Game: Mutiny!

Thread: New game, first play, pretty fun

xofour — 2008-09-03T08:12:35+00:00

I was searching for pirate games. Preferably uncomplicated, yet fun pirate games. I already owned cartegena, and the price was right for mutiny, so I figured why not and bought it. After reading the instructions, it seemed simple enough, and it was the first auction type game I have ever owned. So I was eager to try it out.

Now admitedly I had read some of what has been written about this game. And one thing I heartily agree on is the dissapointing lack of screens. It was a warm, and humid, and we were either hiding assets under paper towels, or in sweaty palms. Neither was satisfactory. On the other hand, money /rum was easily concealed in the hand. (cutlasses were more difficul, but could be put under a paper towel, or in a shirt pocket) But honestly these petty complaints didn't really sour the gameplay. just stuff I noticed.

The players were myself, Ellen, "Bug", Anjee, and Michael. All of us were completely new to the game, but I had the advantage of reading the instructions. This also gave me the advantage of being the lookout first. A privelage which lasted all of 1 turn/round. I do not have notes, or memory to give a turn by turn round. I will give a general overview of how we played, and particular strategies.

I am not certain we played corectly, but between the rules & what I read on BGG,here is what I figured out.

First we did the bidding round. In order starting with deckhand & ending with 1st mate we bid one at a time on everybody before resolving. The bid was a hidden auction. Everyone hid their bid in a palm. When everyone held the palm out, we revealed the bid, and placed the tokens around the crew member.

Secondly we resolved the bids in order. As they were resolved the primary & secondary abilities were used. So deck hand went 1st & was resolved immediatly. (you could not go back & use an ability once we went on to the next crew member.)

Then we did the recovery (discarded used rum, took up to 3 dubloons each (leaving remainder as base bribes) flipped a new destination card.)

And the only real house rule came out of a misunderstanding. We played that everyone was bribeable. I pointed out the lookout could be bribed with rum. But all people heard was rum. So they tried to bribe the pilot & the deckhand. I don't think it hurt the game at all.

So it's hard to say overall strategies. After showing the power of tie breakers, I lost the lookout after the 1st round. It was struggled over by michael & anjee. Bug pretty much kept a quiet play for the gunner. Keeping plenty of dubloons to ensure she generally took either 1st or 2nd. Anjee after a brief struggle pretty much spent her resources ensuring she had the lookout, and then dumping what she could on whichever crewhand she fancied. (she also took great joy in using her own nicknames for the crew members just to frustrate me. (creepy guy, nasty guy, creepy drunk guy, pilot, junior pilot)) Michael was all over the place. He struggled with anjee for 1st mate. He competed for cook & rum for a while. I think he was just trying to feel the game out for future plays. Ellen, started out with Bug trying to get the gunner, but then after being hurt twice by the pilot, refocused & lost her track on gaining cutlasses. I pretty much tried to make friends with the deck hand. I liked to have the flexability to float a couple mid range bids & adjust to win or come in second. Also, once I found out people would bribe me to help them win a bid, that helped. My problem was my secondary. The gunner was hotly contested, so I tried to gain cook & pilot to help influence things. Which did give me great bargaining positions, but hardly any cutlasses.

The game ended with Bug winning with 11 cutlasses. Ellen & anjee where right up there, Michael & I weren't even close.

All in all I enjoyed the game. I think in the future, there is hope for the deckhand, but it's important to remember the actual goal. I found that most of our piloting squares wound up being negative to somebody. I also found that an extra dubloon did not help as much as I thought it would. But that could just be because I didn't make enough use of it. I found that I was not moving my bribes as much as could be useful in order to retain what little influence I had.

Upon finishing the game, I had a couple of questions. My first is do I have a misprint? Each of the crew members has a number & has a symbol. The destination tokens also use symbols, and the rules have a key to interprate the symbols. The question comes down to the 1st mate & the pilot. On the crewmember token, the pilot has a ship, and the 1st mate has the wheel. But in the rules, it shows the pilot with the wheel & the 1st mate with the ship. I am completely uncertain as to which is correct. We played according to the rules just because we didn't notice until after a couple of rounds. Does anybody know which is correct?

The other question came up when only 1 person bid on a crewmember. We awarded the bidder 1st place. I then suggested that second place was a tie. (of zero) and the lookout should break it. (I was NOT the lookout at the time.) Everyone else voted it to be a non-event. If nobody bids, nobody wins. I could not find a rule either way, and wondered what other people did.

It was a whole lot of fun to play, and I would definately play again, but I wonder how many true paths to victory exist. Just the gunner, or some kind of medly.

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fractaloon — 2007-12-13T12:38:25+00:00

Inside the box.. note the insert does not match the components. This is the same inset in my Arena Maximus and that doesn't match either.

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Firepigeon — 2007-11-16T18:25:03+00:00

Cutlass version

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Firepigeon — 2007-11-16T18:07:43+00:00

Player's screen - inkjet friendly

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Firepigeon — 2007-11-16T18:05:32+00:00

The crew

Thread: Re: Bruno Faidutti's "Mutiny" Variant

ced1106 — 2007-06-18T06:26:13+00:00

Agreed. We inadvertently allowed *anyone* to give an provide bribes, and, yes, the Pilot became much more important. A common bribe was that a crewmember received two rum, and the Pilot and crewmember controller would split the rum. Briberies also encourages table-talk, always an equalizer in a multiplayer game.

The cook definitely needs to be more attractive. The Eurogamers quickly caught onto "Camping on the Gunner" strategy. Myself, I tried a Rum strategy (Cook plus bribes to the Pilot) and *almost* won by hoarding Rum then attempting to control the Gunner at the end of the game.

Not related, but I'd also only play this game with five players. This dilutes the "Camping on the Gunner" strategy. When we had three players competing for Gunner, each player would average only one Cutlass per turn. This made the secondary ability of the Pilot (gain one Cutlass) to be more useful. Indeed, during the later part of the game, I would purposely keep fewer Dubloons on the Pilot than another player to gain a Cutlass each turn.

aka. Washu! ^O^

Thread: Kevin Wilson

logopolys — 2007-04-20T07:39:24+00:00

Is it weird that Mutiny! and Magdar are the only games that Kevin Wilson designed which he lists as owning on his BGG profile? You don't think he has a copy of Arkham Horror or Descent: Journeys in the Dark? Or the only copy of StarCraft: The Board Game?

[o]All in good humour, of course.[/o]

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dipdragon — 2007-03-26T19:13:39+00:00

Mutiny Money

Thread: Making Mutiny a Fun Game

Coyote13 — 2007-01-01T10:17:10+00:00

If you still have this game on your shelf, dust it off, grab three or four other people and try playing it with these modified rules. I think you will find it a very different experience:

-----------
Rule Changes:

1. Change the Cook's payout from 2 Rum/1 Rum to 3 Rum/2 Rum.

2. The Deck Hand, Gunner and First Mate now all need Rum to activate their abilities or payouts. As long as someone, not necessarily the player who bid the most, has a bottle of Rum on the Crewmember at the start of that Crewmember's Resolution phase, then the Resolution proceeds normally. If there is no Rum, then determine who controls the Crewmember normally but neither the first nor second highest bribe gains any ability.

NOTE: That means if the Gunner does not have any Rum when it's time to determine who controls him that he produces no Cutlasses that turn.
ALSO NOTE: The Cook and the Pilot do not have this restriction. The Rum will still flow and the Chart will be resolved regardless of what they are bribed with.

3. The First Mate is resolved differently.
a). Determine who has control of the First Mate and give that player the Spyglass.
b). If the First Mate has any Rum on him, then the player that came in second gets a bottle of Rum.
c). If the First Mate has any Rum on him, the player who controls him may call a vote. The First Mate may propose any of the following:
i). Move 1 or 2 bottles of Rum from any one Crewmember to any one player.
ii). Move 1 or 2 bottles of Rum from any one player to any other player.
iii). Move 1 Cutlass and/or 1 bottle of Rum from any one player to any other player.
Each player must vote, either Aye or Nay, once for each Crewmember he or she controls; three votes will decide the vote.

NOTE: Table talk is encouraged and the First Mate may seek support in general terms before making a proposal.
---------

We have tested these rules in four games with four or five players. All the games have been tight and exciting right up to the end. Control of the Gunner will probably still decide the game, but it needs to be strategic. One player camping out on the Gunner will have a hard time coming up with the Rum to keep the Cutlasses flowing, and if he does, and the Deck Hand doesn't move it, the First Mate can bleed them away.

If you can try out this variant, let me know what you think.

Thread: Re: Rules Questions - Does anyone have any answers?

mdeuber — 2006-12-04T13:58:31+00:00

This question's a little old, but no one ever replied, so I'll take a stab. I've played Mutiny before.

1) Deck Hand - If the Deck Hand moves a doubloon:
a) does it count for that new crew member that turn (Yes?)

Yes, the doubloon counts that turn. That is the advantage of winning the Deck Hand. You could either move your coin to win a bribe that is already tied, or move someone else's coin (or rum) to another crew member so that they will lose.

b) If Player X has 3 Doubloons/Rum on the Deck Hand and Player Y has 2 - if Player X moves 1 of his own off of the Deck Hand - now they are tied...so for the Course, does the lookout now choose who is the Deck Hand (Yes?) OR does Player X retain control for that turn (for purposes of the course?)

The lookout would make the choice. The lookout breaks 'all' ties. Player X has waived his claim for winning the Deck Hand for the Course by moving his coin/rum.

2) Pilot - a) If a player wins the primary ability and the Course says that the First Mate gets (or loses) something - who owns the First Mate since he has not yet been bid on that turn? Whoever owned him the turn before? (Yes?)

From what I remember, bidding is done and then revealed for all crew members before any resolution begins. This allows (for instance) for the player who won the Deck Hand to move his/her coin onto crew members to affect the outcome. Likewise, when the Pilot is resolved, the bidding results on the First Mate would already been known. Whoever is winning the bid on the First Mate at that time would receive the effect of the Course.

b) What about the same scenario as above but on the first turn when no one has bid on the First Mate yet or received his ability? Choices: 1) no player is affected?; 2) The person who started the first round as the Lookout with the Spyglass is affected? (we played this); or 3) The Lookout with the spyglass chooses who is affected because everyone has no bids? OR 4) The effect of the Course on the First Mate only takes effect AFTER the bidding is completed on the First Mate?

Just like the previous question, the bidding would already be revealed. But, if for some reason on the first turn no one placed any bids on the First Mate, the Lookout would choose the winner as all players are now tied for the First Mate.

3) Bidding - What happens if no one bids on a crew member? The person who received the ability stays the same as it was the turn before (with no one getting the ability on the 1st round)?

Whoever is winning the bid at that moment, even though the First Mate has not been resolved yet.

4) Retrieval Phase - This says it starts with the Lookout. Does this mean the New Lookout who just received the spyglass? (Yes?)

Yes, start the Retrieval Phase with the newly minted Lookout.

Thread: Rules Questions - Does anyone have any answers?

DLongo — 2006-09-25T05:43:58+00:00

After the first attempt at playing this, several folks had different ideas about the interpretation of certain rules/occurrences? Does anyone have any answers to offer?

Here are some questions that came up:

1) Deck Hand - If the Deck Hand moves a doubloon:
a) does it count for that new crew member that turn (Yes?)

b) If Player X has 3 Doubloons/Rum on the Deck Hand and Player Y has 2 - if Player X moves 1 of his own off of the Deck Hand - now they are tied...so for the Course, does the lookout now choose who is the Deck Hand (Yes?) OR does Player X retain control for that turn (for purposes of the course?)

2) Pilot - a) If a player wins the primary ability and the Course says that the First Mate gets (or loses) something - who owns the First Mate since he has not yet been bid on that turn? Whoever owned him the turn before? (Yes?)

b) What about the same scenario as above but on the first turn when no one has bid on the First Mate yet or received his ability? Choices: 1) no player is affected?; 2) The person who started the first round as the Lookout with the Spyglass is affected? (we played this); or 3) The Lookout with the spyglass chooses who is affected because everyone has no bids? OR 4) The effect of the Course on the First Mate only takes effect AFTER the bidding is completed on the First Mate?

3) Bidding - What happens if no one bids on a crew member? The person who received the ability stays the same as it was the turn before (with no one getting the ability on the 1st round)?

4) Retrieval Phase - This says it starts with the Lookout. Does this mean the New Lookout who just received the spyglass? (Yes?)

Help.

Thread: Re: Bruno Faidutti's "Mutiny" Variant

RKFade — 2006-06-09T08:14:15+00:00

Thanks for posting this. I think it definately improves the game by quite a bit. It was interesting seeing the cook actually get contested occasionally. Secondly, there was more rum flowing every turn. That can only be a good thing on a Pirate ship!!

Thread: Re: A very calm Mutiny

Bluenose — 2006-04-23T10:45:34+00:00

Kalidor wrote:

Hhhhmmmm...seems as if I can say that for most of the Silver Line games actually. Outside of Colossal Arena, that is. And maybe Arena Max.

Are you saying you DO like Colossal Arena or you DON't? That is ne of the best games in FF's Catalogue.

Thread: Re: A very calm Mutiny

Kalidor — 2006-04-21T23:07:07+00:00

Obviously not a top flight game, but worth the low price tag and has enough decisions and options to be considered in any game collection.
I don't play it often, but I certainly enjoy when I do.

Hhhhmmmm...seems as if I can say that for most of the Silver Line games actually. Outside of Colossal Arena, that is. And maybe Arena Max.

King's Gate and Kingdoms I very much enjoy but don't play more than 3 times a year let's say.
Senator fell flat with my group, although I thought it ok.
Ciatdels is too long for what it offers. Although Ill gladly play to a victory of less building (making the game shorter)
Cavetroll was fun...maybe the deluxe treatment it's getting will perk it up for others.
Maginor and Atlantean are simply "ok"

Think that's all I own.

Oh well
Cheers!

Thread: Re: A very calm Mutiny

rmartinc — 2006-04-21T16:21:27+00:00

jollypirate wrote:
Though perhaps it doesn't reward a lot of strategy (or at least our inept strategies). In our first game, Andrea--who kept bidding on the gunner (who provides the most cutlasses)--won the game quite quickly while the rest of us who vied for control of some of the more subtle characters were left marooned.

I also won with that starting tactic. I abandoned it when the pilot tile came up for the gunner to lose 2 cutlasses, but still tried to get second (for a single cutlass) and control of the pilot to force the winner to lose 2. Definately a light game, but still fun once in a while.

Thread: Re: A very calm Mutiny

Bluenose — 2006-04-21T14:57:46+00:00

I rushed to buy this game when it came out because it sounded like good fun (My group love fighting and arguing) we found it so dull that I eventually burnt the game on a ceremonial pyre along with Dragon Delta and Tongiaki.

Thread: A very calm Mutiny

jollypirate — 2006-04-21T13:36:03+00:00

Mutiny is essentially another bidding game, but with a pirate theme.

Besides the attractive pieces, it does have a few novel points going for it though.

Each round you bid on the five different crew members that give you different resources or skills that useful in your quest to collect 8 (in a five player game, 10 in all other games)cutlasses.

The bidding itself is somewhat different, in that you bid with both dubloons and rum. The major difference being that the dubloons stay on the crew member you bid on (though at the end of each round you draw three back into your bidding pool), but the rum disappears at the end of the round. Both a dubloon and a rum are both equal counting as "1" in the bidding tally.

The game also lets the person who last controlled the First Mate, decide the fate of any ties (and fully allowed to take bribes to influence his decision).

The Pilot character is also a very nice touch as there is a "chart tile" that has 2 different consequences (some positive, some negative) for players who control different crew members. The player controlling the pilot gets to choose which set of consequences will be doled out. As the consequence can lead to a permanent loss of 2 of your eight dubloons, this becomes a very important part of the game.

Like most bidding games, game play is quick and easy to learn, though long term strategy can be elusive and can really change from game to game based on the players you have playing. The game progresses quickly as well.

Still, none of our players were really incited by the game, though the more strategic members in our group (which is definitely in the "light" gamer categorty) expressed intrest in playing it again.

Though perhaps it doesn't reward a lot of strategy (or at least our inept strategies). In our first game, Andrea--who kept bidding on the gunner (who provides the most cutlasses)--won the game quite quickly while the rest of us who vied for control of some of the more subtle characters were left marooned.

Thread: Rum Variant

ropearoni4 — 2006-04-04T16:14:53+00:00

To make this game not end up with everyone "camping" on the 2 swords/1 swords, I suggest giving rum more power. Rum equalling 2 instead of 1 would give some of the other guys more weight, and camping around 2 swords guy would not pay off if someone else wanted it (which they do) and had rum whereas you do not. Having reusable income make for a fists of dragonstones style, but in fists it works. I think that might be because there are more than just 5 cards to use. Leaving money on each pirate card changes things up a bit, and because of this, the popular "camping" all your money around the 2 sword guy is too common, and a good way to win. It comes down to who has the tie breaker in their back pocket, since there is always a tie at the 2 swords guy. Overall, if the variants don't work, I can see this game on the trade stack quite quickly. I try to make things work, but some games are not going to work imo, and then they have to go to someone who can handle the complete waste of time some games are to me and might not be to them. This title is nearing that threshhold. With so many other games that are "like" this one, my time could be used elsewhere. On the other hand, when designing a game, it would be good to know what doesn't work and what does. This, a couple other on the Silverline and especially Senator, ack!

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LordBobbio — 2006-02-11T03:07:23+00:00

Mutiny Player Screen, for hiding bids (if you find the "in-fist" method too cumbersome). Print at 300 DPI on 8"x10", 8+1/2"x11" or A4 paper.

Thread: Bruno Faidutti's "Mutiny" Variant

Coffeebike — 2005-12-05T14:46:19+00:00

On his Ideal Game Library listing (see "Related Links" section), Mr. Faidutti suggests a slight revision to improve the game:

"I suggest making the cook slightly stronger, with giving a third bottle of rum to the first player, and allowing players to bribe the pilot before he chooses the ship's destination, like they can bribe the lookout to break ties."

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EJKemp — 2005-03-15T19:44:10+00:00

Thread: User Review

Bluenose — 2005-03-02T12:58:06+00:00

Looks good doesn't it? Pirates on the front, MUTINY written in at attractive style, rum, cutlasses, backstabbing there's just so much about this game that you WANT to like, and yet...
I got this game as a present (We were all in Spirit Games in Burton, goading each other into buying everything from Memoir 44, Puerto Rico and Heroscape right down to the carpet and the till) I eventually bought Tigris & Euphrates, although if I'd had the money, I would have had mutiny then. John bought it for me as a birthday present. I was so excited (A true Geek, I savoured the popping of the bits and the sorting into zip lock. This turned out to be the best part of the game) I've played it once with my girlfriend (Who likes games) and once with the lads.
It probably won't be played again.
Why not? What's wrong with it? Here are it's good and bad points.

Good points: It's a bidding game. I like bidding games. You bid dubloons and rum to gain control of each character. Each character has a major and a minor attribute: If you are primary controller of the gunner, you gain 2 cutlasses (The aim of the game) If you are second, you gain 1. You bid rum the same as dubloons. At the end of the turn, dubloons stay in place, rum is lost. You can then take any 3 dubloons you like back into your hand. The characters are quite good in terms of the characteristics they give you. The lookout seems excellent (They decide all ties and can be brided) and the gunner is clearly important. As far as my group were concerned, that's it for good points.

Bad points: Repetitive. It's just the same thing over and over. We became bored VERY quickly. There are no screens to hide your stuff behind (ala Modern Art / Tigris and Euphrates and the like) According to the rules, the only person you can bribe is the lookout. We wanted to bribe EVERYBODY! Why can't you bribe the pilot? Why can you only bribe gold or rum? Why can't you bribe what you like(Cutlasses/alliances/cheese/sexual favours etc.)When the game finished, we did say that bribery was the obvious house rule we wanted to apply, but we didn't like the game enough to think that there would ever be another time.
The phrases that kept coming out whilst playing were things like "Yeh it's Ok, but..." and "It's similar to Fist of Dragonstones isn't it?" We rated that higher than we rate this by the way. And "I'd rather play Modern Art." This last one is the real shame. Mutiny appears to have been pitched at the beer and pretzel brigade, and for us to want to play a mathematical brainburner tells you that either we are all numerical eggheads (No) or that Mutiny just isn't as much fun as it should be. Maybe they'll sort out some of the issues in the next print, if there is one, but I can't see us digging this out for a while.
Out of interest, on our own ratings spreadsheet (We are Geeks after all...) this didn't score anything higher than a 4 (Out of 10)
Post script: one good point I found about this game when putting it away: It fits perfectly into one of the draws I keep my games in and fills a gap next to the just-slightly-too-big Tigris & Euphrates and beneath Lost Cities. I can't see this box lid fading in the light.

Thread: Re:Question re: importance of gunner

Shergar — 2005-02-10T14:44:23+00:00

KevinW (#84306),

Thanks for the response. I guess I'll have to give it a few games and see how it pans out.

Thanks again,

Andy

Thread: Re:Question re: importance of gunner

KevinW — 2005-02-09T17:00:39+00:00

Shergar (#83546),

You can do that, and it'll work once or twice, but there are a lot of things that will sabotage that strategy, including the anti-gunner islands. The other character abilities can also all overpower a player whose sole bet is the gunner (particularly if you get some rum or an extra doubloon or use the spyglass to break ties in your favor). The best strategy is a mixed bet strategy, where you try to gain as many of the characters' abilities as possible.

-Kevin Wilson
Fantasy Flight Games

Thread: Question re: importance of gunner

Shergar — 2005-02-07T10:46:26+00:00

I bought mutiny this weekend and haven't yet had a chance to play it. However, after looking through the rules and having a run-through by myself I came away with a worry about the game.

You need 10 cutlasses to win; what is there to stop someone bidding all their doubloons on the gunner and gaining 2 cutlasses every round for the first 5 rounds?

As far as I can see, there are only two things that can stop it; the first being that the ship is moved to islands that harm the chances of the gunner. However, there do not seem to be any more cards that harm the gunner than any other crew member. The second way of stopping this, as far as I can see, is for others to do the same thing and sacrifice all their doubloons on the gunner too!!

Am I missing something???

Andy

Thread: Re:So promising, so disappointing

Gratiano — 2004-08-29T16:51:00+00:00

well, actually hiding rum might be useful sometimes; you can easily keep track of dobloons, but after a few rounds of rum storing keeping hidden your bottles might give you a significant edge.

Thread: Re:So promising, so disappointing

Findegil — 2004-03-03T15:57:19+00:00

Findegil wrote:
I don't think anyone else did, either.

Um...meaning, of course, "anyone else I played with".

Thread: Re:Played first game

Kalidor — 2004-02-29T23:06:38+00:00

skudfisher (#24377),

I think the game HAS to have at least 3-5 players...that they even list 2 players as an option is somewhat misleading, as it sucks with 2.
Whats the fun of back-n-forth bidding..?

The game playes well enough with 3-5; not the best, but fun especially with the theme involved.

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Dimp — 2004-02-24T01:42:04+00:00

Mutiny components

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roberious — 2004-02-24T01:42:04+00:00

box contents

Thread: Re:So promising, so disappointing

Findegil — 2004-02-22T20:39:28+00:00

Nightgaunt (#27236),

I thought the game had some flaws (primarily the dominance of the gunner), but I didn't find the lack of screens to be any problem, and I don't think anyone else did, either. The amount of tokens one has is small enough that it's simple to hold your bid in one hand and your stash in the other, IMHO.

Thread: Re:So promising, so disappointing

Nightgaunt — 2004-02-04T23:36:01+00:00

Huh. Maybe it's just me. I have seen a smattering of reviews out there for this game, both good and not-so-good, and not one has mentioned the lack of screens, which I find to be seriously debilitating on the gameplay out of the box. Is it just me? What do other people do with the stuff they AREN'T bidding with on a given round?

Thread: User Review

TomVasel — 2004-01-23T20:40:32+00:00

My friend Joe, a historian, is always amused by people’s romantic fascination with pirates, like my own. I love pirate movies, pirate games (except Blackbeard), etc. – but in reality the life of a pirate was not nearly as glamorous. I don’t really care about the historical inaccuracies of games and movies, however, because realism rarely makes for a fun game. Thus, when I heard that Fantasy Flight games was releasing a new game in their recently christened Silver Line about pirates, I was interested in it.

And what is the verdict on Mutiny! (Fantasy Flight Games, 2003 – Kevin Wilson) The theme of the game is great (something Wilson seems adept at), but you are only going to like this game if you like blind bidding games, and even then you may not enjoy it that much. Now, I enjoyed the game, but most of the other playing did not – and it takes a game to be a real stinker for me to actively dislike it. I’m a big fan of blind bidding games, but often, during the course of the game, I kept thinking how Fist of Dragonstones did it so much better. But then again, perhaps pirates are your theme, rather than fantasy, so keep reading!

The theme of the game is that the captain of the ship is apparently an idiotic cretin, and needs to be mutinied against. The question is, who will lead the mutiny? Each player (up to five) takes eight doubloons of their chosen color and three rum tokens. The remainder of the rum tokens, doubloons, and cutlass tokens are placed in piles at the side of the table. In the middle of the table are placed five large hexagon markers – representing the key crew members needed to complete the mutiny. Finally, sixteen chart markers are shuffled and placed in a pile underneath the pilot (fourth crew member). One player is given the large spyglass token, and the game starts.

First, the top chart marker is flipped over and placed next to the pilot. Then, the player with the spyglass calls out each crew member in numeric order (it’s the same, every turn). When a crew member’s number is called, all players secretly bid any amount of coins and/or rum tokens that they wish. Each player places their bid tokens next to the crew marker, near the side of the marker with their matching color. The player who has bid the most tokens on a crew member may use that crew member’s primary ability, and the player who has bid the second most tokens uses the secondary ability. All ties are broken by the player holding the spyglass. The abilities of the five crewmembers are as follows…

- #1, Deck Hand: The winner can move any one token bid on any crew member to any other crew member, with the second place winner able to move any of THEIR tokens bid on a crew member to any other crew member.
- #2, Gunner: The winner gets two cutlass tokens, second place gets one.
- #3, Cook: The winner gains two rum tokens, second place gets one.
- #4, Pilot: The winner picks which way the ship will sail on the chart marker (this will determine if certain players will gain and/or lose tokens (doubloons, rum, or swords), and second place gets one cutlass token.
- #5, First Mate: The winner gets the spyglass token, and second place gets one rum token.

After bidding, all tokens remain on that crew member. When all five crew members have been bid on, all the rum tokens are removed from the board back to the general pile of rum, and each player, starting with the player with the cutlass, can take back up to three of their coins from the board. Another round starts, and rounds continue to be played until one player gets eight cutlass tokens (or 10 in a three-player game). That player is immediately the winner!

Some comments on the game…

1.) Components: First of all, the artwork for the game, done by Brian Schomburg and Anders Finer, is absolutely fantastic, and certainly revives those “romantic” notions of the pirates! The tokens are all of good sizes and quality, as is typical for FFG (Fantasy Flight Games). I was a little disappointed with the plastic inset to the box, as there were many small tokens, but really nowhere to store them, I had to add plastic bags to keep everything straight in the box. The box itself, besides being beautiful, is typical good quality from FFG – and I really appreciate how all their Silver Line boxes easily stack on my shelves.

2.) Rules: The game rules are very clearly written, in seven languages – with illustrations and examples. Every question we had, especially an important one on whether the person with the spyglass broke ties regarding the chart tokens, was answered, and I was able to teach the game in about five minutes. All the game components are language independent, and each of the crew markers has pictures on it, explaining what their primary and secondary abilities are.

3.) Blind Bidding: As I said in the introduction, if you don’t like blind bidding, you won’t like the game, because that’s all that’s ever going on in this game. If you like blind bidding, but need variety, you also won’t be a big fan of this game, because you are bidding on the same five things, every round.

4.) Theme: However, at least the game really does have a “pirate” feel, (even if it’s not historically accurate). The rum, the swords, the artwork, the doubloons, etc. – it all works together to give this game some flavor that many games sorely lack. If you are a big pirate fan, I’d have to say this is a must-add to your collection.

5.) Strategy and Fun Factor: I enjoyed the game, but found that I was in a minority on that aspect. Some complained that the game felt a little stale. Others got tired of bidding for the same thing over and over. Still others thought that the strategy was lacking, or that there were only a couple viable strategies, bringing down the “fun factor” of the game. Teenagers, on the other hand, are enamored by the game, and because of the theme, can look past the mechanics (this is almost always the case), so for them, the Fun Factor is huge.

Sadly, this means I can’t recommend the game to anyone, unless you LOVE pirates or you LOVE blind-bidding games, and must own them all. The only exception to this is that families might like the game if they have teenagers who can handle blind bidding strategy. Personally, though, there are better games out there, and I would recommend that you pick up one of them instead. Love the theme, wish the mechanics were as interesting as it!

Tom Vasel

Thread: So promising, so disappointing

Nightgaunt — 2004-01-18T16:33:20+00:00

Okay, I love pirates. I think they're a great gaming theme. So I bought this game thinking it might be pretty good (FFG has a moderately good track record). Once I read the rules, I was very intrigued. The mechanics, on paper, looked fantastic: bidding with two different resources, gaining of special abilities that change hands as the game progresses, and just so much piratey goodness. I was ready to declare this the innovative bidding game that New England was supposed to be, but isn't.

Ouch. What a disappointment. Don't get me wrong, there's still a lot that works here. The rum/doubloon mechanic works fine, for example. But the game reads like it's going to be straightforward and easy to grasp. We got thrown a lot of weird curveballs while playing. For example, one of the abilities that is bidded on is the "spyglass" which makes you the person who breaks ties. One player, who controls the pilot, also chooses one of two islands to sail to each turn. On the islands, players controlling some of the crewmembers gain or lose resources. Now, the player with the spyglass decides who controls each crewmember in the case of a tie. But when resolving the island effects, he can choose differently than he chose for actual control. Also, island effects take place before you've even really resolved control of the last crewmember (first mate). Granted, nothing really can change before then, but feels awkward. It seems like the game ran into some obstacles when it tried to work out the timing of all the phases of the game and the abilities.

Other dubious elements: gaining and losing doubloons, which are your primary source of buying power. You start with 8, but could theoretically lose up to three or four of those if things turn against you. Also, cutlasses as the only resource to win. Ultimately, the gunner is the road to victory; he must be.

The final disappointment: This is a bidding game. There are no screens for hiding your unbidded resources!! Which makes figuring out bids very easy. Clearly, players are expected to supply their own screens or keep all their stuff in their lap or their hands. Very awkward. What an oversight. Can screens have been so expensive to include? I can't imagine they did playtesting without them.

Hey, I still really want to like this game. And it actually feels to me like it might be made better my just some small rules changes to smooth out the wrinkles. I still think the fundamentals are fantastic in theory. Can we ask for a second edition so soon after the first?

Thread: User Review

otrex — 2004-01-08T14:04:27+00:00

GENERAL OVERVIEW: Players in this game must decide whether to use gold or rum to bribe various unsavoury characters. Gold is more of a permanent bribe whereas rum is drunk immediately and only useful for that turn.
The characters bestow items on their "owners". These items include rum and a cutlass (a sword used commonly by pirates). The first player to 10 cutlasses (is that even a word?) wins the game.
Added in to spice things up a bit are the characters special abilities. If you should win the bidding for the pilot, for example, you will choose where the ship sails for the next round, and thereby help decide who collects what items (or in some cases, items are lost).
HIGHS: Nice theme if you enjoy that sort of thing. Interesting use of rum/gold bidding where gold is semi-permanent, and the rum is not (bribes of gold can be removed too, if you wish to save some cash for later).
It plays quick, and without too much confusion about what you should be doing. The learning curve is also quite quick. I would consider this to be the exact opposite of "Ra", where most players have no idea what is going on until they have 1 game under their belt. This one is basically playable, with a decent strategy no less, right out of the box.
LOWS: Much like many games being produced these days, it breaks no new ground. Sure, the theme is well thought out. But, all in all, there are similar games out there.
It is definitely NOT playable with 2 players, and isn't really all that great with 3, either. It really shouldn't be attempted with anything less than 4.
OVERALL: I can't say that I am terribly impressed by this game, but I don't have any major complaints about it either. There are so many choices in the auction/bidding catagory, that this one may simply be lost on my game shelf forever. I would recommend this title to someone who really likes pirates (as the theme seems to fit reasonably well). If pirates aren't your thing, keep looking. This isn't a unique game by any means.

Thread: Re:Played first game

skudfisher — 2003-12-27T03:56:22+00:00

skudfisher (#24276),
Just a quick follow up. I tried the game with 4 players the next day and things were a lot more fun. The game lasted quite a bit longer but we were all laughing and having a good time trying to bribe the Lookout for tie-breakers.

Thread: Played first game

skudfisher — 2003-12-24T06:48:05+00:00

I just played a quick game tonight with only 2 players. I can see how this game could be a lot of fun, but it seems to be that you'd really want as many people playing as possible (which is 5). The box says 2-5 players but the bidding system just doesn't feel right with only two people, especially since the top two bidders are both rewarded and the spyglass seems to give too much power. We're going to try it again tomorrow with 3-4 people and hopefully it will go better. After first reading the rules last night I was really interested in seeing how well everything with work in practice.

There are some very interesting things in the game, but it felt like none of them were really being exploited properly with only two players. I can imagine that even with just one more person it would become MUCH more interesting/fun.

Again this is after only one session. I'll try and give a much more detailed review after we play it a few more times over the next couple of days with more players.

Thread: Re:Rum!

mlvanbie — 2003-12-17T12:08:12+00:00

bwross (#20428),

And it's got an auction, too. People are buying this game up even though it has only been available for a few days ... where are the previews and reviews?

Image

KevinW — 2003-12-04T18:42:48+00:00

Final cover from Fantasy Flight Games.

Thread: Rum!

bwross — 2003-10-08T15:36:22+00:00

How can you go wrong with a game that offers "rum for 2-5 players"?