Game Objective

In Survive the Island, you and your friends are adventurers on an expedition that went terribly wrong! The island where you were discovering treasures has decided to awaken volcanoes and ancient creatures, and is now sinking into the ocean. Your objective is to rescue as many treasures as possible, represented by the value on each of your Adventurers, and take them to the Rescue Islands. But beware! Other explorers also want to escape, and the few available Rafts are highly contested. Furthermore, erupting volcanoes and sea and land creatures pose constant dangers. Survival has no rules, and the race against time and other players is intense!

Setup

To begin your adventure in Survive the Island, follow these steps:

1. Designate First Player: The last person to return safely from an island is the first player.
2. Assemble the Island: Shuffle all the Island tiles (beaches, forests, and mountains) and place them randomly, landscape side up, in the indicated spaces on the board. Do not look at the back of the tiles.
3. Position Initial Creatures: Place the Sea Serpents on the board in the spaces marked with . The Kais and Sharks should be placed near the board.
4. Choose Colors and Components: Each player chooses a color and takes the corresponding 10 Adventurer meeples, one Player Aid, and 2 Raft meeples. The remaining Raft meeples are placed near the board.
   • For 2-player games: Each player chooses 2 colors, which will count as a single color. Take the 20 corresponding Adventurer meeples and 4 Raft meeples. The 2 Player Aids serve as color reminders.
5. Position Adventurers: In clockwise order, players take turns selecting one of their Adventurers and placing it on an empty Island tile until all their Adventurers have been placed on the Starting Island. Remember the treasure values of your Adventurers, as after the game begins, you will no longer be able to look at the value recorded on their base!
   • For 5-player games: After all 40 tiles are occupied, any remaining Adventurers must be placed on tiles that already contain only one other meeple.
6. Position Rafts: Players take turns placing 1 Raft on an empty Water space adjacent to an Island tile. Continue until everyone has placed the two rafts they possess.

Game Flow

The game proceeds in turns, moving clockwise. Each player's turn is divided into three phases:

1. Phase 1: Action. In this phase, you can move your Adventurers and/or Rafts, as well as use Tile Abilities.
2. Phase 2: Flood. You must remove a tile from the board and look at its back.
3. Phase 3: Creatures. Roll the Creature die and move a Creature according to the rules.

Once all three phases are completed, the next player's turn begins.

Note: If you have no more Adventurers to rescue at the start of your turn, you remove 2 tiles instead of 1 during the Flood phase.

Actions and How to Play

During the Action phase of your turn, you can perform the following actions:

• Move Adventurers: Each Adventurer can only swim once per turn (not counting Ability tiles). An Adventurer can move to a Water, Land, or Raft space. It is permissible to move an Adventurer to a space already occupied by another Adventurer.
• Move Rafts: You can move your Rafts.
• Use Tile Abilities: Some Island tiles revealed during the Flood phase have Abilities that can be used in a subsequent Action phase. Examples include:
  • Oars: Move an empty Raft or one you control 1 or 2 spaces.
  • Dolphin: Move one of your Swimmers (Adventurers in a Water space) 1 or 2 Water spaces. This movement can end on a Land space or on a Raft.
  • Repellent: Can be used at any time one of your Adventurers is in the same space as a Shark or a Kaiju. Removes the Creature from the board. A Repellent can only be used against one Creature at a time.

Flood Phase

In this phase, you must remove an Island tile from the board. The order of removal is as follows:

1. First, the Beach tiles.
2. Then, the Forest tiles.
3. Finally, the Mountain tiles.

If there are any Adventurers or Creatures on the removed tile, place them in the newly revealed Water space. Then, secretly look at the back of the removed tile:

• Effects: If it is an Effect, apply it immediately and discard the tile.
  • Volcano: Removes all Elements (Adventurers, Creatures, and Rafts) occupying this space from the board. Leave the Volcano face up in this space. The space can no longer be accessed. When the 3rd Volcano is revealed, the game ends.
  • Green Creature: Place a Shark on this space. If all Sharks are on the board, move one to this space.
  • Blue Creature: Place a Kaiju on this space. If all Kaijus are on the board, move one to this space.
  • Raft: Place a Raft on this space. If the Raft supply is empty, move an empty Raft already on the board to that space. If there are no empty Rafts, nothing happens.
  • Whirlpool: Removes all Elements (Adventurers, Creatures, and Rafts) occupying this space and all adjacent Water spaces from the board.
• Abilities: If it is an Ability, keep the tile face down and use it in one of your subsequent Action phases.
  • Dive: Move any Creature on the board to any empty Water space.
  • Creature Die: Roll the die and move the corresponding Creature according to its Movement rule.

Creature Phase

In this phase, roll the Creature die. If the Creature shown on the die is on the board, you must move it. The active player makes all decisions about where the Creature moves and the order of applying interactions.

Creature Interactions: Each Creature interacts with specific Elements occupying its space. These interactions occur when the Creature moves into a space occupied by these Elements, when Elements are moved into a space occupied by the Creature, or when the Creature enters play via a tile effect and is placed on a space occupied by these Elements.

• Sea Serpent:
  • Movement: Water spaces.
  • Interaction: Eliminates Rafts and all Adventurers (including Swimmers).
• Shark:
  • Movement: Water spaces.
  • Interaction: Eliminates Swimmers.
• Kaiju:
  • Movement: Water and/or Land spaces.
  • Interaction: Eliminates Rafts, pushes Adventurers to any adjacent spaces (not necessarily the same), and displaces Creatures according to their Movement rules. More than one Creature can occupy the same space, with the exception of Kaijus. Nothing can enter a space with a Kaiju except another Kaiju (displacing the first).

If a Creature eliminates an Adventurer or Raft, place the eliminated element near the game board. In the case of an eliminated Adventurer, do not look at their treasure value.

End of Game and Scoring

The game ends under one of the following conditions:

• No Adventurers remain to be rescued.
• A 3rd Volcano is revealed.

Note: If the eruption of the 3rd Volcano triggers the end of the game, you score 0 points for any Adventurers you failed to rescue.

Scoring

Count the treasure points you earned by saving Adventurers. The player with the most treasure points wins the game. In case of a tie, all tied players share the victory!

Example of final scoring: Jane rescued 5 Adventurers while 3 others were eliminated. When the 3rd Volcano is revealed, her 2 remaining Adventurers on a Raft are eliminated, as she couldn't get them to the Rescue Islands. Her final score is 4+5+1+2+4 = 16 points.

Tips for Winning

• Memorize Values: Pay close attention to the treasure values of your Adventurers when you place them on the island. You won't be able to check them later!
• Manage Risks: Carefully assess which Adventurers you can safely rescue and which areas of the island are too dangerous due to Creatures or the imminence of Volcanoes.
• Use Abilities Strategically: Ability tiles can be crucial. Save them for opportune moments, such as using a Repellent to save a valuable Adventurer from a Creature.