SEA ISLANDS DESCRIPTION

Hoy! Welcome to Sea Islands! Sea Islands is very versatile. It can be played with as few as 2 and up to 12 people; though it’s best with 3-10 and its highest quality games I’d say would be 6-10 people as it is meant to be a party game particularly for after dinner or social gatherings. It is a game of chance. Why is it good to have a chance game in your board game collection? Well, this chance game makes it so everybody has an equal shot at winning no matter how many times you’ve played it. This is a huge benefit to keep things fair, and have it include all players without someone having an advantage from someone who’s played the game before; as in many strategy games. There is a bit of math involved when counting score which is a part of the educational side of things (You could use a calculator, but I would encourage you not to). It has a 13-sided dice (Also known as a D13). It is a rare dice. There is a Magic Sea Pirate character that gets double points if they win. It has two rounds and the 2^nd round is the main round where you’ll be taking cards from one another. You’ll have two rows in front of you: Island Cards and Gold Cards and the goal is to collect as many Island Cards as possible. You do this by either rolling a 10,11,12, or 13 on the dice or by discarding your Gold Cards when your Gold Cards reach EXACTLY 10,11,12, or 13.  If you have above 13 Gold Cards for example your Gold Cards might total to be 14 or more you CANNOT take unless it is EXACT and when you have Gold Cards that reach exactly 10,11,12 or 13 you MUST take if you are able; you cannot save them for later. The Island Cards are the Jacks, Queens, Kings and Aces worth 10,11,12,13. At the end of the game though when counting score, you’ll also count your Gold Cards and any Shield Cards remaining which makes it exciting. Shield Cards protect your Island Cards and are an advantage. They are also worth points. You win them by winning the first round (called the Realty Round) or rolling a 1 on the dice. Rolling a 1 on the dice is very lucky. You win a Shield Card on the first rolled 1 and get to roll again. If you roll a 1 twice in a row you get to take someone else’s Shield Card and you get to roll again. If you roll a 1 thrice in a row you automatically win the entire game. (It’s rare to happen 1/2197 rolls but it can happen and if it does it’s an automatic win). Also, who’s in the lead will change very quickly sometimes. You could be first place, but then the other players will start taking your cards because you have the most points and then you may lose your lead. Because you are taking cards from one another it develops good sportsmanship and polite asking when you need to take a card from another opponent. There is also a Pirates Eye Patch for the Magic Sea Pirate; they usually wear it on the forehead, but you could just set it to the side like a token, so others recognize who is the Magic Sea Pirate. The end of the game is when the last Gold Card is drawn. You count score and the winner wins a Victory Card (Or 2 Victory Cards if they win as the Magic Sea Pirate). You usually play first to 3 Victory Cards wins, but in this game, you have more control and you decide your intent from the start for how long you wish to play. Whether that’s one round or several. Once everyone knows the rules one complete round usually lasts around 15-20 minutes. The artwork is done by a Canadian artist named Ted Nasmith who’s one of the most famous and prolific illustrators of J.R.R. Tolkien’s work. Card game was invented by Josh Armstrong in 2020-2021 in Vancouver B.C. Canada.

*Note on the Game Rules: the winner of the Realty Round goes first for the 2^nd round called the ‘Hide Your Aces’ round.

ENJOY MATEY!

AYE!