Plunder®
Summary of Plunder Board Game
The pirate captains have gathered in their favorite pub to boast about their latest lootings. Not surprisingly, each has buried their treasure in a secret location. Three items hide the location of each treasure: the Island it’s on and the Marker it’s buried near and the Trap that guards it. As the stories flow, the captains give out and receive clues as to where the treasures are hidden. Secretly, they dispatch their crew members to go dig up the other pirate's ill-gotten gains and make off with even more plunder.
Goal
Steal the treasure from the other captains while hoping yours remains hidden.
Setup
Each Captain chooses a pirate, takes as many Crew cards as there are players in the plunder game and takes the corresponding Solution Grid for their pirate. Place your Crew cards in a stack in front of you so all players can see which Pirate Captain you are during the game. Place the Treasure Chest in the center of the table and remove the lid so the Chest sits open.
Deal an Island, Marker, and Trap Map card face down to each player. These cards indicate where each pirate’s treasure is hidden. There are no duplicate cards, which means the Island, Marker, and Trap Cards that you were dealt cannot be held by any other pirate. Put the rest of the Map Cards back in the box, face down, without looking at them. Your Map cards remain face down until Scoring occurs.
Separate the Clue cards by color into three face-down decks in the middle of the playing area.
Select one of your scurvy dogs to go first by any means you choose.
How to Play
The player whose turn it is flips face up the top card of each of the three Clue decks. This player then has the option to flip an additional single Clue card face up off the top of one of the decks to try to change one of the three Clue cards revealed. Once the player has changed one Clue card or opted to stay with the first three cards, the player announces the three cards revealed.
Each other player in turn order, clockwise around the table, must now say one of the following:
“Aye!”
If that player has one or more secret Map cards that match the revealed Clue cards.
“Nay!”
If that player has no secret Map cards that match the revealed Clue cards.
Note: the player whose turn it is DOES NOT state Aye or Nay. Once everyone else has answered, the current player’s turn ends and the turn passes to the next player on their left.
Revealed Clue cards remain face up in three stacks of discards. If a deck is exhausted and no new card can be flipped, choose any single card from its face-up stack of discards to show as the Clue for that deck.
Using the solution Grids
Each turn is a day on the left side grid. Once the three Clue cards are revealed, each player should mark them down on their left grid under Island, Marker, and Trap. Then mark a Y or N under each Pirate to note their answer.
The grids on the right side should be used to keep track of cards you think a pirate has or doesn’t have. For example, if you think Sneaky Pete cannot have his treasure on Whale island or Starfish island, then place an X in those boxes. If you think he might have hidden it on Parrot island, place an O there.
Digging Up Treasure
At any time, when you think you have figured out the location of another pirate’s treasure, take one of your Crew cards. Circle the Island, Marker, and Trap you believe to be correct. Then toss your Crew Card with the answer side face down into the Treasure Chest.
Keep in mind, that once you send your Crew member to dig, they cannot come back from the Treasure Chest. And if you happen to use a Crew card to send a Crewmember to the exact same location more than once, only the first one can recover the treasure. Only your first correct guess scores for any particular treasure.
Game End and Scoring
After everyone has used up all of their Crew Cards, or 15 days have elapsed, the plunder game ends. Use the Score chart above your left grid to total your score. Each pirate’s treasure is worth 6 Treasure points if no other pirate captain finds it, so you begin with six points as indicated by the 6 in the My Treasure scoring row.
Now flip the Treasure Chest over so the cards inside form a deck showing the guesses face up. Announce the first guesses on the top card of this deck and place it in a discard pile to keep the Crew cards in the same order as they were played. (This will come in handy if the game ends in a tie.) If no pirate has a set of Map cards matching the guess exactly, no treasure is awarded; move on to the next Crew card.
If the guess is correct and matches a pirate’s secret location, then that Pirate must reveal their three Map cards. The player who sent the Crew Card there first steals 3 Treasure points and notes this above the corresponding pirate in the Stolen Treasure row. The second player to get this location correct receives 2 Treasure points and the third receives 1 Treasure point. All others receive zero, there is no plunder for them.
The player who lost their treasure adjusts the points on their My Treasure row on their Solutions Grid each time someone steals their treasure by first crossing out the 6, then the 3, and finally the 1.
After all of the Crew cards in the chest have been revealed as either correct or incorrect, players add up all points from treasures they stole plus whatever treasure they had remaining. Whoever has the most total points wins the plunder game. If there is a tie, whichever one of those pirates found treasure first wins.
Fun and exciting deduction game where players collect clues to piece together maps, disarm booby-traps, and go digging in search of buried treasure. Having buried and protected your ill-gotten booty, it's time to send your crew to search for the treasures of the other scurvy pirates! Steal your opponents treasures and be the first to take your Plunder!
Ages 10+ | 2 to 6+ players | Playing time 30-45 minutes
