The Island 101
Board Royale® is a turn-based survival card game for 2 to 6 players.
The goal of the game is to survive by any means necessary. If a player runs out of resources, they are instantly eliminated from the game! The last man standing on the island or the first to escape by collecting 10 escape points, wins the game. But this is not an easy task!
Setup
Separate the Resource and Item cards into two decks. Shuffle them separately and place them face down on the board or table. Leave some space available for the Discard Piles of both decks. If any deck runs out of cards during the game, shuffle the corresponding Discard Pile and create a new deck.
Reveal 4 Item cards face up next to the Item Deck to create the Crafting Field.
Deal 5 resource cards to each player. Hold resources in your hand without showing others. All set. You are ready to start playing.
Beginning
STARTING PLAYER
To decide which player starts the game, all players take turns drawing resources until someone draws Gold; that player begins the game. Drawn resources are discarded. Any other method you can think of for deciding the first player is also acceptable, such as the player who went to an island most recently begins the game.
PREPARATION ROUND
After the setup is completed and the starting player has been decided, the Preparation round begins. Starting with the first player, every player draws 2 cards from the Resource Deck and crafts Items if they have the necessary resources in their turns. Player’s can’t steal, use items, make trades and call for democracy during this round. After the preparation round ends, the game begins.
Player Turns
A player’s turn consists of 2 consecutive phases: the Resource Phase followed by the Action Phase. When the first player finishes their turn, the game continues to the next player in clockwise order.
When a player decides their turn is over, they must declare it by saying “skip” or “pass,” then the next player starts their turn.
When each player completes their turn, the round ends.
Resource Phase
In the Resource Phase, you may choose to collect resources by either:
A) Drawing 2 resources from the Resource Deck.
B) Stealing 1 resource from a target opponent by randomly picking a card from their hand.
Hand Limit: 20
The player hand limit is 20 resources.
Hold resources in your hand without showing others. When a player is going to draw resources that will make them exceed their hand limit they should discard enough resources before drawing to keep their hand total in their hand limit.
There are several items in the game that increase the player hand limit. Ex: If a player crafts “Backpack”, their hand limit is increased by +4 and set to 24.
Hands Up: If asked, players are obligated to tell how many Resource Cards they have in their hand. Hiding resource card count is not allowed.
Action Phase
In the action phase, players can craft items, use items, make trades and/or negotiate. Players can perform any number of actions in any order as they wish.
CRAFTING ITEMS Items can be crafted from the Crafting Field by paying the required amount of resources shown on the item card. Example: The player will pay 1 Stone and 3 Iron resources to the Discard Pile to craft the knife and take it.
When a player crafts an item, it is placed in front of them face-up. Items should be visible to all players. Whenever an item is crafted, draw a new Item card from the Item Deck and place it face up in the Crafting Field. Players may continue crafting items during their turn as long as they have the necessary resources.
Deals & Trades
Players can make any kind of deal as long as they stay within the rules of the game. Example: A shotgun forces all the opponents to discard resources. This means that players can’t decide who will evade the shotgun’s ability.
Players can trade anything in their own turn (items for resources, resources for protection, items for future bargains, etc.). Players can give resources or lend items to an attacking player during their turn. However, Players cannot give resources to a defending player in order to save them from elimination. In addition, the defending player can’t give their items or resources to other players in order to surrender. In this game there is no surrender!
Setup
The item cards in the Crafting Field can be changed once per round only if it is accepted by the majority of the players. Any player can call a vote to replace the cards in the Crafting Field during their turn.
If accepted by the majority, all item cards in the Crafting Field will be removed and placed on the item Discard Pile. Four new items will be placed on the Crafting Field.
Note: If only two players remain, then both players must agree to replace the cards in the Crafting Field.
Looting
If a player is eliminated, the attacking player will take all the item cards of the eliminated player. If it was a collaborative act against the target, the attacking players may divide the items and loot between them.
No Kill Stealing
Players cannot eliminate an opponent during another player’s turn. If it is a collaborative attack, the final damage must be dealt by the current player to count as a lootable kill. However, defending players can kill the current attacking player with their instant items and loot them. This will not end defending players’ next turn.
The End Of The Game
As stated at the beginning of this article, the goal of the game is to survive by any means necessary. The last man standing on the island or the first to escape from it becomes the winner.
DEATH
If a player runs out of resources, they are instantly eliminated from the game!
ESCAPE
Collect 10 escape points or complete an escape set to leave the island and win the game.
RAGE QUIT
If a player decides to leave the game, their resources and items may be shared between the remaining players. If the remaining players can’t reach an agreement to share, all cards get discarded.
