Overview

Rum & Pirates is a movement and collection game designed by Stefan Feld, published by alea/Rio Grande Games. Players are pirates navigating a modular board of tavern locations, performing various actions to earn honor points. A shared Red Corsair pirate token moves along paths between locations, and players spend their own pirate tokens and coins to extend the Corsair’s path and take multiple actions per turn. The game is played over 5 rounds, after which the player with the most honor points wins.

Components

• 9 modular square board tiles (randomly arranged each game)
• 1 Red Corsair token (shared)
• Pirate tokens (10 per player in player colors)
• Coins
• Rum barrel tokens
• Honor point tiles (positive and negative)
• Treasure tiles
• Headquarters markers
• Various action tokens
• Dice

Setup

1. Randomly arrange the 9 square board tiles in a 3x3 grid. The tile with the red flag determines the Red Corsair’s starting position.
2. Each player receives 10 pirate tokens of their color and starting coins.
3. Place the Red Corsair on its starting location.
4. Set rum barrels, honor tiles, and other tokens in supply areas.
5. Determine starting player.

Turn Structure

On each turn:

1. Move the Red Corsair: Move the Red Corsair from its current location to an adjacent location along an open path.
2. Place a Pirate: Leave one of your pirate tokens on each space the Corsair passes through or stops at.
3. Take an Action: Perform the action available at the Corsair’s destination.
4. Extend (optional): Spend 1 coin to move the Red Corsair to another adjacent location, place another pirate, and take another action. This can be repeated as long as you have coins.
5. End Turn: When you stop moving (or run out of pirates/coins), your turn ends.

Actions

There are 10 different action types available at various locations:

Coin Action: Gain 1 extra coin from the supply.

Pirate Action: Gain 1 extra pirate token from the supply.

Headquarters Action: Reclaim one group of your previously placed pirates from the board (from a single location) and return them to your supply.

Rum Barrel Action: Claim 2 rum barrels from the supply. Rum barrels can be spent later to re-roll dice.

Treasure Action: Gain treasure tiles worth honor points.

Ship Action: Score honor points based on specific conditions.

Tavern Action: Engage in drinking contests using dice rolls (modified by rum barrels).

Crew Action: Recruit crew members for end-game scoring.

Raid Action: Attack and gain resources or honor points through dice-based combat.

Harbor Action: Score honor points based on pirate placement patterns.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

The game lasts exactly 5 rounds. After the 5th round, players total their honor points from:

• Collected honor point tiles (positive and negative)
• Treasure tiles
• Crew bonuses
• End-game scoring conditions

The player with the most honor points wins. Ties are broken by coins remaining.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• The Red Corsair’s position carries over between turns; the next player continues from where it was left.
• Pirate tokens placed on the board mark where you have been; they may be needed for certain scoring actions.
• Rum barrels are spent to re-roll dice during drinking contests and raids. They are valuable and limited.
• Negative honor tiles exist; some actions risk gaining them.
• The modular board means every game has a different layout, changing optimal strategies.
• Coins are the engine for multiple actions per turn; running out limits you to a single action.

Player Reference

Turn: Move Red Corsair > Place pirate > Take action > (Spend coin to continue, repeat) > End turn.

Rounds: 5 total. Most honor points wins.

Rum barrels: Spend to re-roll dice.

Key resources: Coins (extend movement), pirate tokens (placed on board), rum barrels (re-rolls).