Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island

Components

Setup

1. 1Lay out the board and choose a scenario. The rulebook recommends Scenario 1, “Castaways,” for your first game.
2. 2Each player takes 1 random Character sheet (Explorer, Carpenter, Cook, or Soldier), 2 Action pawns, 1 Wound marker (on the starting space), and that character's personal Invention card.
3. 3Gather the 9 default Inventions and place them available, then shuffle the rest and draw 5 more to place beside them. Put a black marker on the Shovel to show the beach terrain starts uncovered.
4. 4Place the morale marker on the “0” space of the Morale track, and the Weapon marker on the “0” space of the Weapon track.
5. 5Shuffle the Build, Gather, and Explore Adventure decks by color and place the 3 matching Action dice beside each deck.
6. 6Shuffle the Beast cards and set them aside to later form the Hunting deck (empty at first). Shuffle the Mystery deck as well.
7. 7Place Island tile 8 in the center space with the Camp token on it, then shuffle and stack the remaining tiles face down.
8. 8Reveal 2 of the 8 Starting Equipment cards at random, each with 2 use markers. Return the rest to the box.
9. 9Build the Event deck by drawing half the scenario's round count (rounded up) from both the book-symbol pile and the adventure-symbol pile, then shuffling them together.
10. 10The youngest player becomes the First Player and takes the First Player token.

A round — 6 phases

1. 1① Event — Reveal the top Event card, apply its effect, and place it in the right-hand Threat space (any card it pushes off resolves its bottom Threat Effect immediately). Skipped in the first round.
2. 2② Morale — Depending on the morale marker's position, the First Player gains or loses Determination tokens.
3. 3③ Production — Gain 1 resource (food or wood) from each matching source on the Island tile holding the camp, available immediately.
4. 4④ Action — After everyone assigns Action pawns, Actions resolve in fixed order (Threat → Hunt → Build → Gather → Explore → Arrange Camp → Rest). This is the core phase of the game.
5. 5⑤ Weather — Resolve the Weather dice and any tokens in the Weather space, in order.
6. 6⑥ Night — Everyone eats, the camp may move, and anyone without a Shelter suffers a wound for sleeping outdoors. Advance the round marker and pass the First Player token.

The 7 Actions

1 pawn rolls dice, 2 pawns succeed automatically

Assigning 2 Action pawns to Build, Gather, or Explore results in automatic success, with no dice roll. Assigning only 1 pawn requires rolling that Action's 3 dice (Wound, Success, and Adventure) in its color (brown for Build, gray for Gather, green for Explore).

Hunting and combat

The Hunt Action requires at least 1 card remaining in the Hunting deck, and the character whose pawn sits on top of the stack resolves the combat. Hunting always counts as a successful Action, regardless of the combat outcome.

1. 1① Damage — The resolving character suffers wounds equal to the Beast's strength minus the current Weapon level (Treasures or abilities can raise the Weapon level temporarily, for this combat only).
2. 2② Food and fur — Gain the amounts shown on the card, placed in the Future Resources space.
3. 3③ Palisade loss — If indicated, lower the Palisade level (if already 0, suffer 1 wound instead).
4. 4④ Apply any further effects, then discard the card.

Weather, Shelter, Roof, and Palisade

The Shelter is the only way to avoid wounds from sleeping outdoors, and once built it is never lost (moving the camp only halves the Roof and Palisade levels). The Roof, Palisade, and Weapon levels can only be raised once a Shelter (or natural shelter) exists, and building costs scale with player count.

1. 1Discard 1 wood for each snow cloud shown. If you cannot, every player suffers 1 wound.
2. 2Compare the total cloud count to the Roof level. For each cloud beyond the Roof level, discard 1 wood and 1 food. Any shortfall causes 1 wound per missing resource.
3. 3If the Hungry Animals die does not show a blank, resolve one of: discard 1 food / lower the Palisade level by 1 / fight a strength-3 Beast.
4. 4If the Storm token is present, lower the Palisade level by 1 last (or suffer 1 wound if it cannot go lower).

Morale track and Determination tokens

During the Morale Phase, the First Player checks the morale marker's position. Left of center, they must discard 1–3 Determination tokens; right of center, they gain 1–2 (the rightmost space lets them choose 2 tokens or healing 1 wound instead). At center, nothing happens.

• Determination tokens belong to the individual who earned them and cannot be given to anyone else.
• Failing the Success die on a Build, Gather, or Explore roll still grants 2 Determination tokens as a consolation.
• The Arrange Camp Action also grants 2 Determination tokens (or +1 morale) each time it is used.
• Determination tokens pay for a character's 4 special abilities (each usable once per round, for its printed cost) and some die re-rolls.
• If morale is already at its lowest space, it cannot fall further, and no extra wounds result from that.

Ending the game

Strategy tips

• Build the Shelter first. It removes outdoor-sleeping wounds immediately and unlocks the Roof and Palisade starting next round.
• Hunting is riskier the lower your Weapon level is. Check ahead of time whether an Item or ability can temporarily raise it before combat.
• A terrain type must be explored before Inventions requiring that symbol can be built. Delaying exploration blocks good Items outright.
• Using only 1 Action pawn for Build, Gather, or Explore costs little even on failure, since it still grants Determination tokens. Use 2 pawns only when that round's success truly matters.
• Shortfalls during the Weather Phase must be covered with wood and food, so stockpiling a surplus when you can makes the next storm safer.

Scenarios and player-count variants

There are 4 Scenario sheets, and difficulty rises with each one, so playing them in order is recommended. Each sheet sets its own round count, Weather die assignments, goal, and special rules. Scenario 1, “Castaways,” revolves around building a wood pile across several rounds to light a signal fire and escape; the resources and order required to build it are constrained, so planning matters (see the Scenario sheet for exact figures).

• Easier: add the Dog and/or Friday, reveal more Starting Equipment, use more book-symbol (Threat) cards in the Event deck
• Harder: use less or no Starting Equipment, play without Friday or the Dog, use more adventure-symbol cards in the Event deck

Rules people get wrong

History and editions

Cross-checked against English Wikipedia and Namuwiki. Details such as a 2022 Collector's Edition announcement come from Namuwiki, not from direct confirmation in the official rulebook.