In the story of ADRIFT, you and a few friends rent a boat from a man found in an internet ad. No questions are asked as you hand him the money and he gives you the keys. You and your friends bring the ice chest of alcohol and processed foods and head out to open waters. When land is out of sight, you let the boat drift as you enjoy yourselves. Curiosity strikes you as you search the boat’s two storage containers and find fishing poles, buckets, and other various items. Your friend Clyde is doing an awful impression of your mother when he is suddenly killed by a meteorite that travels through him, then through the boat’s engine. Clyde and the engine are ripped from the boat and tossed into the ocean. The engine manages to tear a piece of the boat with it and the boat begins to take in water. Clyde’s shoes are simply left smoking. Your story begins now!
ADRIFT is a survival game that begins as a cooperative game, but each individual’s needs eventually may outweigh the group’s needs. You play the role of one person on the boat. Live until you are rescued or make it back to land!
HOW TO WIN AND HOW TO LOSE
Simply put, you lose the game if you die. You win the game if you survive. The game ends in failure if the boat’s water level reaches the skull or if all passengers die. The players that survive until rescued are the winners.
GOLDEN RULES
• Keep the marker behind your screen a secret.
• Track your survival meter honestly. There’s no point in cheating. You’ll be living a lie and everyone will know it. Communicate with your group if you’re getting low!
• To use an item, simply reveal the cards you are using in your hand to the rest of the boat members.
• Each time a d8 is rolled to choose a player and that player doesn’t exist, reroll the die. If there is only one person, that thing happens to that one person.
• You will probably lose. Few games of ADRIFT end with all players living to the end. Accept the fact that you will have to be an awful person to live to see the end.
COMPONENTS
1 Board
8 Screens
8 Character Tokens (Avatar/People)
8 Survival Tracker Tokens (Disc)
1 Water Level Token (Bowling Pin)
1 Ration Marker (Ring Token)
30 Item Cards
24 Ration Cards
1 d8 Situation Die
5 d6 Day Dice
TO START THE GAME
1.) Each player selects a character color. Choose the character token to match your character screen. Protect your survival tracker token at all times. This may not be revealed to other players. Each player gets three ration cards: 2, 1, and 0.
2.) Starting from zero, move the ration tracker up by three for each player playing ADRIFT.
3.) Shuffle all item cards, then divide them into two equal piles. Place one on storage bin #1 and the other on storage bin #2.
4.) Decide how much weight you want to keep on the boat. For every six items on the boat and in character’s possession, the water level will increase by 1 per turn. Always round up to the next multiple of six to determine how much the water level will increase.
Number of Items, water level increase.
1-6 = 1 Level
7-12 = 2 Levels
13-18 = 3 Levels
19-24 = 4 Levels
25-30 = 5 Levels
31-36 = 6 Levels
5.) Discuss with the other players which seat each player will start in. Disputes may be handled through the fight system. After seats are decided, begin day one. Each seat has a special function related to a job or responsibility. These are listed on the next page. When choosing a seat, it is helpful to know what each seat allows the player to do. A player in seat 7 or 8 is called a keeper. They are responsible for the stack of items next to the seat. They place that stack behind their screen and are responsible for those items. You may catch fish only from seats 1 & 2. You may row the boat only from seats 5 & 6. Any other job, such as remove water or meditate, can be done from any seat.
Each character should have one character token on the boat, one character screen, one survival tracker token behind their screen, one (0) ration card, one (1) ration card, and one (2) ration card. Each character begins with their survival tracker on healthy, which is all the way to the left.
TO BEGIN EACH DAY
Progress through the beginning of each day in this order:
• Increase the active day dice total by one. If this causes an active day die to become a locked day die, each player will roll an instanity roll, but not yet. This roll will occur with other insanity rolls.
• If the active day dice shows a two or five anytime during the day, roll for a situation to occur.
• Each player moves their survival tracker to the right once.
• If an active day die became a locked day die, or if any players are insane and they are not subdued, each of those players make an insanity roll.
• Progress the water level by one for every six items on the boat.
DURING EACH DAY
JOBS
Now that your day has begun, each player is responsible for doing a job. It is up to the group of players to decide who does which job. To succeed in your job, you simply must not yield a result of zero. To have a zero or less is failure. The jobs available are:
Catch Fish: Catching fish successfully for the boat will increase the amount of food on the boat. A player attempting to catch fish must possess a fishing pole. You may also use the fishing net. To catch fish, roll a d8 while in seat 1 or 2. Add rations or gain health equal to the result of the roll minus four.
Row the Boat: A player may spend the day with another player attempting to row the boat closer to land. If not done in sync, the boat could go off course and waste a day of effort. A player attempting to row the boat much possess an oar. You may also use the rowing gloves. To row the boat, the players in seats 5 and 6 roll a d8. If their total from the two rolls equals 10 or more, advance the active day dice by one.
Remove Water: As the boat continues to fill with water, a player may spend the day returning that water to the ocean. A player may remove water from the boat while possessing the bucket. To remove water, roll a d8. Lower the water level equal to the result of the roll minus one. If the result would be more than one, it becomes one instead.
Meditate: A player may take a break from the chores on the boat to have “me time”. If you perform no actions this turn, ignore making an insanity roll on your next turn.
The keeper is not a job, but a responsibility for the players in seats 7 & 8. As a keeper, you ignore the hand size limitation. Keepers are still allowed to perform jobs and actions. If they ever leave seat 7 or 8, they must revert back to their normal hand size and place the rest of the items back into a storage bin.
ACTIONS
During the day you may also perform actions. Each player can perform any action as many times as needed.
Carve Corpse: Requires a knife and a dead player. Add d8 plus four rations (Max 8) to the ration tracker. Each living player must make an instanity roll.
Fight: When a fight occurs, each player involved may roll a d8. You may pass to automatically lose the fight. If one the defending player is subdued, then the fight is automatically won by the aggressor. The player who rolls the higher result is the winner of the fight. The aggressor rolls first. A tie goes to the defender. They may choose any result at the end of the fight:
Hurt: Loser moves their survival tracker once to the right and may not perform jobs for the rest of that day.
Subdue: If winner possesses rope or electric tape, the loser may become subdued.
Kill: If the winner has the rope, flare gun with a flare, or knife, the loser dies. Another player may interupt the fight before a kill occurs to force the winner to choose a different outcome. The new fight resolves normally, unless interupted again.
Mercy: Nothing happens.
Haunt: As a dead player, you may haunt the remaining living players. If you decide to haunt them, you may make an additional situation roll when the active day dice shows a 2 or 5.
Move Seats: You may move freely to any empty seat. If two players want to head to the same seat, they must settle it with words, or fight it out. To trade seats, both players must simply agree to do so.
Repair: Requires electrical tape. To repair a broken item, roll a d8. On a result of 7-8, repair the item. On a result of 3-6, reroll the dice. On a result of 1-2, destroy the item.
Retrieve overboard player or item: To get a player or item that is overboard, you may jump overboard yourself to retrieve that person or item. You must make a swim roll to return to the boat. If you are retrieving a person, that person succeeds if you succeed.
Save Overboard Player: Requires rope and/or a life saver. When using both required items, you may add 3 to a player’s swim roll. When using only one, you may add 1 to a player’s swim roll.
Signal For Rescue: Requires a flare gun and flare. Roll all locked day dice. On a result of 15, you are rescued! The remaining players win the game and the game is over. An attempt at signaling rescue destroys the flare gun and flare.
Swim: When overboard, roll a d8. If you roll a 5-8, return to an empty seat on the boat. If you fail to roll a 5-8, you die. You may attempt this roll twice. A roll of one is an automatic failure regardless of save overboard player bonuses.
Trade/Give Items: You may pass any items to a willing player.
END EACH DAY:
Eat: Each player chooses a ration card they would like to use and places it into a single active pile face down. They each privately move their survival tracker token appropriately. Each player places the rest of their ration cards in a single discard pile face down. Shuffle each pile, then reveal the cards in the active pile. Add up the used ration cards, then move the ration tracker down by that amount, then redistribute the ration cards to each player. If the rations used would exceed the number on the ration tracker, then it is apparent that some players believed they ate food that didn’t exist. Those players must be crazy. Move the ration tracker to zero. Then, for each ration unaccounted for, all players must make an insanity roll during the start of the next day. After rations have been settled, you are ready to begin the next day.
OTHER LINGO OF THE SEA
Active day dice and locked day dice: These are represented by six-sided dice. You may not add a new dice to the day dice area unless all day dice are showing on the six. A dice showing a six is called a locked day die. A dice on any other number is an active day die.
Broken Item: When an item breaks for any reason, it may be repaired or tossed overboard. When an item is broken, place it on the boat underneath your player token on your seat until it is repaired.
Death: Being on the open sea is bad for you. It is up to your friends to be sure you stay alive. If they fail you, you’re dead. You are officially a dead player when your survival tracker moves all the way to the right, if another player decides to kill you, or if you drown. Your character token stays on the boat, but is knocked over. The living players may do whatever they wish to it. They may carve you into rations, or throw your body overboard. They may keep you on board and make sure you see the journey to the end!
Although a dead player may not perform jobs or actions, they do gain the ability to haunt.
Destroy: When an item is destroyed, it is removed from the game completely.
Floats: If an item floats, it may be retrieved that day if overboard. If it is not, it is destroyed.
Focused: When a player is preparing to do a job that requires a dice roll, he or she can claim to be focused. When you roll for the job while focused, gain +1 to your roll. If you fail your job while claiming to be focused, move your survival tracker to the right once.
Overboard: If you are overboard, you are no longer in your seat. You must attempt to swim back to the boat to survive, or be lost to the sea.
Rescued!: When 30 days have passed and you lock your fifth active day die, the players are rescued and the game is over. The survivors win!
Subdue: Requires rope or electrical tape. After a fight, a player may choose to subdue a player. If a player is subdued, place the rope or electrical tape under his or her player token. The item can’t be used for any other purpose until the player is no longer subdued. A subdued player not perform jobs, actions, or roll insanity rolls. A subdued player may not eat unless the remaining players decide to give him rations. A subdued player may not hold any items.
Sickness: If a player gains sickness, that player cannot perform jobs. Sickness lasts for three days.
Turns: There are no turns! Use discussion to decide the order in which things occur.
Using Items: Items are possessed in your hand. You may hide your hand as much as you’d like. To use an item, you must reveal it from your hand.
Water Level: The water level token tracks the amount of water in the boat. It is placed and tracked on the seats. The water level may not drop below one. If the water level rises above 8, everyone loses.
Credits
Game & Art Designer
Jesse Seidule
Playtesters
Tim Bridgewater
Ronald Coats
Randolph Picou
Melissa Seidule
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