Cartagena

Objective

The objective of Cartagena is to lead all your pirates from the prison to the pirate ship. The first player to achieve this wins the game.

Components

• Game board consisting of several tiles representing the escape route
• Pirate figures (six per player)
• Path cards with symbols (gun, hat, key, bottle, lantern, parrot)
• Card holder to store additional cards (in the "Cartagena 2" variant)

Setup

1. The game board is assembled from the path tiles. The exact length of the route can vary depending on the desired game duration.
2. Each player chooses a color and receives the six corresponding pirate figures.
3. Each player receives six path cards.
4. The remaining cards are shuffled and placed face-down as a draw pile.

Gameplay

Play proceeds clockwise. During their turn, a player can take a maximum of three actions, which can be combined in the following ways:

Moving a Pirate Figure

• A figure can be moved forward by playing a path card, which is then placed on the discard pile. The pirate moves to the next free field marked with the same symbol on the path. If no free field of that symbol exists, the pirate moves straight to the pirate ship.

Obtaining Path Cards

• To obtain more path cards, a player can move one of their pirates backward: They may pull it back to the next occupied space, where one or two other pirates are present.
• On a field with one pirate, the player receives one card.
• On a field with two pirates, the player receives two cards.

Card Limit

• At the end of each turn, a player may not hold more than seven path cards.

End of the Game

The game ends immediately when a player gets all six of their pirates onto the pirate ship. This player wins the game.

Strategic Tips

• Plan your moves carefully to maximize paths where you can cover several fields with one card.
• Keep enough cards in hand to be flexible in response to other player's moves.
• Use backward moves strategically to gather cards without delaying progress.