Overview

Caribbean is a pirate-themed bidding and movement game set in the 18th century Caribbean. Six neutral pirate ships patrol the seas, and players bid barrels of rum to bribe these pirates into acting on their behalf. Ships capture treasure chests from port cities or steal them from other ships, then deliver them to players’ safe havens for doubloons. No ship belongs to any player — control is won each round through bidding. The player with the most doubloons at game end wins.

Components

• 1 game board (sea divided into spaces with harbor cities, safe havens, and starting spaces)
• 6 pirate ships (Arriba, Bravo, Caribic, Diabolo, Evita, Fuego)
• 4 card holders
• 4 sets of 7 bribing cards (one set per player color)
• 16 treasure chests (with doubloon values of 4,000–8,000)
• 35 coins/doubloons (gold = 10,000; silver = 5,000; copper = 1,000)

Setup

1. Each player takes a card holder and a set of 7 bribing cards in their color. Place the card holder so ship names are visible.
2. Shuffle the 16 treasure chests face down. Place 6 randomly face up on the ports indicated on them.
3. Place the remaining 10 treasure chests face down in piles of 2 on the five special spaces in the upper right corner of the board (treasure chest supply).
4. Place coins next to the board as a bank.
5. Place the 6 pirate ships randomly on the starting spaces marked with ship symbols. These symbols have no further importance during play.
6. Each player has 3 safe havens marked in their color on the board.

Turn Structure

Each round has two phases:

Phase 1 — Bidding:

• Each player secretly allocates 6 of their 7 bribing cards to the 6 ship slots on their card holder.
• The 7th card is placed face down as a tie-breaker card.
• Once all players confirm readiness, bids are locked for the round.

Phase 2 — Ship Movement (alphabetical order): Ships are resolved one at a time in order: Arriba → Bravo → Caribic → Diabolo → Evita → Fuego.

For each ship:

1. All players reveal their bid for that ship.
2. The highest bidder moves the ship up to a number of sea spaces equal to the barrels shown on their bid card.
3. Each thief card played by opponents subtracts 1 space from movement.
4. The winning bidder may take actions (capture, steal, swap, deliver) before, during, or after moving the ship.

Actions

The active player (highest bidder) may perform these actions in any order, at any point during the ship’s movement:

• Capture: When the ship is in a sea space adjacent to a harbor city with a treasure chest, it steals the chest. The active player loads the chest onto the ship and receives 2,000 doubloons immediately.
• Steal: When the ship is in an adjacent sea space to another ship carrying a treasure chest, the active player moves the chest to the moving ship.
• Swap: When the moving ship carries a treasure chest and is adjacent to another ship also carrying one, the active player may swap the two chests between the ships.
• Deliver: When the ship is adjacent to any player’s safe haven (or moves through/stops at one), the ship may unload its treasure chest there. The safe haven’s owner receives doubloons equal to the chest’s value (4,000–8,000). The chest is then placed face down on the corresponding city name to show it is permanently removed.

Movement rules:

• Each ship can carry only one treasure chest at a time (value must be visible on deck).
• Only one ship may occupy a sea space.
• Ships must move around occupied spaces.
• Ships may move through and stop at safe havens.
• The player need not use full movement allowance.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

Players earn doubloons throughout the game:

• 2,000 doubloons for each harbor city capture
• 4,000–8,000 doubloons for each treasure chest delivered to a safe haven (value shown on chest)

Doubloons are public and must be displayed for all to see.

Game End: The game ends when at least one player reaches:

• 62,000 doubloons (2 players)
• 41,000 doubloons (3 players)
• 31,000 doubloons (4 players)

The current round is played to completion. The player with the most doubloons at the end of that round wins.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Tie-breaking bids: When two or more players tie for highest bid on a ship, they may use their tie-breaker cards. Players place hands flat over their tie-breaker cards, then simultaneously reveal. A face-up card means the player adds a bid (note: zero beats -1). The winner moves the ship, but only as far as the original bid card’s barrels allow (minus any thief cards from original bids). Thieves on tie-breaker cards do reduce movement. The tie-breaker card’s barrel count does not add to movement distance.
• Tie-breaker reuse: A revealed tie-breaker card (face up) cannot be used again until the next round. A tie-breaker shown face down can still be used for other ties in the same round.
• Unresolved ties: If the tie-breaker results in another tie, the ship does not move this round.
• Treasure chest supply: After each round, place the next 2 treasure chests from the supply onto their named harbor cities (left to right). After 5 rounds, all chests are on the board.
• No jettisoning: A player may never throw a treasure chest overboard.
• Delivery to opponents: A ship can deliver a chest to any player’s safe haven — the safe haven’s owner receives the doubloons, even if it is not the active player.

Player Reference

Action	Condition	Effect
Capture	Ship adjacent to harbor city with chest	Load chest, gain 2,000 doubloons
Steal	Ship adjacent to ship with chest	Transfer chest to moving ship
Swap	Both ships have chests and are adjacent	Exchange chests between ships
Deliver	Ship adjacent to/at safe haven with chest	Owner of haven gains chest value (4K–8K)

Ship order: Arriba → Bravo → Caribic → Diabolo → Evita → Fuego

Game end thresholds: 62K (2p) / 41K (3p) / 31K (4p)