7Seas

Finally! After long journeys across the seven seas, you've found it: the treasure island with immeasurable amounts of gold, sparkling crystals, and tasty rum. But no sooner has your ship landed than others show up to capture the most valuable things for themselves. What's more, the island is stricken by evil curses...and then there is also the kraken — which is both a blessing and a curse at the same time.

In 7Seas, you want to use cards in hand to capture those on the table, but if you can't grab something, then you'll end up leaving goods for others to grab.

The deck consists of 40 cards in four suits (gold, rum, crystals, and curses); each card shows a strength value (1-10) and a booty value (from 7 to -7). Each player has a ship that starts at the beginning of the track, and a game lasts until a player reaches 7, 11, or 14 on the track, depending on the length of the game desired. To set up a round, deal 4 cards face up as a display, deal each player 8 or 11 cards depending on the player count, then place 3 or 4 cards aside as a special booty pile.

On a turn, play one card from your hand. If a card in the display has the same strength as this card, you collect both cards. If instead two or more cards sum to the value of your played card, you collect those smaller cards and your played card. If you play a non-cursed 1, you can collect a 10 in the display (along with your 1), assuming no 1s are present. If you play the kraken (the cursed 1), then you can take all of the cards in the display along with the kraken — but the kraken is -7 points, so it better be worth it! If you can't collect a card, then you add your card to the display. If you ever clear all the cards in the display, then you steal one card, either from an opponent's collection or from the booty pile, looking those cards over and choosing your prize.

Once all the cards have been played — and cards are played in two cycles of eight cards in a two-player game — players score points depending on what they've collected:

• The player with the most cards moves their ship one space.
• The player with the most gold coins moves one space.
• The player with the pirate lady or pirate king (respectively the 1 crystal and 1 rum) moves one space.
• The player with the highest booty total — that is, the sum of the highest card in each suit — moves two spaces.

Continue playing rounds until someone moves their ship to the finish line.