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Pirates Wild

A Treasure Plundering Card Game
2–4 Players  •  Ages 8+  •  20–40 Minutes  •  Version 1.0

I.Object of the Game

Be the first pirate to plunder all 5 treasures, from Coins to the Treasure Chest. Collect them in order, filling each limit before moving on.

#TreasureTypeLimit
1 Coins Shore 4
2 Map Shore 3
3 Jewels Open Sea 2
4 Skeleton Key Open Sea 1
5 Treasure Chest Open Sea 1

II.Setup

  1. Remove the Help cards from the deck.
  2. For 2 or 3 players, remove cards per the table below.
  3. Shuffle and deal 6 cards to each player.
  4. Place the rest face down as the draw pile.
  5. Turn the top card face up beside it to start the discard pile.
  6. Play starts with the player to the dealer's left and passes left.

The deal rotates one player to the left after each game.

Deck scaling

4 players use the full deck (114). 3 players (88) remove Coins 5, Map 4, Jewels 3, Skeleton Key 2, Treasure Chest 2, Daylight 2, Fair Winds 1, Compass 1, Sloop 2, Galleon 2, Crew 2. 2 players (62) remove double each of those.

Troubles, Safe cards and Kraken are never removed.

III.On Your Turn

Draw one, then do one thing

  1. Draw one card from the draw pile or take the face-up top card of the discard pile.
  2. Play one card face up into your ship, or against another player.
  3. If you cannot play, or choose not to, discard one card.

One card in, one card out. Your turn then passes to the left.

IV.Taking a Treasure

Before you may take any treasure you need all three of these face up, and no Trouble on you:

Daylightalways
CrewCaptain also counts
Sloop / Galleonmatch the type
  • Sloop for Shore, Galleon for Open Sea, Flagship for either. Only one type out at a time.
  • Fill each limit before advancing, and clear any Trouble first.

V.Trouble Cards (red)

Play one against another player to stop them. They must clear it before continuing.

Only one Trouble may sit on a player at a time. Targeted while you already have one? Say so and refuse the play: the card returns to their hand and they do something else.

TroubleCleared bySafe card
Nightfall Daylight —
Storm Fair Winds Harbor
Lost at Sea Compass Captain
Shipwreck Sloop or Galleon Flagship
Mutiny Crew Captain

VI.Safe Cards (blue)

Play them any time, even before you need them. There is no restriction on when a Safe card may be played. One sitting face up blocks its Trouble outright.

“Arrr!” Trouble played at you while the matching Safe card is in your hand? You must call it and play the Safe. Not optional, no hiding it. The Trouble turns back on the attacker and your Safe stays face up. If the attacker already has a Trouble, discard it instead.

The table above shows which Safe card covers which Trouble. Flagship also counts as either Sloop or Galleon. Captain also counts as your Crew.

VII.Kraken (gold)

  • Take any one treasure from any player, or the top discard if it is a treasure. You choose both.
  • It ignores everything else: nothing need be face up, it works with a Trouble on you, and you may take one you do not need, even past its limit.
  • Once used it goes straight to the discard pile. It may never be picked up from there, but it returns to play when the discard pile is reshuffled into a new draw pile.

VIII.Voyages & Victory

When the draw pile runs out, shuffle the whole discard pile, Kraken included, and turn it over as the new draw pile. A new voyage begins.

The first player to complete all 5 treasures wins immediately.

Optional: the Reverse Rule

Agree before the deal. Kraken may be played as a Reverse instead of taking a treasure: play changes direction until someone reverses again. For three or more players.