Feed the Kraken — Rules Manual

In Feed the Kraken each player secretly receives the role of either Sailor, Pirate or
Cult Leader and uses all available means to plot the course of the ship towards their
faction’s destination. Every turn the ship will sail in one of the three possible directions—
but which one will it be?
Players will take turns as captain, lieutenant or navigator. Each having the chance to
manipulate the course of the ship. Players will use and witness cabin searches, experience
ruthless mutinies, the silencing of threatening adversaries and even sacrifices to the
ancient Kraken God.
All players will have to use their deduction skills to find out whom to trust during
this doomed adventure.
Captains Log, October 8th, 1695:
Due to a series of unlucky events, I already lost half of my crew on the way here. The other half
believed our ship to be cursed and left me as soon as we landed in a tiny harbor to get fresh water.
I needed to hire a resourceful crew to complete this journey and I actually found one in the local
tavern—but some of these folks seem to have other plans with my ship…
Game idea and goal
Rulebook 1.0Learn to play: funtails.de/kraken

---

2
Contents
1 Game Board
Double-sided - Quick Journey & Long Journey1 “The Instabil” Ship1 Captain’s Logbook 40 Guns
22 Character Cards
3 Off-Duty Signs
4 Crew Overview Cards
23 Navigation Cards
4 Blue Drunk, 2 Blue
Disarmed, 6 Yellow Cult
Uprising, 5 Red Drunk,
2 Red Mermaid, 2 Red
Telescope, 2 Red Armed
4 Flogging Cards
“I am not a...“ Card, Pirate Card,
Sailor Card, Cult Card
5 Cult Ritual Cards
3 Conversion to Cult,
1 The cult‘s guns stash,
1 Cult cabin search
7 Map Action Tokens
4 Cabin Search, 2 Flogging,
1 Off with the Tongue

---

3
Contents
These rules reference the deluxe components. If you have the basic version, take the same actions with
the respective basic components. For example, when you are instructed to do something with the faction
chips in bags take the action with the faction cards instead.
3 Kraken Miniatures
1 Deluxe Lieutenant
Badge
1 Deluxe Navigator
Badge
11 Seabags
11 Faction Chips
5 Sailor (blue), 4 Pirate (red), 1 Cult
Leader (yellow), 1 Cultist (green)
Map Archive
Draw Pile
Deep Sea
Discard Pile
Navigation Cards
Storage Box
1 Lieutenant & 1 Navigator
Badge Token
3 Map Action Tokens
Feed the Kraken
11 Faction Cards
1 Discard Pile Card
Deluxe Edition
Basic Edition

---

4
Use the quick journey map for 5, 6 and 7 player games.
Regardless of player count, you should play your first game on
this map, just to get a feeling for the game. Once you feel familiar
with the game, you may switch to the long journey map with all
the components for games with 7+ players.
PREPARING THE MAP
Place the ship on the starting area in the south.
Place the map action tokens/miniatures on the
corresponding areas on the map: 3x Cabin Search, 2x Feed
the Kraken.
Shuffle the 5 cult ritual cards and place them face down and
spread out on the edge of the game board.
Depending on the number of players, set aside the
appropriate number of off-duty signs next to the map:
Remove 1x Cult Uprising (yellow), 1x Drunk (blue), 2x Armed
(red) from the navigation deck. These 4 navigation cards
won’t be used on the quick journey map. Shuffle only the
following 19 navigation cards and place them face down as
the draw pile on the map archive:

Each player receives 3 guns.
Setting up the game - Quick Journey
Direction Amount Total
North (yellow) 5x Cult Uprising 5
East (blue) 3x Drunk
2x Disarmed
5
West (red) 5x Drunk
2x Mermaid
2x Telescope
9
Number of players 5-6 7-8 9-11
Number of off-duty signs 1 2 3
1
2
3
4
5
Navigator
OFF-DUTY:
1 x
3 x
2 x
See manual
for 5 player
setup...
5 Players
THE CREW
3 x
Mutiny
Meuterei
3
2
7
2
6

---

5
(5-7 players and first game)
Depending on the number of players, place the
corresponding The Crew card next to the map.
Find the right number of Sailor, Pirate and Cult Leader chips
and put each one in a separate bag.
Shuffle the bags and distribute one to each player. Each
player secretly checks their seabag. Their chip determines
their team membership.
DISTRIBUTION OF THE SECRET TEAMS
Players: 5 6 7 8 91011
Sailor:
3
or
2
3 4 4 5 5 5
Pirates:
1
or
2
2 2 3 3 4 4
Cult
Leader:
1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Cultist: - - - - - - 1
TEAM COMPOSITIONS OVERVIEW
When playing with 5 players, the team composition can vary:
There are either
3 Sailors, 1 Pirate and 1 Cult Leader or
2 Sailors, 2 Pirates and 1 Cult Leader in the game.
To realize this, prepare bags with 3 Sailor and 2 Pirate faction
chips and shuffle the bags carefully. Now remove a random bag
without revealing the content. Then add the bag with the Cult
Leader chip and shuffle the bags again. Each player receives one
bag as usual. During the secret pirate gathering the Pirates will
realize how many they actually are. All other players try to find
out the actual team constellation on the ship during the game.
5 PLAYER RULES
OFF-DUTY
This sailor is too
lazy to navigate.
1 4
7
8
5
8
6
9
9

---

6
Use the long journey map for games with 7 or more players.
Place the ship on the starting area in the south.
Place the map action tokens on the corresponding areas
on the map: 4x Cabin Search, 2x Flogging, 1x Off with the
Tongue, 3x Feed the Kraken.
Shuffle the 5 cult ritual cards and place them face down and
spread out on the edge of the game board.
Depending on the number of players, set aside the
appropriate number of off-duty signs next to the map:
Number of players 7-8 9-11
Number of off-duty signs 2 3
To prepare for navigation, shuffle all 23 navigation cards and
place them face down on the draw pile:
Direction Amount Total
North (yellow) 6x Cult Uprising 6
East (blue) 4x Drunk 2x Disarmed
6
West (red) 5x Drunk 2x Mermaid 2x Telescope 2x Armed
11
5
1
2
3
4
8 Players
THE CREW
1 x
4 x
3 x
4 x
Mutiny
Meuterei
NavigatorLieutenant
OFF-DUTY:
Setting up the game - Long Journey
3
2
2
2
9
8
Each player receives 3 guns.
Place the “I am not a...“ card and the 3 small flogging cards
next to the map.
6
7

---

7
DISTRIBUTION OF THE SECRET TEAMS

Depending on the number of players, place the
corresponding The Crew card next to the map.
Find the right number of Sailor, Pirate and Cult Leader chips
and put each one in a separate bag.
Shuffle the bags and distribute one to each player. Each
player secretly checks their seabag. Their chip determines
their team membership.
Players: 5 6 7 8 91011
Sailor:
3
or
2
3 4 4 5 5 5
Pirates:
1
or
2
2 2 3 3 4 4
Cult
Leader:
1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Cultist: - - - - - - 1
TEAM COMPOSITIONS OVERVIEW
8
9
10
OFF-DUTY
This sailor is too
lazy to navigate.
„I AM NOT A...“
After 13 painful whips,
the truth comes out:
- Flogging -
(7-11 players)
1
10
7
2
5
6
4

---

8
Victory Conditions
The following victory conditions apply to the teams:
Sailors
All Sailors win as a team if the ship reaches Bluewater Bay, the blue area in the east.
Pirates
All Pirates win as a team if the ship reaches Crimson Cove, the red area in the west.
Cult Leader & Cultists
The Cult wins (as a team) if the ship reaches the enormous
Kraken in the north (Cult Victory) or when the Cult Leader
is sacrificed to the Kraken on one of the Feed the Kraken
spaces.
The Secret Gathering of the Pirates
Before the game begins, the Pirates will secretly and silently find out who their Pirate teammates are. For this, one player notes the following text and delivers it to the players with eyes closed:
A“All players close their eyes.”
A“Pirates, open your eyes and memorize your team members.”
AThe Pirates have about 20 seconds to find each other ...
A“Pirates, close your eyes.”
A“All players now open their eyes.” - The journey begins!
There is no secret gathering of the cult. In a game with 11 players, the Cult Leader and the first Cultist do not know each other’s
identity at the start of the game. They have to find each other during the game, just like the Sailors.
After that the players receive their character cards:
ASet aside the “Captain“ card, then shuffle all the other character cards and set aside one card less than your number of players. Add the “Captain“ card to them and shuffle those cards facedown.
ADeal one card to each player face down. Players look at their own card without revealing it.
AThe player with the “Captain“ card reveals it immediately. They are the first captain in this game and receive a random new
character card.
AThe captain places the captain’s logbook in front of them, as well as the lieutenant badge and navigator badge.
Players always win together with their team - even if they went overboard before the end of the game.

---

9
Gameplay
The game is divided into the following recurring phases:
1. Appointing the navigation team
2. A question of loyalty
3. The navigation
4. Off-duty
The captain cannot navigate the ship alone. He needs the
support of two crew members. After potentially discussing with
the crew whom to appoint:
AThe captain chooses a player and hands them the lieutenant
badge.
AThe captain chooses a second player and hands them the
navigator badge.
The following exceptions must be noted:
AThe captain can not appoint himself.
AOff-duty players can not be appointed.
ALieutenant and navigator can not be the same person.
The crew does not have to accept the captain‘s choices. If the
crew doesn‘t trust the captain’s chosen team, they can mutiny
against them with their guns.
The captain has to ask the crew about their loyalty: “If you are not
satisfied with my decision, let your guns speak!“
AYou can also find the required number of guns (for a
successful mutiny) on The Crew card.
AThe number of guns each player has is secret
information during the mutiny.
Outside of the mutiny, however, this is a public
information and all players must keep their guns visibly
on the table at all times.
PlayersRequired sum of guns for a successful mutiny
5-7 3 or more guns
8-9 4 or more guns
10-11 5 or more guns
Then following steps are carried out:
AEach crew member (except the captain) secretly places 0 or
more of their guns in one fist. The unused guns remain hidden in their other hand.
AAll crew members hold their closed fist visibly over the table to show that they have decided.
AThe captain counts to 3: “Show me your loyalty! 1, ... 2, ... 3!“
AAll players open their fists and potentially reveal their guns.
AThe captain counts the total amount of revealed guns and
checks the The Crew card to see if the mutiny is successful.
The following table shows whether a mutiny is successful:
2. A Question of Loyalty
1. Appointing the Navigation Team

---

10
If a mutiny is successful, a new captain must be determined.
Whoever revealed the most guns wins the mutiny and becomes
the new captain.
In the case of a tie, all players tied for revealing the most guns
raise their hands and the following steps are carried out:
The captain still in office selects one of the tied winners who
has to lower their hand. The selected player won’t become
captain in this mutiny.
If there still are two or more winners in the tie, then the
selected player selects another winner, who in turn lowers their
hand. That player won’t become captain either.
This process is repeated until there is only one player left in
the tie.
The last remaining winner of the mutiny becomes the new
captain.
All players involved in a successful mutiny must discard all
their revealed guns (including the player who has just become
captain).
The current round ends herewith and the new captain starts a
new round beginning with the phase “Appointing the navigation
team”.
The new captain can also be mutinied against after he
announced his navigation team.
If there is no mutiny after a navigation team was appointed
(because the total amount of revealed guns was not enough), all
players return their guns back to their personal supply and the
captain carries out the next phase of the game: “The Navigation“.
RESOLVING A MUTINY You can become captain while you are off-duty. If the new
captain is off-duty, then the off-duty sign has no effect (for
further rules, see chapter “Off-Duty“).
The captain, lieutenant and navigator must now navigate the ship
together as a team. The navigation is carried out as follows:
The captain draws the top two navigation cards face down
from the draw pile.
The lieutenant then draws the next two cards face down from
the draw pile.
Both players look at their cards and choose one of them to
discard face down into the deep sea (the discard pile).
Then they each place their other card face down and next to
each other in the captain’s logbook.

Close and shake the captain’s logbook to shuffle the two cards.
The captain’s logbook is then passed on to the navigator.
The navigator secretly looks at the two cards in the captain’s
logbook and chooses a card, which they discard into the deep
sea face down.

The navigator leaves their preferred card in the captain’s
logbook and returns the logbook to the captain.
The captain reveals the remaining card to his crew and takes
the resulting actions.
During navigation, the selected players must remain
silent and may not give any signs or signals. Shuffling
your navigation cards and discarding a random card to “prove” that you had no choice is not allowed.
Only after the captain has revealed the last navigation
card, the players can talk about the cards they allegedly drew and discarded.
Discussions about the drawn cards are an important part of the game, as they potentially help you gather information about other players‘ factions. Shy players should be encouraged to talk about the cards they saw and the choices they made.
3. The Navigation

---

11
The captain places the chosen card in front of them. This card
(and any future cards) represents the captain‘s official résumé.
The card remains openly visible in front of them until the end of
the game. It will never get shuffled into the navigation pile.
The captain executes the effects of the navigation card in the
following order:
EXCECUTING THE NAVIGATION CARD
After navigation, certain players have to take a break and receive
an off-duty sign. The following table shows who gets an off-duty
sign after navigation depending on the number of players at the
start of the game.
After navigation, carry out the following steps:
Give the off-duty signs to the appropriate players. These are
the corresponding players who were involved in the current
navigation.
The players who were previously off-duty are now available
again for the next navigation.
Players Off-duty-
Signs
CaptainLieutenantNavigator
5-6 1
7-8 2
9-11 3
The current captain starts the next round by “Appointing the
navigation team“.
In the next and all further rounds, all phases are carried out again:
1. Appointing the navigation team
2. A question of loyalty
2.1. Resolving a mutiny
3. The Navigation
3.1. Executing the Navigation Card
4. Off-duty
4.1. The next game round begins

RESHUFFLE
If there are fewer than 4 cards on the draw pile before navigation:
Combine the remaining draw pile with the discard pile. Keep all
cards facedown in the process and shuffle them thoroughly.
The shuffled cards become the new draw pile.
4. Off-duty
III
II
Move the ship in the direction of the colored arrow on the current map space, which corresponds to the color of the navigation card.
If there is an icon on the space the ship
moved to, take the map action next. For
explanations of the icons read chapter
“Map Actions”.
At last take the action corresponding to the
icon on the navigation card. See the inside
of the captain’s logbook or the chapter
“Navigation Card Actions” for explanations.
I
The navigator and lieutenant badges are handed over to the
current captain.
THE NEXT GAME ROUND BEGINS
As long as an off-duty sign is in front of a player, they
cannot be chosen as navigator or lieutenant .
Off-duty signs are only passed on after a successful
navigation, not after a mutiny.
Off-duty players can participate in a mutiny and can
become captain .
If the captain has an off-duty sign, the sign won’t be
relevant as long as that player remains the captain.
Off-duty signs are ignored if there aren’t enough
available players left for the captain to choose their
navigation team.
Players “leaving” the ship during the game doesn’t change the amount of off-duty signs used.

---

12
The remaining cards may not be inspected when the
discard pile and draw pile are combined and shuffled.
The face up cards in front of the players (captain’s
résumé) are never shuffled back into the draw pile.
The character cards Archivist, Smuggler and Look-Out
can cause you to run out of cards during a navigation
process - despite having at least 4 cards before. In that
rare case you just reshuffle once the draw pile is empty.
If the navigator doesn‘t want to execute the commands of the
captain and the lieutenant, he can refuse to do so by jumping
overboard.
Denial of command is allowed throughout the entire game and
takes place during “The Navigation“ after the navigator has seen
both navigation cards.
Denial of command is carried out as follows:
The navigator states: “I will not carry out these commands but
jump overboard instead!“.
They place both navigation cards face down in the discard pile,
instead of passing one back to the captain.
The navigator is immediately eliminated from the game and
must remain silent until the end of the game. The navigator
may not reveal their faction nor any knowledge about the
discarded navigation cards to the other players.
Then an “Emergency Navigation“ must be carried out.
The Cult Leader can not win by jumping overboard as
the navigator, even if this happens on a Feed the Kraken
space.
After a denial of command, the following steps are performed:
The captain must immediately designate an emergency
navigator.
Due to this exceptional situation, the captain can even choose
an off-duty player.
The crew can not mutiny against the chosen emergency
navigator (there is no “A Question of Loyalty”).
The lieutenant stays the same for the emergency navigation.
The captain, the lieutenant and the emergency navigator
immediately carry out another navigation.
If the emergency navigator jumps ship as well, the captain
keeps choosing emergency navigators until a navigation is
successfully completed.
After a successful emergency navigation, the game continues as normal, starting with the phase “Appointing the Navigation Team“.
If the number of remaining players on the ship ever falls below three, any open position is resolved randomly by the captain. For example, if there is no lieutenant then
the captain draws two cards facedown, shuffles them
and randomly puts one into the captain’s logbook while
discarding the other to replace the lieutenant‘s decision.
THE EMERGENCY NAVIGATION
The supply line only exists on the long journey map. As soon
as the ship crosses the supply line, each player can refill their
gun supply up to three guns. To do so players take the required
number of guns from the general supply. If a player still has three or more guns at this point, they will not receive any additional
guns.
Denial of Command
Supply Line

---

13
The navigation rounds are repeated until one of the victory conditions is met, see chapter “Victory
conditions”.
Players reveal their faction at the end of the game by
showing each other the faction chips from their sea bags.
Additional Rules
Every time the ship reaches a new space, check whether it
shows one of the following icons. The corresponding action is then carried out during navigation, immediately after the captain
has moved the ship, but before they perform the action of the navigation card. The captain may discuss their options with the
crew, but the captain will always make the final decision.
Cabin Search
The captain chooses another player and hands
them the cabin search token. The selected player
must pass their sea bag to the captain for a
secret inspection while everybody else closes
their eyes. The captain may talk about their
findings, but remember that they might also be
lying.

MAP ACTIONS Off with the Tongue
The captain chooses another player and hands
them the off with the tongue token. That player
is no longer allowed to articulate words, but can
make sounds and gesticulate. They can also no
longer become captain .
The following rules apply:
AWhen a new captain is determined via the Drunk action on a
navigation card, the player without tongue is ignored.
AThe player continues to participate in mutinies. Their
guns count normally for the total mutiny score, but while
determining the next captain their gun count is always treated
as 0 guns.
Flogging
The Flogging creates a public information for
all players. It indicates one of the factions the
selected player does not belong to.

Follow these steps:
AThe captain chooses another player to undergo the Flogging
and hands them the three small flogging cards.
AThe player shuffles the cards facedown, then they look at
the cards and choose the card with the colored icon that
corresponds to their current faction and places it face down:
Red as a Pirate, blue as a Sailor, yellow/green as a Cult Leader
or Cultist.
The End of the Game
Important: A player affected by the Cabin Search can not
be turned into a Cultist anymore. A player who has already
become a Cultist before the cabin search signals this to the captain with a tentacle gesture.

---

14
The flogged player shuffles the other two cards and places
them face down on the table.
The captain randomly picks one of the two cards and
reveals it.
The card indicates a faction to which the selected
player does not belong. Place it on top of the “I am
not a...“ card in front of the flogged player.
This information is public and the card remains in
front of the player until the end of the game.
The two cards that remained face down are shuffled face
down and set aside.
Important: A player affected by the Flogging can not be
turned into a Cultist anymore.
Feed the Kraken
When they have made up their mind, the captain
chooses another player and places the Feed
the Kraken token in front of them. That player is
immediately eliminated from the game and must
not speak anymore or reveal their faction.
Important: The captain must not choose themself.
If the Cult Leader is selected to be fed to the Kraken, the Cult Leader and all of their Cultists immediately win the game.
NAVIGATION CARD ACTIONS
The following symbols can be found on the navigation cards. The corresponding action is carried out during the navigation phase (immediately after the map action):
Drunk
The current captain loses their position. The captain
role moves clockwise to the next player who has the
fewest navigation cards (résumés) in front of them.
Pass the captain‘s logbook to the new captain.
Mermaid
The captain chooses another player. That player
shuffles the last three discarded navigation cards and
secretly looks at them. They may (and should) talk
about their findings, but they might be lying.
Telescope
The captain chooses another player. That player looks
at the top navigation card of the draw pile. They may
put the card back on the draw pile or discard it into
the Deep Sea.
Armed
The navigator receives 1 gun from the general supply.
(These cards are only used on the long journey map.)
Disarmed
The navigator must discard 1 gun from their personal
supply (if they have any).
Cult Uprising
A cult ritual is carried out at the end of the navigation.
To do this, the captain must reveal a cult ritual card.
„I AM NOT A...“
After 13 painful whips,
the truth comes out:
- Flogging -

---

15
Every time a navigation card with “Cult Uprising“ has been played
in the navigation, the captain must reveal a random facedown
cult ritual card at the end of the navigation. Depending on the
symbol, one of the following actions is carried out:
The Cult‘s Guns Stash
The Cult Leader secretly distributes three guns
from the supply to any number of players. To
do this, place three guns from the supply in the
center of the table. Then all players close their
eyes and extend their flat hand over the center of the table. If
some players cannot reach the center of the table, all players
should stand up to make this easier. The Cult Leader opens their
eyes and puts the guns in the hands of up to three players. They
can choose any player (including themselves), and they can
choose to give more than one gun to a player.
Cult Cabin Search
The Cult Leader secretly learns about the factions
of the current navigation team. To do this, all
players close their eyes and the Cult Leader
opens their eyes. Keeping their eyes closed,
the current captain, lieutenant and navigator all reveal their
faction chip. Make sure to give the Cult Leader 30 seconds to
see the three players’ factions. The navigation team hides their
faction chips again and the Cult Leader closes their eyes. Then
everybody opens their eyes again.
Conversion to Cult
The Cult Leader converts another player to their
Cult. From now on, the chosen player is not a
Sailor or Pirate anymore, but a Cultist instead.
They win or lose together with the Cult Leader.
See Chapter: “Becoming a Cultist”
BECOMING A CULTIST
When the cult ritual card “Conversion to Cult” is revealed, the Cult
Leader will secretly add another player to their team by turning
them into a Cultist.
The captain notes the following text and then recites it to the
players:
“Every convertible player puts a fist over the center of the
table, so that each player could theoretically touch any other
fist.”
“All players close their eyes.” (including the captain)
“Cult leader, open your eyes and choose a convertible player.”
After approximately 15 seconds: “Touch your chosen player’s
fist with your tentacle fingers.”
“Selected player, you are now a Cultist instead of a Sailor or
Pirate. Open your eyes and recognize your new master.”
After approximately 15 seconds: “Cultist and Cult Leader,
close your eyes now.”
“All players open their eyes.”
The game continues normally.
The Cult Leader can only convert convertible players.
Every player who has previously been examined in a
Cabin Search or Flogging counts as unconvertible.
The new Cultist loses their previous team membership and is no longer a Pirate or Sailor. They can only win together with the Cult Leader by fulfilling one of the cult victory conditions.
Any additional Cultists do not open their eyes during
this process, only the Cult Leader and the new Cultist.
Cult Ritual Cards

---

16
HOW TO ACTIVATE YOUR CHARACTER CARD
Each player receives a character card at the start of the game. These remain facedown in front of the players, until they are used.
Players can reveal their character card strategically at any point in the game to receive a unique effect (timing restrictions may apply).
Character Cards
To activate your character card, flip and reveal the card. Only unflipped (facedown) character cards may be activated. After activation, your character card remains revealed in front of you. A character can only be activated once, unless it gets turned facedown by an
effect.
Most character cards can only be used once, but at any time . Some have timing restrictions, and very few
have recurring or ongoing effects. All exceptions are explained on the respective character cards.
Some characters work better with certain player numbers. For example, we suggest to avoid using Debt
Collector, Minstrel and Mentor in games with 5-6 players.
NOTES ON SOME CHARACTER CARDS
Agitator Choosing the captain or players chosen by the “Minstrel“ has no effect because they do not participate in a mutiny.
Chief Cook
The new captain appoints a new navigation team.
Instigator You can not choose the captain, but you can choose a player chosen by the “Minstrel“.
Turning the “Instigator“ facedown means that it can be activated again later in the game.

---

17
If you are a Pirate, always argue and behave like a Sailor. You
can try to bluff being a Sailor at the beginning of the game by
selecting blue cards while navigating. But don‘t be afraid to
damage your cover or to give it up entirely to sail westwards at
crucial moments.
Unlike in other social deduction games, just staying under the
radar doesn’t achieve enough in Feed the Kraken. You and
your teammates need to actively collaborate with the Cult and
influence the course of the ship westwards. If you stay too
passive the Sailors will get where they want to go.
If you are the Cult Leader, always try to balance the direction
of travel towards the center of the map, so that you reach the
Feed the Kraken spaces or your victory space. You may need to
switch back and forth between helping the Pirates and helping
the Sailors. The yellow navigation cards can grant you the
opportunity to convert players into your Cult during the journey
and thus significantly increase your chance of victory.
When converting, consider which players are more likely to be
trusted, who still has a lot of guns and their hidden character
card, who is currently captain, etc. After a conversion, create
distrust of players who might cause you problems.
If you are a Sailor, stick to the truth and try to find out, who
else is on your side. There is no reason to pretend to be a
Pirate. Believe me!
If you do try to tell a tricky lie to expose someone, explain your
maneuver to the other players as soon as possible, regardless
of whether you were successful or not. Otherwise, this lie can
be your undoing later.
Strategy Advice

---

18
Credits & Special Thanks
Game Design:
Project Manager:
Creative Direction:
Development:
Production:
Marketing:
Art Direction:
Graphics:
Illustrations:
3D-Artist:
Proof Readers:
Quality Assurance:
Playtester:
Maikel Cheney, Dr. Hans Joachim Höh, Tobias Immich
Andreas Geiermann
Maikel Cheney
Dr. Hans Joachim Höh
Nils Herzmann
Steffen Rühl
Maikel Cheney, Tobias Immich, Daniel Müller
Maikel Cheney, Daniel Müller
Hendrik Noack, James Churchill
Leonardo Peñaranda
Dr. Hans Joachim Höh, Leonie Pich
Tobias Immich
Michail Alesinski, Diego Amplatz, Jan Brölsch, Christian Dickel, Jasmin Dickel, Damian
Dufresne, Martin Gasse, Sergey Gerodes, Oliver Glasmacher, Robin Gude, Hilmi Güven,
Melinda Hahn, Matthias Hennig, Till Jagodzinski, Meryem Kilinc, Robin Kirchmann,
Michael Klaus, Norma Kolling, Julian Künkel, Colin Langley, Werner Lau, Saptarshi
Mandal, Miguel Martinez Cacho, Giorgi Modebadze, Drew Navaroli, Susanne Oberndorfer,
Tobias Oelenberg, Daniel Overwin, Benjamin Rott, Simone Statz, Rene Schirm, Stefan
Steup, Chris Taube, Ralf Teusner, Christian von Nethen, Brad Watson, Torben Werneck,
Sarah Wilkop, Jenny Yakar.
All other playtesters at ZAMgwürfelt Munich, Brettspiel Union Dortmund, Unperfekthaus
Essen, Zu den vier Winden Bochum and the Online-Crew: Thomas, Frederik, Brian,
Stephanie, Karyna, Franzi, Micky, Oskar, Giovanni, Ann, Matthias, Eddy, Anna, Tieu,
Ansgar, Helle, Victoria, Tobias, Oscar, Dennis, Tom and all the other Pirates we fed to
the Kraken!
We especially want to thank all our Kickstarter backers, who helped us finance the production of this boardgame. Your input
and feedback has been incredibly helpful!
The Funtails team would like to thank Spiel Instabil for the confidence in our young publishing house and the great
cooperation!
Maikel, Hans and Tobias from “Spiel Instabil“ would like to thank:
Sieglinde Sterbling, Leonie Pich, Ellen Burdyna, Simone Statz, Colin Langley, Michael Klaus, Stylianos Kalaitzis, Florian Kumschier, Lola
Merz Robinson, Marcel Kraatz, Karsten Schulmann, Thomas Zeug, the Munich-East-Crew, Helle Iversen, Boardgame Digger,
BrettspielSuchties, PottGamer.

---

19
About the authors
MAIKEL CHENEY
Maikel spent his childhood in South Africa and enjoyed a creative multicultural education. He studied computer
science in Germany and discovered a fascination for the art of expressing logical operations in source code.
How did he get into board games?
Maikel loves to get involved in all sorts of social games and can’t stand a weekend without a board game night.
That, combined with the urge of always wanting to create something new, led him to devote all of his free time
to board game design.
DR. HANS JOACHIM HÖH
Hans studied computer science, but over time his interests shifted. Aiming to understand the human abilities for
data analysis and problem solving, he subsequently studied philosophy, psychology and sociology. For his PhD
thesis he specialized in logic, language processing, and brain research.
How did he get his brains?
Hans was a grandmaster of various Trading Card Games for more than a decade. Among many other titles he
has won six national championships, a player of the year title and a world championship.
With his game Götterdämmerung he already pushed the limits of the social deduction genre, before he turned
Feed the Kraken into a fantastically balanced and engaging experience.
TOBIAS IMMICH
After several years of helping people in distress while working as a nurse, Tobias decided to return to his
childhood dream to be a computer engineer. Today Tobias is working as a Software Test Engineer in the IoT
industry.
How did he get his beard?
Tobias grew up as a native computer, board and role-play gamer. One morning he woke up and suddenly realised
that he had this massive beard.
At Spiel Instabil, Tobias is the master of quality control. He takes care of the quality of games, office business
and social media.

---

MAP ACTIONS
Every time the ship reaches a new space, check
whether it shows one of the following icons. The
corresponding action is then carried out during
navigation, immediately after the captain has moved
the ship, but before they perform the action of the
navigation card.
Cabin Search
The captain chooses another player and
hands them the cabin search token. The
selected player must pass their seabag
to the captain for a secret inspection
while everybody else closes their eyes.
The captain may talk about their findings, but remember
that they might also be lying.
Off with the Tongue
The captain chooses another player
and hands them the off with the tongue
token. That player is no longer allowed to
articulate words, but can make sounds
and gesticulate. They can also no longer
become captain.
The following rules apply:
When a new captain is determined via the Drunk
action on a navigation card, the player without
tongue is ignored.
The player continues to participate in mutinies.
Their guns count normally for the total mutiny score,
but while determining the next captain their gun
count is always treated as 0 guns.
Flogging
The Flogging creates a public
information for all players. It indicates
one of the factions the selected player
does not belong to.
Follow these steps:
The captain chooses another player to undergo the
Flogging and hands them the three small flogging
cards.
The player shuffles the cards facedown, then
they choose the card with the colored icon that
corresponds to their current faction and places it
face down. Red as a Pirate, blue as a Sailor, yellow/
green as a Cult Leader or Cultist.
The flogged player shuffles the other two cards and
places them face down on the table.
The captain randomly picks one of the two cards
and reveals it.
CULT RITUAL CARDS
Every time a navigation card with “Cult Uprising“ has
been played in the navigation, the captain must reveal
a random facedown cult ritual card at the end of the
navigation. Depending on the symbol, one of the
following actions is carried out:
The Cult‘s Guns Stash
The Cult Leader secretly distributes three
guns from the supply to any number of
players. To do this, place three guns from
the supply in the center of the table. Then
all players close their eyes and extend their flat hand
over the center of the table. If some players cannot
reach the center of the table, all players should stand
up to make this easier. The Cult Leader opens their eyes
and puts the guns in the hands of up to three players.
They can choose any player (including themselves), and
they can choose to give more than one gun to a player.
Cult Cabin Search
The Cult Leader secretly learns about the
factions of the current navigation team.
To do this, all players close their eyes and
the Cult Leader opens their eyes. Keeping
their eyes closed, the current captain, lieutenant and
navigator all reveal their faction chip. Make sure to give
the Cult Leader 30 seconds to see the three players’
factions. The navigation team hides their faction chips
again and the Cult Leader closes their eyes. Then
everybody opens their eyes again.
The card indicates a faction to which the selected
player does not belong. Place it on top of the “I am
not a...“ card in front of the flogged player.
This information is public and the card remains in
front of the player until the end of the game.
The two cards that remained face down are shuffled
face down and set aside.

the Cult Leader opens their eyes Keeping their eyes closed the current captain lieutenant and navigator all reveal their faction chip Make sure to give the Cult Leader 30 seconds to see the three players factions The navigation team hides their faction chips again and the Cult Leader closes their eyes Then everybody opens their eyes again The card indicates a faction to which the selected player does not belong Place it on top of the I am not a card in front of the flogged player This information is public and the card remains in front of the player until the end of the game The two cards that remained face down are shuffled face down and set aside

Feed the Kraken
When they have made up their mind, the
captain chooses another player and places
the feed the kraken token in front of them.
That player is immediately eliminated from
the game and must not speak anymore or
reveal their faction.
Conversion to Cult
The Cult Leader converts another player
to their Cult. From now on, the chosen
player is not a Sailor or Pirate anymore,
but a Cultist instead. They win or lose
together with the Cult Leader.
When the Cult Ritual card “Conversion to Cult” is revea-
led, the Cult Leader will secretly add another player to
their team by turning them into a Cultist.
The captain notes the following text and then recites it
to the players:
“Every convertible player puts a fist over the center
of the table, so that each player could theoretically
touch any other fist.”
“All players close their eyes.” (including the captain)
“Cult leader, open your eyes and choose a
convertible player.”
After 15 seconds: “Touch your chosen player’s fist
with your tentacle fingers.”
“Selected player, you are now a Cultist instead of a
Sailor or Pirate. Open your eyes and recognize your
new master.”
After 15 seconds: “Cultist and Cult Leader, close
your eyes now.”
“All players open their eyes.”
The game continues normally.
The Cult Leader can only convert convertible players.
Every player who has previously been examined in a Cabin Search or Flogging counts as unconvertible.
The new Cultist loses their previous team membership and is no longer a Pirate or Sailor. They can only win together with the Cult Leader by fulfilling one of the Cult victory conditions.
Any additional Cultists do not
open their eyes during this
process, only the Cult Leader
and the new Cultist.
Important: A player affected by the Flogging can not be turned into a Cultist anymore.
Important: The captain must not chose themself.
If the Cult Leader is selected to be fed to the Kraken, the Cult Leader and all of their Cultists immediately win the game.
Important: A player affected by the Cabin Search can not be turned into a Cultist anymore. A player who has already become a Cultist before the cabin search signals this to the captain with a tentacle gesture.

---