Overview

Jamaica is a pirate-themed racing game set in 1678 where players race their ships around the island of Jamaica. Players use action cards to move forward or backward while managing their ship’s holds (food, gold doubloons, and gunpowder). The Great Challenge is a race around the island, and the winning team is the one with the greatest quantity of gold in its holds at the end.

Components

• 1 gameboard showing Jamaica and the race course
• 66 action cards in 6 colors (11 per player)
• 80 gold doubloon tokens
• 45 food tokens
• 45 gunpowder tokens
• 9 treasure tokens (placed on pirate lairs)
• 12 treasure cards (providing extra powers, gold, or cursed treasures)
• 1 compass (showing current Captain)
• 2 action dice
• 1 combat die
• 6 ships (one per player)
• 6 boards representing the 5 holds of each ship

Setup

1. Randomly select 9 of the 12 treasure cards, shuffle, and place face-down on the right side of the navigation box. Return remaining 3 to the box unseen.
2. Place the 9 treasure tokens on the 9 pirate lairs (skull-shaped rocks).
3. Sort resources (doubloons, food, gunpowder) by type to form the Bank within reach of all players.
4. Each player takes a ship board with 5 holds.
5. Each player takes their set of 11 action cards, shuffles them face-down as their personal deck.
6. Each player places their ship on the Port Royal space.
7. Each player places 3 food tokens and 3 doubloons in two of their holds.
8. Everyone draws 3 action cards from their deck, held so action symbols (upper corners) are visible.
9. One player is selected at random as the Captain for the first round and receives the compass and two action dice.

Turn Structure

Each round:

1. Captain rolls dice: The Captain rolls both action dice and places them in the navigation box (one on day, one on night side), choosing which die goes where.
2. Card selection: All players simultaneously choose one action card from their hand and place it face-down.
3. Reveal and resolve: Starting with the Captain and going clockwise, each player reveals their card and executes the day action (matching the die on the day side) then the night action (matching the die on the night side).
4. Draw: Each player draws a card to return to 3 cards in hand.
5. New Captain: The compass passes to the next player clockwise.

Actions

Action cards show two action symbols (one for day, one for night). The five possible actions correspond to the symbols in the card corners:

• Move ship forward: Move your ship forward the number of spaces shown on the corresponding die.
• Move ship backward: Move your ship backward.
• Load gold doubloons: Take doubloons from the Bank equal to the die value and place in a hold.
• Load food: Take food tokens from the Bank equal to the die value.
• Load gunpowder: Take gunpowder tokens from the Bank equal to the die value.

Port Fees and Sea Combat

• Port spaces (golden needle): When landing on a port, you must pay the port fee in gold doubloons. If you cannot pay, you must give up resources.
• Sea spaces (white squares): When landing on an occupied sea space, a battle occurs. The arriving player and the occupant each roll the combat die. Gunpowder tokens can be spent to increase combat values. The loser must give one of their holds’ contents to the winner.
• Pirate lairs (skull rocks): When passing or landing on a pirate lair, take the treasure token if still present. Draw a treasure card (may be beneficial or cursed).

Ship Holds

• Each ship has 5 holds that can each hold one type of resource.
• When loading resources, you choose which hold to place them in.
• If a hold is full or you want to use it for something else, you must first discard its contents.
• The 6th space on the large hold costs additional gold.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

The race ends when any ship crosses the finish line (returns to Port Royal). Each player then scores:

• Position bonus/penalty: Points based on your final position on the race track.
• Gold doubloons: Each doubloon in your holds counts as points.
• Treasure cards: Some provide bonus gold or special scoring.
• Cursed treasures: Subtract points.

The player with the most total gold/points wins.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• You cannot choose to move backward voluntarily if the card shows forward movement (and vice versa).
• Combat is mandatory when landing on an occupied sea space.
• Gunpowder spent in combat is discarded, not transferred.
• Treasure cards may grant permanent abilities or one-time effects.
• If your deck runs out, shuffle your discard pile to form a new deck.
• The Captain has strategic control over die placement (day vs. night), which affects all players.

Player Reference

Resource	Purpose
Gold doubloons	Pay port fees, final scoring
Food	Essential for sea movement
Gunpowder	Increase combat die value

Key Numbers	Value
Players	2-6
Action cards per player	11
Cards in hand	3
Ship holds	5
Treasure cards in game	9 (of 12)
Pirate lairs	9