to piece together enough of a map to find treasures buried on the island.

Phase 3: Finding the Loot

An exploration takes place along the coast where the ship is currently located. If Loot is found in a Landing, treasures will be distributed among the players that have a Compass there on a first come, first serve basis. Beware though, a curse will afflict whoever tries to take away anything from the Island, so for every treasure you take, you also might have to take Curse cubes.

Competing Vs. Cooperating

Treasures are distributed only if enough map cards were played in the landing, so usually more than one player needs to contribute cards for loot to be found there. You must then cooperate with your fellow treasure hunters to assemble the maps to find the loot, while at the same time ruthlessly competing with them to get the biggest share of the loot for yourself. It is a pirate treasure after all, arrr!

End Of The Game

After the 5th round, a Final Exploration takes place and then the game ends. Players calculate the value of their Loot by adding together the gold coins gained by their Treasures, and subtracting the cost they must pay to the Healer to remove the curse. The player with the highest Loot Value wins the game.