Meuterer

Meuterer (or Mutineer, in its original German) packs a lot of game into a deck of cards. Some of these cards are Islands, and these are laid out in a circle before the game begins. Some of the cards are Roles, and the majority of them are Goods, which the players will try and sell into the Islands.

At the start of the game one player is given the role of Captain. He then offers a bribe to whoever is willing to support him by being his 1st Mate. Then all players take turns playing cards from their hands showing what goods they are trying to sell into one or more Islands. As soon as a player passes he then decides on what Role to take that round – do you take the 1st Mate and get the reward from the Captain? Do you take the Mutineer and try and assume control of the ship? Other roles support the Mutineer, give trading bonuses or win ties in the trades.

Having resolved the roles players then resolve the trading – the player who is selling the most of one good of a type to an island picks up points. The captain also gets points – simply for being the captain, and sailing his ship successfully to a destination. That’s why mutineers can and should occur – as letting one player continue to be captain throughout is gifting them too many points.

The game continues for a set number of rounds at which point the player with the most points wins. It may initially seem like a lot of rules for a deck of cards – we have covered the basics here – but in terms of game-size to box-size ratio, Mutineer wins every time.