Manual — Vanuatu (Second Edition)

The archipelago of Vanuatu, located 1750 kilometers east of Australia. An area of white sand beaches, coconut trees, an azure blue Ocean … and meagre resources. Besides Fish and a few long-forgotten shipwrecks sunk off their coasts, the Islands are not very rich and their resources are at risk of depletion.
To prosper out here in the middle of the ocean, you’ll earn money by catching Fish and selling them at the best possible price. You’ll gain prestige by recovering rare treasures from ships lost to the storms of yesteryear. Unless, of course, you’d prefer to guide Tourists around this Island paradise, steering them towards your market Huts and introducing them to Vanuatu’s traditional art form of sand Drawing. You might even try the export business, bringing native goods such as Kava, Copra, and Beef to meet the demands of foreign markets.
Ultimately though, whatever you decide, you’ll not likely become very rich here. In Vanuatu, you see, wealth is not measured by how much one earns, but by how much one gives away. And actions are not taken by those who think of them first, but by those who want them the most.

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PAGE 3
OBJECT OF THE GAME
Each player attempts to prosper on the archipelago of Vanuatu. To do this, you will catch and sell Fish,
recover sunken Treasures, create Drawings in the sand, build market Huts, transport Tourists, buy
and export native Goods, and give away wealth in order to earn as many Prosperity Points as possible
throughout the game’s eight rounds.

COMPONENTS
In each of the 5 player
colours:
1 Sailboat
5 Action Markers
2 Player discs
8 Huts
20 Dike sticks
20 Water markers
5 Submerged Island Tiles
1 six sided die
5 Player Aids
This rulebook
14 Fish Tiles
(8 x1, 4x2, 2x3)
9 Tourist Tiles (1 x0, 2x1, 3x2, 2x3, 1x4)
10 Treasure Tiles (4 x1, 4x2, 2x3)
10 Demand Tiles
11 Character Tiles
4 Rest Tokens
1 Game Board
10 Kava Goods Cubes
8 Copra Goods Cubes
6 Beef Goods Cubes
14 Fish Tokens
3 starting Archipelago Tiles
12 standard Archipelago Tiles, marked from A to F (x2)
1 Game Round Marker
18 Tourist Pawns
9 Sand Drawing Tokens
5 “50 points” tokens
1 Fish Price Marker
10 Treasure Tokens
1 First Player Token

Used only in the ‘Rising
Waters’ expansion :

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GAME SETUP
1. Place the Game Board in the center of the table. Place the three Starting Archipelago Tiles randomly on the locations highlighted on the board.
2. Make two separate piles with the standard 12 Archipelago Tiles, each pile containing one random Tile of each letter (A, B, C, D, E, F). Arrange each pile in alphabetical order (“A” being on top), and then combine them by placing one pile on top of the other. Reveal the first two Tiles and place them on the Volcano.
3. Sort the Fish and Treasure Tiles by value, and place them face up in separate piles near the board.
4. Shuffle the 10 Demand Tiles and place them face down next to the board. Draw the first three Demand Tiles and place them face up in the Chamber of Foreign Trade.
5. Depending on the number of players, return one Tourist Tile to the box:
• With 3 players, return the Tourist Tile of value 4.
• With 4 players, return one Tourist Tile of value 2.
• With 5 players, return the Tourist Tile of value 0.

Shuffle the eight remaining Tourist Tiles and place them, face down, on the Paradise Hotel. Reveal the first Tile and place it in the Tourism Office of Vanuatu.
6. Place the 4 Rest Tokens in a face-down stack on the Vanuatu stamp sign.
7. Place the 11 Character Tiles face up next to the Game Board in no particular order.
8. Place the Sand Drawing Tokens and the 50 Prosperity Points Markers next to the game board.
9. Place the Fish Price Marker on the first space in the Fish Market (value 3). Place the Game Round Marker on the first space of the Game Round Track.
10. Place 1 Goods Cube of each colour on the Starting Island. Allocate 3 Fish Tokens and 2 Treasure Tokens to the Starting Ocean Tiles based on the symbols present on those Tiles. Place as many Tourist Pawns near the face-up Tourist Tile as are indicated on the Tile. Place all other pawns, cubes, and discs next to the board to form a reserve.
11. Each player chooses a colour and takes all matching components (1 Sailboat, 8 Huts, 5 Action Markers, and 3 Player Discs).
12. Each player places one Player Disc on the first position (0) of the Prosperity Point Track. Each player places a second Disc on location 3 of the Bank Of Vanuatu Track; this Vatus Marker is adjusted up or down when Vatus are gained or spent.
13. Each player places their Sailboat on the blank Archipelago Tile (containing no Fish or treasures).
14. Finally, randomly determine a First Player and give them the First Player Token.

Chamber of Foreign Trade
Bank of Vanuatu

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PAGE 6
COMPONENT DETAILS
GAMEPLAY
Archipelago Tiles
There are 2 types of Archipelago Tiles: Island Tiles (4) and Ocean
Tiles (11).
Symbols present on the Island Tiles indicate possible locations for
Huts and Drawings. On
each tile, there will be 2
or 3 locations for Huts
(depicted by squares),
and 1 to 3 locations for
Drawings (depicted by
circles). The Tourist
Pawn symbol indicates
the maximum number
of tourists that the
Island can hold. The
Goods Cube symbols in-
dicate the native goods
produced by the Island.
Each Island produces
2 goods, except for the
Starting Island which
produces 3.
The symbols present on
the Ocean Tiles indicate
the number of times a
specific action can be
played on that tile (Fish
or Explore). The Fish
symbol corresponds
to the Fish action, and
the chest symbol to the
Explore action.
Fish, Treasure, Tourist, and Demand Tiles
Fish Tiles and Treasure Tiles are taken by players as they perform
Fish or Explore actions. As new Fishing grounds or shipwrecks are
discovered, the higher value tiles become available. As resources
are depleted, the lower value tiles will be claimed.
A Tourist Tile is drawn at the beginning of each round. The value
on the tile, ranging from 0 to 4, indicates the number of tourists
available for the round.
The Demand Tiles (ships) represent the demands of foreign mar-
kets. The Goods Cube symbols indicate the specific native goods
that are in demand. To fulfill these demands,
players buy goods on the Islands
and place them on the ships. The
price paid and Prosperity Points
earned for each commodity are in-
dicated on the game board next to
the Demand Tiles in the Chamber
of Foreign Trade.
Vanuatu takes place over the course of 8 game rounds. A game round consists of 5 phases. Each phase is completed by all players, in turn order, before moving onto the next. Each phase starts with the First Player and proceeds clockwise around the table.
Phase I: Round setup (skipped on the first round)
1. Advance the Game Round Marker to the next space on its track.
2. Remove any Tourist Pawns remaining on the current Tourist Tile, and remove the tile from the game. Draw the next Tourist Tile and place it in the Tourism Office of Vanuatu. Place a num-
ber of Tourist Pawns on the tile equal to the tile’s value.
3. If any Demand Tile is entirely filled, discard it (returning cubes to the reserve), and move all tiles below it up one space. Draw the next Demand Tile in the stack and place it at the bottom of the Chamber of Foreign Trade. Repeat this process for all filled Demand Tiles. If the stack is ever exhausted, shuffle the discards into a new draw pile.
4. Fully replenish all Island Tiles that have zero Goods Cubes on them. Place Goods Cubes from the reserve as indicated by the tiles.
5. Reset the Fish Price Marker to indicate a market price of 3 Vatus.
6. The First Player places the two visible Archipelago Tiles on the
board in any order, following these placement rules:
* Each tile must be adjacent to 2 already-placed tiles.
* An Island Tile cannot touch another Island Tile.
* An Ocean Tile must touch an Island Tile.
If a tile cannot be legally placed, then place the other tile first. If it still cannot be legally placed (this is very rare), then place it next to any 2 already-placed tiles.
Note: During the last round of the game (8), there will be no Archipelago Tiles to place. The rest of the round proceeds normally.
7. Place Fish and Treasure Discs as indicated on any newly placed Ocean Tiles, and place Goods Cubes as indicated on any newly placed Island Tiles.
8. Draw the next 2 Archipelago Tiles from the stack and place them face-up on the Volcano.

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PAGE 7
When a player performs the action related to their Character Tile, or otherwise uses its bonus, the card is turned face down. A player can only benefit once per round from a Character’s bonus.
A player with Action Markers still on the board may not pass their turn. If a player holds majority on an action that’s impossible for them to perform, they must still remove those Action Markers. On the other hand, a player must perform their planned actions if possible. For example, a player selecting the SAIL action must move at least one space if they can afford it. If a player holds no majorities on their turn, they retrieve all of their markers from any one Action Space without performing the action. Finally, a player holding majority on multiple Action Spaces chooses which one of those spaces to resolve.
A player who does not hold the simple majority on an Action Space cannot perform the corresponding action until they do. The PURPLE player has two Action Markers on the FISH Action Space; the YELLOW and TEAL players each have one. PURPLE holds majority and can perform the action, while YELLOW and TEAL cannot at the moment.
Once PURPLE has played and retrieved their Action Markers from the FISH action, YELLOW and TEAL will be eligible to perform the FISH action in turn order.
Phase II: Character Selection
Beginning with the First Player, each player chooses a Character Tile from those available and places it in front of them, face up. The player then returns their previous Character Tile to the set of available Characters (except during round one). Play then passes clockwise to the next player. (see the chapter “CHARACTERS” on page 11 for details)
Note: it is therefore not possible to choose the same Character in two consecutive rounds.
The Character may be used to provide a bonus during that round, typically when the action related to it is performed.
Note: a player is not obligated to plan the action related to their Character Tile, and is never obligated to use their bonus.
Phase III: Action Planning
Each player uses their Action Markers to plan one or more of the nine possible actions for resolution in the next phase (see “ACTIONS” on page 8 for details).
In turn order, each player places 2 of their 5 Action Markers on 1 or 2 Action Spaces of their choosing. The players then play a second, similar round, placing 2 more Action Markers on new spaces or on spaces already planned (to strengthen their positions).
Finally, in turn order, each player places their last Action Marker.
Note: A player may not plan an action that would be impossible to perform. For example, one cannot place a marker on the SELL Action Space if the player has no Fish Tiles and has not already placed a marker on the Fish action. If a player with no Fish Tiles wants to plan the SELL action, they must first plan the FISH action (and possibly even the SAIL action if their Sailboat is not in a Fishing area).
Phase IV: Performing actions
In turn order, each player selects an Action Space where they have a “simple majority” of Action Markers. If possible, the player then performs the corresponding action (see “ACTIONS” on page 8 for details). Then, the player retrieves all of their markers from the Action Space, and play passes clockwise to the next player. Continue until no Action Markers remain on the board. If a player has no Action Markers remaining on the board, their turn is skipped.
To clarify, “simple majority” (i.e. plurality) is held by the player with the most Action Markers of their color on an Action Space. In the case of a tie, the tied player who is highest in turn order holds the majority.
PLAYING WITHOUT CHARACTER TILES
For a more difficult game, you can also play VANUATU without the Character Tiles. In this case, phase II is simply ignored. The rest of the rules are unchanged.
CONVERSION FROM VATUS TO PROSPERITY POINTS
Any time a player accumulates 10 Vatus, those Vatus are immediately converted to 5 Prosperity Points. The player places their Vatus marker at the beginning of the Vatus track, advances their PROSPERITY marker 5 spaces, and continues accumulating Vatus as normal.
Example: The PURPLE player has 3 Vatus. After selling 3 Fish for 3 Vatus each, PURPLE gains 9 Vatus for a total of 12 Vatus. PURPLE places their marker on the 2 Vatus space (12-10 = 2) and immediately scores 5 Prosperity Points.
Note: This conversion occurs immediately, even if the player still has actions to perform for which they would need the money.
Example
Phase V: Resolve Rest Tokens bonuses
Players who collected a Rest Token during the round reveal it and collect the associated bonus (see “REST TOKENS” on page 11 for details). They then return the token to the board, face down.

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PAGE 8
ACTIONS
1) SAIL (Ocean)
To sail, the player pays 1 to 3 Vatus and moves
their Sailboat an equal number of Ocean Tiles in
any direction. The Sailboat may not move onto an
Island Tile.
2) BUILD (Island)
To build a Hut, the player’s Sailboat must be adjacent to an Island with an available Hut location. The player pays 3 Vatus and places 1 Hut on the
Island location. Huts allow the player to perform
certain other actions on the Island, and may score Prosperity Points at the end of the game.
Note: A player may have multiple Huts on the same Island.
3) EXPLORE (Ocean)
To explore a shipwreck, the player’s Sailboat must be on an Ocean Tile with one or more Treasure Discs on it. The player takes a Treasure Tile of value matching the number of Treasure Discs on the Ocean Tile, and then returns one of the discs to the reserve. If saved until the end of the game, the Treasure Tile will be worth Prosperity Points (see “END OF THE GAME” on page
9 for details). Alternately, the player can sell the tile for Vatus at
any time (no action required). If sold, the tile is removed from the game and the player gains Vatus equal to the tile’s value.
Note: A player is never obligated to sell Treasure Tiles.
4) FISH (Ocean)
To fish, the player’s Sailboat must be on an Ocean Tile with one or more Fish discs on it. The player takes a Fish Tile of value matching the number of Fish discs on the Ocean Tile, and then returns one of the discs to the reserve. Fish Tiles can later be sold for Vatus via the “SELL” action.
5) SELL FISH (Island)
To sell fish, the player’s Sailboat must be adjacent to an Island Tile that has a Hut of their color
built on it.
The player chooses one or more Fish Tiles in
front of them to be sold. For each tile, the player
gains Vatus equal to the value of the tile multiplied by the price indicated on the Fish Market.
After all sales are made, the Fish Price Marker is moved to the next
lower space (but never below 1). The sold Fish Tiles are removed
from the game.
General Note: To take an action on a specific Island Tile, the player’s Sailboat must be ADJACENT to that Island Tile. To take an action
on an Ocean Tile, the player’s Sailboat must be ON the Ocean Tile in question. Board spaces without Archipelago Tiles are not accessible.
-3
+6
-1
1 2
3

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PAGE 9
END OF THE GAME
At the end of the 8th round, the game ends and the players earn
final Prosperity Points.
1. Players who possess a Rest Token collect the bonus associated
with it.
2. Players who possess Fish Tiles receive Vatus equal to the sum
of values on the tiles. Whenever possible, convert 10 Vatus into 5
Prosperity Points.
3. The player holding the First Player Token scores 3 Prosperity
Points.
4. In addition, each player then scores:
* 1 Prosperity Point for every 3 Vatus.
* Prosperity Points equal to the sum of the values on their
Treasure Tiles, multiplied by 2.
* For each Hut on an Island, 2 Prosperity Points for every
Tourist on that Island.
The player with the most Prosperity Points wins the game.
In case of a tie, the player who placed the most Huts wins the game.
If still a tie, the player who has the most Vatus wins the game. If
still a tie, all tied players are declared winners.
Note: a player that earns more than 50 Prosperity Points takes a
50 Prosperity Points Token and continues marking his points by
starting again at the beginning of the track. Example: A player with 2 Huts on an Island where there are
4 Tourist Pawns scores 4 x 2 = 8 points per Hut, or a total of
16 Prosperity Points.
6) BUY & EXPORT GOODS (Island)
To buy and export native goods, the player’s Sailboat must be adjacent to an Island with a Goods
Cube on it. The player takes any 1 Goods Cube
from the Island and pays the corresponding price in Vatus (1 for kava, 2 for copra, 3 for beef).
The player then places the cube on the topmost
Demand Tile with unfulfilled demand for that
good, scoring Prosperity Points based on the type
of good (1 for kava, 3 for copra, 5 for beef), plus a bonus (+2) if this
was the last good required on the Demand Tile.
Note: If the player buys a Good for which there is no current
demand, the Good is immediately lost and no points are scored.
Return the cube to the reserve.
7) DRAW (Island)
To draw in the sand, the player’s Sailboat must
be adjacent to an Island with an uncompleted
Drawing Site. The player places a Drawing Disc
on the site, completing it, and immediately scores
3 Prosperity Points.
8) TRANSPORT TOURISTS (Island)
To transport tourists, there must be a Tourist Pawn available at the Tourism Office of Vanuatu.
In addition, the player’s Sailboat must be adjacent to an Island with room for a new tourist (each Island’s limit, from 3-5, is indicated by the tourist symbol on the tile). The player takes 1 of the available Tourist Pawns and places it on the Island. The player then receives 1 Vatu for each Hut (of
any color) present on the Island Tile.
At the end of the game, players will score points for Tourist Pawns
on the same Island as their Huts.
Note: A player may put a Tourist Pawn on an Island without any
Huts of their own color, or even on an Island with no Huts at all.
9) REST
+1
+3
+2
-1
?
A player who rests takes all of the available REST tokens and chooses one to place face down in front of them. The remaining tokens are returned to the board, face down (see “REST TOKENS” for details).
Note: the bonus associated with the token is not
received until the end of the round.

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PAGE 10
It’s the BLUE player’s turn. The die shows 1 pip. After the
BLUE player’s turn, the waters rise. This Island Tile is pro-
tected from the flooding of only one Ocean Tile; it’s missing
one Dike to protect it fully. The other sides of the Island Tile
are fine, since they don’t border an Ocean Tile. The players
must now add 1 Water Marker to this Island. During the ORANGE Player’s turn, a fifth Water Marker is
added to this Island Tile. It gets submerged. The resources
and tourists that were left get taken off the Island and are
discarded, and the PURPLE and TEAL Hut get removed
from the game as well. The Island now gets covered by the
matching Submerged Island Tile.

RISING WATERS
“Rising Waters” is a small expansion for Vanuatu;
we recommend using this expansion only when you’ve mastered the base game.
Global warming threatens Vanuatu. Many islands are in danger of disappearing under the ocean due to rising waters.
Players will therefore have to unite to protect the islands by building dikes. However, the interests of one are not necessarily
the interests of others.

DIKE BUILDING
When a player performs the “BUILD“ action, he can build a Hut and/or a Dike. A Hut costs 3 Vatus
and a Dike costs 1 Vatu. You can build a Hut on an
Island only if you have your Sailboat adjacent to the Island. However, You can build a Dike on any side of an Island Tile as long as your Sailboat is adjacent to that Island Tile.
The player who builds a Dike must place that Dike on a side of the Island Tile adjacent to an Ocean Tile. If a player builds a Hut AND
a Dike, he must place both structures on the same Island Tile.

Example
Example
Rising Waters
In rounds 2, 4, 6 and 8, the threat of rising waters occurs. At the beginning of the round, the First Player rolls the Die. The value on the die indicates the number of actions that players can take before the “Rising Waters” phase occurs.
Whenever a player takes an action, the value of the Die is reduced by 1. When the last authorized action is played, the game is halted temporarily and players perform the “Rising Waters” phase. For
each side of each Island which borders an Ocean Tile not protected
by a Dike, the players place a Water Marker on that Island.
When the players place a fifth Water Marker on an Island, that
Island is submerged and all items on the Island are discarded. The
players place the appropriate Submerged Island Tile on the Island.
This Island is inaccessible for the rest of the game.
If 3 Islands are submerged, the game is over and the players have
lost (collectively).
Note: When an Island is submerged, players don’t need to place
any more Water Markers on it for the rest of the game.

End of the game
At the end of the game, after scoring as described in the base rules, each player potentially loses Prosperity Points: for every Island on which he has at least one Hut, he loses Prosperity Points depending on the number of Water Markers placed on that Island:
1 Water Marker = -1 Prosperity Point
2 Water Markers = -3 Prosperity Points
3 Water Markers = -5 Prosperity Points
4 Water Markers = -7 Prosperity Points.
-1

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PAGE 11
CHARACTERS
REST TOKENS
CREDITS
The Navigator
Sails 1 to 3 spaces for free.
The Beggar
Can exchange up to 3
Prosperity Points for
Vatus (1 Vatu per Pros-
perity Point). This can be
performed at any time
during the round.
The Guide
When transporting tour-
ists, scores 2 Prosperity
Points for each Drawing
present on the Island.
The Diver
When recovering a treas-
ure, immediately gains
Vatus equal to the value
of the Treasure Tile.
The Builder
When constructing a
Hut, pays only 1 Vatu
rather than 3.
The Preacher
Can perform one
planned action where
he does not yet hold
majority, but only if he
currently holds no other
majorities.
The Vendor
Can sell Fish even if her
Sailboat is not adjacent
to an Island with her
Hut.
The Fisherman
When Fishing, gains
Prosperity Points equal
to the value of the Fish
Tile.
The Governor
Instead of playing an
action, she can move
all of her markers from
one Action Space onto
another Action Space
of her choice. She must
move all the Action
Markers placed on this
action.
The Artist
When Drawing in the
sand, scores 5 Prosperity
Points rather than 3.
The Buyer
When buying a Goods
Cube, receives & exports
a second Goods Cube of
the same type from the
reserve for free.
Gain the First Player
Token.
Gain 1 Prosperity Point.Gain 1 Vatu and
1 Prosperity Point.
Gain 1 Vatu.
Designer: Alain Epron
Artwork and graphic design: Konstantin Vohwinkel
Graphic Design and rulebook: Rafaël Theunis
Translator: Jason Reid
Proofreader: Lee Ambolt
Project managers: Arno Quispel and Rafaël Theunis
The designer thanks all of the players who participated in
playtesting, in particular the members of the group Fumble of
Fontainebleau (France).
© Quined Games, 2016
Visit us on on our website (www.quined.com)
and on Facebook!

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