P a g e  | 1  

CROATOAN:  Lost Colony of Roanoke 

Number of players: 2-4 Play time: 30-60 minutes (4 players) – Longer with optional rules Credits: The following individuals were all involved in the game concept and design and quality play testing. Game developers who had special contributions are noted in Alphabetical order: Bland Odell – Printer, Technical Writer and Garage Door Crusader. Brian Dickey – Illustrations (Rules) and Artwork (Board). Duong Ho – Rule development. James Smith – Game Mechanics and Lead. Jeff Smith – Writing (Rule Definitions).

Noel Lines – Initial Game Setup. Tyler Lumpkin – Illustrations and Artwork (Card and Pieces).

Special thanks to all the play testers from the Jan 2011 Global Game Jam at Southern Polytechnic State University Theme/Backstory: In this game, the year is 1586 and you are a member of the Roanoke Colony off the coast of present-day North Carolina. The ship captains that left you here to colonize America (Ralph Lane and Richard Grenville) promised to return this year with supplies from England, but they have not shown up. As your supplies are running out, you realize that the extinction of your family is at stake. You know you are all going to die, unless you can gather supplies and escape to the mainland on the only boat left. All the other families are acting more suspicious every day…trust is lost; survival of your family is your top priority as there are not enough supplies for you all to survive. The fate of “The Lost Colony” is at stake.

P a g e  | 2  

Game Components • Playing Board - with a central playing area marked, border safe zones and

corner player huts (if necessary, color the corner squares to match the color playing pieces).

• Four (4) Player Pieces - Color coded to match corner color huts on the board if needed.

• Four (4) Barrier Chits – Color coded to match the player pieces. • Twenty (20) Action Cards – Four (4) matching sets of five (5) cards each. • Dice: 2d6 – Two off colored dice (One black and white preferred) • One (1) Turn Indicator – Unique piece of your choice to denote current

player. • Eight (8) Supply Chits – Represent the supplies the players need to gather

during game play. • Four (4) Quick Reference Guide – To help players keep up with phases of

play.

Object of the game: Players are trying to claim and gather enough of the last remaining supplies so they can leave Roanoke Island before opposing players do, or the colony supplies run out. Win Condition: The first player to have three (3) supply chits in their hidden stash wins the game. Alert: If all supply chits are in players hidden stashes and no one has the three (3) required to win, then the entire colony becomes “extinct”. Setup:

1. Lay the board out where each player has access to a side of the board. The board has a middle 6X6 open playing area. The edge of the playing area has “beach” sections designated as “safe” zones. The corner squares are Player huts and are indicated with different colors to match player’s pieces.

2. Each player chooses a color playing piece that corresponds to the color of the hut on the map that is on the players ‘Left’ side.

P a g e  | 3  

3. Each player selects 5 different cards and forms a hand which should contain no duplicates and have one (1) of the following actions cards: a walk card, run card, right card, left card & barrier card.

4. Each player selects a barrier chit corresponding to the players color and places it in front of them on the table.

5. Players place a supply pool on the table. The number of chits to be placed in the supply pool are determined as follows:

o 2 players = 4 Supply Chits in the pool o 3 players = 6 Supply Chits in the pool o 4 players = 8 Supply Chits in the pool

6. Place the turn indicator next to the board by the hut of the youngest player, who then becomes the current player and goes first.

7. Turns proceed in a clockwise direction.

Progression of play: Follow these phases in order.

1. Supply Phase – Add new supply chit to playing area. If no unclaimed supply chits are in play, the current player rolls the black and white dice. Starting on the players own hut space, the player counts the spaces ‘right’ that match the number rolled on the ‘Black” die. Then the player counts the spaces ‘Up’ that match the number rolled on the ‘White’ die. The player places a supply chit in the corresponding square. Note: Once all supplies from the supply pool are placed on the board, there are no more supplies available to place on the board.

2. Choose Phase – Players place a card from their hand face down. Players should decide whether they want to move their player piece, or block the move of another player’s piece. Players then select a card from their hand and place it face down on the table in front of them. Once each player has their selected card face down, perform the next step. Players should be careful to conceal their cards until the Play Cards action. Note: if the turn indicator was not moved during previous ‘End Turn’ phase and all players have placed a selected card face down, then the ‘Play Indicator’ remains with the current player.

P a g e  | 4  

3. Play Card Phase – Turn over cards. All players turn over their chosen cards simultaneously and compare cards. Those players with matching cards are not allowed to perform their move action and miss their turn. Players with unique cards perform the action specified on the card played. If a player can move, he MUST move. Optional Event Roll: If all players’ cards match, an event roll is performed and the turn ends. See the Event roll section in the Rules of play on page 6. (This rule does not apply in a 2 player game.)

4. Move Phase – Take Card action. Player moves are made in clockwise order, starting with the current player. On each move, a player follows the defined action on the card they played. No diagonal movement is allowed.

o Walk- player can move piece one space in any direction. o Run- player can move piece two spaces in any direction. o Left- player can move straight one space in any direction, and then

move one space left. o Right- player can move straight one space in any direction, and

then move one space right. o Barrier – Players can place their colored barrier anywhere on the

middle playing area or remove any colored barrier from the playing area (opposing player barriers are returned to their pool). Barrier chits cannot be placed on “Safe” zones or other player barriers.

Special ‘Move’ actions: • Claim Supplies - When a player lands on or moves over a supply chit,

they claim the supply. The supply chit moves with the player as they attempt to carry the supply to their hut. A player may only carry a maximum of three (3) supply chits at any time.

• Steal Supplies - A player may steal supply chits when they pass over the space occupied by a player who has claimed supply chits. The supply chits now move with the new owners playing piece. If a player already has three (3) supply chits under their playing piece, they can’t pick any new ones or steal supplies from other players.

P a g e  | 5  

Example: James has two (2) supply chits. Brian is directly next James and has 2 supply chits of his own. On Brian’s move, he passes through James’s space and STEALS one of James’s supply chits, leaving one with James. Brian now has the maximum three (3) supply chits he can carry.

• Stash Supplies - If a player lands on or passes over their color coded hut, the supply chit is immediately removed from the board and placed in front of the player in his ‘hidden’ stash pool.

5. End Phase – Check for winner.

After all players have moved, any players that have three (3) supplies in their stash wins the game. If there are no winners, play continues. The turn indicator should be passed clockwise and set by the next player’s hut. All players return their played cards to their playing hand and a new turn begins. Note: Sometimes, players forget to pass the turn indicator before the start of the next turn. See the note in the PLAY CARDS PHASE.

Alert: If all supplies are claimed and stashed in player’s pools and no one has the three (3) supply chits requires to win the game, then all players become extinct and no one wins the game.

Rules of Play:

• Player Stacking - You cannot end your move on the same space that another player occupies.

• Movement Block - If a move results in a player landing on a space occupied by another player, then the players move is blocked. Players may pass through occupied spaces, but cannot land on another occupied space.

• Movement Area – All player pieces must stay within the map squares. • Barrier control - A space occupied by a barrier can only be passed through or

landed on by the player whose color matches the barrier color. • Player Stash – Supply chits a player removes form the board are placed in the

player’s hidden supply pool.

P a g e  | 6  

Optional Rules: • Event Roll (Not for two (2) player games) - Should “all players” reveal the

same action card during a play turn, an event roll is triggered. Roll a six (6) sided die and match the result to the corresponding number on the Event roll selection. The events and corresponding actions are as follows:

EVENT ROLL SELECTION: Die Role Event Result 1 Hard Winter All supplies currently on the board are removed. 2 Disease All players return home leaving supply chits in place. 3 Spoilage Player(s) with the most stashed supply chits lose one. 4 Hurricane All barriers are removed from the playing area. 5 Bounty Place one extra supply chit on the board (supply action) 6 Providence Current player claims a supply chit from the pool.

Printable game components: The following pages contain printable game components for game play…starting

with the game board.

Note:  When cutting the card, it is a good idea to leave the middle divider intact so you can fold the card and tape it together to create a front and back action card for game play. 

 

Foldable Barrier Chits: 

      

   

Foldable Resource Chits: 

       

       

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note:  The following two pages can be printed for each player to a maximum of four (4) cards each.  The player action cards are foldable.