Atlantis

Translator's note: I'm not a native German speaker (in fact, my German is awful), so this translation is partially machine-created. If there are errors, please tell me!

Translation by: Jeff Goldsmith with help from Alta Vista's babelfish.

Before Playing

Carefully remove all plastic parts from the frames. If necessary use scissors to help. Smooth sharp edges.

Important: Be careful that the bases of the swimmer figures are quite even. They should stand up on their own. Assemble the central city and the ships as shown in figures 1 and 2.

Preparing to Play

Put the city in the center of the board.
Put all other island tiles on the board. Don't look at the symbols on the bottoms. Separate the tiles. Put the fortress tiles around the castle. Then the land tiles and then the rock tiles. See fig. 3.
If only two players are playing, put two ships on the board as shown in fig. 4. If more than two players are playing, 4 [I think. --Jeff] ships begin in play. See Fig. 5.
Each player picks a color and takes the figures of that color. All other pieces are left in the box until needed.

Goal of the Game

Each player tries to rescue his guys from the sinking island. Goals are the safe islands in the corners of the board. The game ends if the last live guy gets ashore; the player with the most saved wins.

The Play

The youngest player goes first. Each player in turn puts one figure on the island. Each tile can hold up to three guys. Play passes to the left. Keep going until each player has all 12 guys on the board. Info: for experienced players, see strategy tips on page 6.

In each turn, each player does these three things:

Moves his guys and/or ships.
Removes an island tile.
Rolls the die in order to move the monsters.

Phase 1

Guys and/or Ships move

You may move any number of ships or your guys up to a total of three spaces.

Example: It's your turn, so you move one of your guys two spaces and a ship one space. See Fig. 6.

See the section on "ship movement" for further rules on moving ships.

Phase 2

Part of the Island sinks

After the phasing player takes his three moves, he picks an island tile to sink. The island sinks in this order: first all the rock sections must be removed, then the land sections. After the land sections, then the fortress tiles. The only exception: if you uncover a vortex see below. If you sink a tile, pick it up and turn it over and show all the players the symbol on the bottom. If a Kraken, Sea Monster, Dolphin, Shark or Ship symbol is there, place the appropriate item on the board in the space where the tile was removed.

If you remove a tile on which guys are standing, place them in the water in adjacent water spaces. They become swimmers. You may place swimmers only on empty spaces if possible. Tip: don't remove tiles with your men on them.

Vortex

If you turn over a tile with a vortex symbol on it, all guys, sea monsters, sharks, Kraken, dolphins, and ships (empty or filled) as well as any island tiles on the neighboring six spaces are destroyed and removed from play immediately. See Fig. 7.

If it happens that no more tiles can sink, the phasing player continues with Phase 3, skipping Phase 2.

Phase 3

Dice
The phasing player throws both dice in order to move the sea creatures on the board. One die shows the creature to be moved and the other how far (1, 2, or 3 spaces) it may move or whether it may "dive." (See diving on page 5.) If there is no creature of that type on the board, the player's turn ends.

1. Swimming guys

Guys swim very badly, but they are somewhat worried about being eaten. Guys can become swimmers:

by diving from an island tile to an adjacent sea space
by being on a ship that sinks
falling into the water from a sinking island tile.

Swimmers may never return to land. Swimmers may move only one space per turn. They can, however, board a ship, if they are on the same space at the beginning of a turn. [Not sure about this particular rule, but that's how it was in the old version, I think. --Jeff] Climbing on board counts as one of a player's three moves. The ship can be moved after the swimmer climbs on board if the player still has moves left.

2. Sharks

If a shark moves to a sea space with swimmers, they are devoured by the shark. A shark may be in the same space as a ship, but it cannot attack it or its contents.

3. Kraken

If a Kraken moves to a space with a manned ship, the ship is sunk (removed from play) and the crew becomes swimmers. The Kraken stays in the space with the swimmers, but does not harm them. If a shark happens to be in the space, however, the swimmers are lunch. A Kraken cannot attack an unmanned ship.

4. Sea Monsters

Sea Monsters are particularly nasty. They eat any ships (manned or unmanned) and swimmers in any space they enter.

5. Dolphins

They are friends, as you can see by their smiling faces! If a dolphin moves to a sea space with a swimmer (or a swimmer to a dolphin) the swimmer is protected against any attack.

If a space contains a swimmer, a dolphin, and a shark or sea monster, and the dolphin is moved away from the space, the swimmer gets eaten immediately. Dolphins may be in the same space as ships.

A dolphin/swimmer combination may move together one space a turn during the movement phase (Phase 1). During Phase 3, only the dolphin may move.

Important: Sea creatures may move onto any spaces including those with other figures. Exception: they may not move on land. No more than one sea creature may move on the same turn.

Diving

If a player rolls the dive symbol, he may move the rolled creature to any sea space he chooses. Depending on the situation, it can be better to harm other player or help oneself.

Ship Movement

Ships may not move into sea spaces if there's already another ship, a Kraken, or a sea monster there. A ship can be in a space with a shark or a dolphin.

Each ship has three spaces for guys. A player may put one of his guys on a ship if the ship is directly beside an island tile with the guy and a space on the ship is empty. Guys can move from ship to ship if they happen to be in neighboring spaces. Any player may move an unmanned ship. If a ship has men on it, only players who own the most guys on the ship may move it.

The Countryside

If a guy gets to one of the red spaces in the corners of the board, either in a ship or by swimming, one more move will get him to the safe countryside. See Fig 8.

If one of your swimmers as well as a dolphin reaches the red space and goes ashore, the dolphin remains on the red space. It may be moved away only on the next turn. (Yours or another player's.) Guys may move from ship to ship, so if a ship is on the red space, another can move to a neighboring space and guys can jump onto that ship and then ashore. See Fig 9.

End of game

The game ends if all players have brought their live guys to security. The player with the most live guys wins.

Short Game

Play until the fortress sinks. The player with the most saved guys wins.

Putting the Game Away

The game stores better if you remove the sails of the ships before putting it away.

Jeff Goldsmith, jeff@tintin.jpl.nasa.gov, May 20, 1998