Mutiny on the Little Blue
If there’s one theme I’m a sucker for, it’s pirates. Pirate’s Cove is one of my favorite games; and Cartagena, Mutineer, and other games I enjoy much more because of their theme - regardless of whether it has to do with game play. Mutiny on the Little Blue (Damm/Egmont, 2004 - Kristian Roald Amundsen Østby) has such a theme, with the pirates searching for buried treasure and mutineering, two decidedly thematic things. The game has different roles and includes lying - two definitely interactive things in a game.
I love the game! When it comes to measure “fun factor” of games, this one is quite high in the charts. Two major factors contributed to the game: the “bluffing”, or outright lying, and negotiation, both of them working hand in hand to create an extremely enjoyable experience. The game reminds me slightly of Ciao Ciao, where lying doesn’t really create hard feelings, as it’s expected - just part of the game. The game runs fairly quickly in just under an hour and involves all players the entire game.
A board is set on the table, and a deck of twenty-five cards is shuffled with sixteen of them placed on the available spaces on the board. This forms a total of eighteen islands on the board (including two permanent islands - Pitcairn Island, and Port San Julian). The islands form a somewhat convoluted path around the board, with all of them except the two permanent islands having two paths leading from them - a black line and a white line - each heading to a different island. A ship token is placed on Pitcairn Island, and one player is chosen to be the captain. Each player receives two rubies, two diamonds, and two gold coins with the remainder of the coins put into piles next to the board. (The captain starts with only two diamonds and two gold coins.) Six role cards are placed into a cloth bag: Albert, Skytter (Gunner), Graver (Digger), Matros (Boatman), and two Mutineers. Players determine how many laps a game will be (the ship traveling around the board once), and the game commences with the first turn.
At the beginning of each round, the captain flips a wind tile into the air and moves the ship according to the side shown - white or black. Of course, the ship only has one choice when leaving a permanent island, so no flip is necessary. Players then examine the card present on that island. The four characters (Albert, Skytter, Graver, and Matros) are listed on the card, with two numbers following, each a number from 0 to 8, and colored red, yellow, or blue - to signify which type of treasure they are. The first number is the amount of treasure that character will get if they go to the island, and the second number is the amount of treasure that the captain will get if he takes that specific character to the island.
The problem is that the captain can only take one person with him to the island, and because he’s a senile, half-blind chap, he can’t tell people apart in the fog. So players must convince the captain that they are a specific character. Players may offer the captain treasures if he takes them to the island, or possibly demand treasures from the captain if he takes them. The captain MUST take one person, unless everyone demands money, in which case the ship sails to the next island. Otherwise, the captain gives a key tile to the person they choose to take with them, and any agreed on treasure exchanging must occur. The player then reveals their character tile. If the character is one of those on the card, the number and type of treasures indicated there are paid out (if any) to the character and captain. If, however, the character tile is a Mutineer, a mutiny occurs. The mutineer becomes the new captain, taking the captain tile from the captain, and the next round occurs. All character tiles are put back into the bag, and play continues.
At Pitcairn Island and Port San Julian, a mutiny automatically occurs, and whoever happens to draw the Mutineer tile (if anyone) becomes the new captain. Play continues until the ship passes Pitcairn Island, completing the amount of laps predetermined by the players. At this point, play stops, and points are scored for the treasures. Each complete set of treasures (one diamond, one ruby, and one gold coin) is worth six points, with all remaining treasures scoring one point each. The player with the most points wins!
Some comments on the game...
1.) Mate variant: When playing with five to eight players, the rules recommend playing with this variant. One player is chosen to start the game as “The Mate”. In all essence, it’s as if the ship has two captains, for both the captain and the mate choose one person to go down to the island with them. Mutineers replace the person who picks them, and each character can be picked by either the Captain OR the Mate.
2.) Components: The board is really nice looking, with nicely drawn islands in the midst of the sea. Everything matches the theme, from the treasure chips to the character tokens. The cards are of thin stock, but they aren’t handled too much; so it’s not a big deal, and it’s fairly simple to read the numbers off of them. The character tokens are large round tokens with about a two-inch diameter. They have large, caricature portraits on them to help differentiate between them. Everything fits well into a medium square box, although I had to bag the different jewels.
3.) Minor Quibbles: I have two small problems with the components. First, there is no text on the character tiles. After a couple of plays, players will know what picture matches which character (the rules explain), but I wrote the names on the tiles so that players didn’t have to always consult the rules. Secondly, no “Mate” token was provided. If this is a highly recommended variant, according to the rules, why wasn’t this token included. I note that these are minor annoyances and easy to fix.
4.) Rules: The rules are in Norwegian, but an English translation is obtainable and is well written. I was able to understand the game after only a brief overview of the rules, which are quite simple. The game was extremely simple to teach; players I taught understood it immediately.
5.) Bluffing: My favorite part of the game was the bluffing. The game pretty much requires some sort of deception; because if a player draws the Mutineer Tile, they pretty much have no choice but to lie. The captain must choose someone, and it’s not like Diplomacy; an honest person could be a cold-blooded Mutineer the next turn, or vice versa. Picking the correct person can be fairly difficult, because players fall all over themselves trying to convince the person to take them. Sometimes, players are devious enough to get the Captain to pay them money, only to reveal that they are the Mutineer or a role that doesn’t benefit the Captain that turn. Either way, this phase is the most interesting of the game.
6.) Negotiation: And it’s not just the deception and arguing. A lot of negotiation can occur in this round also. In fact, one of the players in one of my games refused to ever lie and still did fairly well because of their negotiation skills. Knowing how to best present your position to the Captain is crucial to winning.
7.) It’s good to be King: Being the captain is a lot of fun and fairly powerful. Everyone wants to negotiate with you, and a skillful captain (can easily tell the bluffers from the truth-tellers) can stay the captain for a long time, racking up the treasures. Fortunately, the permanent islands provide automatic mutinies, breaking up a captain’s iron hold on the game.
8.) Fun Factor: The negotiation part of the game IS the game. It’s also the most fun part of the game, as long as all players get involved. Players who don’t want to communicate much aren’t going to get far in this phase; but I’ve found that most people have fun here, and it’s surprising the people which make convincing liars.
The game is about negotiating, lying, and basically having fun. Speaking in pirate accents and shouting, “Walk the plank, you scurvy dog,” certainly enhance the experience. If you can’t stand the fact of deceiving others (in a game setting) then perhaps this isn’t a good choice for you. But if you love negotiation with hidden roles, and like to see three players all stand up, fiercely arguing that THEY are the boatman, then this a tremendous game. It’s certainly one that I think is a “must-buy” this year, and I’m certainly glad to have it in my collection.
Tom Vasel
"Real men play board games"
| Back to the
main page! |