Pearls:
Pearls are wild treasures, which you
can spend to gain the benefits of Sails,
Guns, or Armor. Spending Pearls means
putting them back into the Treasure Box.
Using Pearls as Guns: After making the
attack roll, but before the defender rolls,
you may spend any number of Pearls to
add +1 to your attack value.
Using Pearls as Armor: After making the
defense roll, you may spend any number
of Pearls to add +1 to your defense value.
Using Pearls as Sails: While taking your
move, you may spend any number of
Pearls to add +1 to your movement points.
Using Pearls as Gold: You cant use
Pearls as Gold.
Cashing in Pearls: When you trade in
Pearls for points, they are worth one point
each, and dont contribute to the color
bonus.
Winning:
The first player to reach the target
score wins the game. This score varies
with the number of players:
Players: Target Score:
2 30 Points
3 22 Point
4 18 Points
5 15 Points
6 or more 12 Points
Captain Treasure Boots
Designed by James Ernest, cover art by Phil
Foglio. Originally released as SWAG, a free
game about gathering free stuff. Tested by the
usual crew of fearless guinea pigs over several
grueling months at sea. 2005, 2013 Cheapass
Games, Seattle WA. www.cheapass.com.
If you enjoy this game, try our other games. We
make lots of them. Some are free, some are
fancy and deluxe, and some strike the happy
middle ground between cheap and awesome.
Captain Treasure Boots
Treasure Token List
Green Tokens (Sails, 18)
+1 to Movement
Red Tokens (Guns, 16)
+1 to Attack Roll
Blue Tokens (Armor, 12)
+1 to Defense Roll
Yellow Tokens (Gold, 14)
Worth 2 Points Each
land, populated with ten thousand
Defenders option on looting
White Tokens (Pearls, 12)
Spend as Green, Red, or Blue
Black Tokens (Privateers, 12)
Act as enemy pirates
Control when you roll doubles.
Captain Treasure Boots
Handy Movement Chart
2 1 1 the treasure before everyone else.
Wind
X 1*
2 1 1 Or something to that effect.
At the start of each turn, rotate the
wind marker clockwise 90 by the dif-
ference between the two dice.
You have 3 Movement points, +1 for
each green treasure (Sails). The cost to
move with relation to the wind is
shown above. (*You get one more free
step directly downwind).
Arr, Matey. This Game Comes With:
It is the golden age of Piracy, and 4 board sections.
you are a Pirate. Good timing! 90 Treasure Tokens:
12 Black (Privateers),
The Caribbean is a virgin wonder- 12 White (Pearls),
12 Blue (Armor),
gold-stuffed treasure chests just wait- 14 Yellow (Gold),
ing to be plucked from the ground. 16 Red (Guns), and
18 Green (Sails)
One Wind Marker
Dozens of pirates, privateers, and
foul-mouthed scalawags sail the
Ye Also be Needin:
stormy seas in search of adventure, A pawn for each player,
treasure, and rum. Mostly rum. Two 6-sided dice, and
A way to keep score.
The most brilliant and notorious of
these pirates is Captain Treasure Setup:
Boots, who is secretly one of you. To begin, choose a number of boards
based on the number of players:
Specifically, the one who captures
Players
2 or 3
Boards
2
4 3
So set the turling and make fast the
5 or 6 4
grot line! Hoist the Maiden Graves
and let fly the moistling jacksall! Arrange the boards any way you like,
as long as they conform to the same grid.
The edges do not have to touch.
All table space outside the boards is
presumed to be open water, containing
the same grid as the boards.
Two example layouts
 To begin, each player takes his pawn
and places it on a Port of his choice. Ports
are the islands with no numbers, just
names. Ports are the only spaces that can
hold more than one ship.
If it matters, you can make everyone
decide in secret where to begin. But really,
it doesnt matter.
Place the Wind marker at the north
edge of the board (pointing north). If you
dont know which direction is north, or
you cant fake it handsomely, then you are
a terrible pirate.
Determine randomly who will go first.
Play proceeds to the left.
The Treasure Box:
You will use the game box to hold the
treasure tokens.
When you draw tokens, close your eyes
and take them randomly from the box.
Whenever a token leaves play, it goes
immediately back into the box.
Before Each Turn:
Begin every turn by rolling two dice.
This will affect the Wind and the Treasure.
Wind: Subtract the smaller value from
the larger one. Move the Wind Arrow 90
clockwise, this number of times. (Wind is
always either north, south, east, or west.)
If the dice are equal, or if the differ-
ence is 4, the wind does not move.
Treasure: Add the values together,
and look for all the empty islands marked
with that number. Draw a treasure token
from the chest, and place it on each island
with that number.
An island does not get a new token if it
is already occupied, either by a ship or by
another token.
Doubles:If you
roll doubles, you get to
control one Privateer
before taking your
normal turn.
Privateers:
Privateers are black tokens. They
are drawn from the Treasure Box like
any other treasure. Once in play, they
behave like player ships. Players may
take control of them by rolling dou-
bles at the start of their turn.
When you control a Privateer, you
score one point immediately each time
you pick up or unload a treasure.
Privateers do not score color bonus-
es when dropping off treasure.
Stack a Privateers cargo below the
ship. A Privateers cargo affects his
abilities just like a player ship.
Players can shoot at Privateers,
and Privateers can shoot at each other.
When you shoot at a Privateer, choose
another player to roll its die.
Sinking a Privateer scores 2 points
for the player who sunk it. Put sunk
Privateers back into the Treasure Box.
Treasures:
Besides the black coins (Privateers),
the coins in the Treasure Box represent
different types of treasure. They are
Armor (blue), Gold (yellow), Guns (red),
Sails (green), and Pearls (white).
Each Treasure token gives your ship
different abilities, so it helps to collect
them all. It is also worth more points to
cash in several colors at once.
When you unload treasure, you score
one point for each, except for Gold (yellow
treasure) which is worth 2 points. You also
score a bonus for having multiple colors:
If You Unload: Your Bonus is:
1 Color 0 Points
2 Colors 1 Point
3 Colors 2 Points
4 Colors 4 Points
Exception: Pearls do not have a color,
and are always worth just one point each.
On Your Turn:
Once you have rolled, checked the
wind, placed new treasure, and (if you
rolled doubles) taken a turn with a
Privateer, your actual turn begins.
On your turn you can do two things:
Move, and Shoot. You must do them in
this order.
If you finish on an Island space, you
can also collect the treasure that is there.
If you finish on a Port space, you may
also unload treasure and score points.
Step 1, Move:
You normally have 3 movement points
to spend. If you have Sails (green tokens)
you get +1 point for every sail.
Moving has variable cost with respect
to the wind, as follows:
Moving directly into the wind is impos-
sible.
Moving diagonally into the wind costs 2
points per space.
All other directions cost 1 point per
space.
Exception (*): You can take one step
directly downwind for free.
2 1 1 effect.
Wind
X 1*
2 1 1 Normally the loot is chosen by the
Obstacles: You can move through
other ships, but you can not stop on them.
You cannot move through islands. You
can move into an island space, or out of it,
but not both in the same move.
Leaving the Board: The grid extends
forever outside the boards.
Islands: If you stop on an island space
that has a Treasure token, you may take
that token. Keep your Treasure on the
table in front of you, until you lose it in
battle, or exchange it for points.
Ports: If you move into a port space,
you may drop some or all of your cargo
and score points. See Scoring above, under
Treasures.
Step 2, Shoot:
After moving, if you are in open sea,
you may take a shot at another ship.
You can not shoot if you are on an
Island space.
Ships at islands can be fired upon.
You must shoot along a straight line,
horizontal or diagonal, through open sea.
You can not shoot through islands or
through other ships.
To take the shot, roll a die. If you have
Guns (red treasure), add +1 to your roll for
each one.
Then, subtract the number of empty
spaces between you and your target. The
result is your attack value.
Your target then rolls one die to
defend, adding +1 for each of his Armor
(blue treasure). This is his defense value.
If the attack value is equal to or greater
than the defense value, the shot succeeds.
Otherwise, the shot fails, and there is no
Results of Combat: If your attack
succeeds, you may steal one treasure from
the ship youve attacked. If your target
has no treasure on board, you can sink it
instead.
attacker. However, if the defender has
more Gold (yellow) than the attacker, the
defender may choose which piece to lose.
If the defender has no treasure to lose,
then the ship sinks instead. This immedi-
ately scores two points for the attacker.
If your ship is sunk, you must move to
a Port space of your choice immediately.
(This is a bonus, actually.) You will begin
your next turn with a fresh but empty
ship.
Sunken Privateers return to the box.