Ahoy there! If this is your first time entering the Spudnet and you’re not too fond of reading, easily watch this step-by-step video guide to show you how to be a proper pirate on the Spudnet.
Fancy reading the details? Download our updated instructional manual here
YOUR MISSION
The Spudnet spread throughout the entire Carbobbean Sea, connecting all the ports, making it the preferred mode of delivering goods. Competition soon went from stiff to ugly when other Potato Pirate fleets started their own Spudnet delivery service, forming six fiercely competitive factions. Now it is your task to monopolize the Spudnet, and eliminate your competition. Set up your warehouses, dispatch ships, and fulfill orders!
CHOOSE YOUR GAME MODE
Competitive Mode
Compete against other players and be the first player to fulfill all 5 of your Orders! To fulfill an Order, sail your Ship to the location where your Order is at.
Co-operative Mode
Fulfill all player Orders before the bots take over. Come together as a team to overcome the invasion of the evil potatoes and their Bot Ships!
COMPETITIVE MODE SETUP
01. Choose Your Faction
Each player chooses a color that represents the Zone in which the player will start. Then, pick the corresponding set of colored tokens: 2 Warehouses, 6 Ships, 5 Orders, 2 Firewalls, and 1 Die.
02. Decide On The Deck Recipe
Decide together on which deck recipe to use for the game. Pick a 12-card recipe for 2 to 3 players. Pick a 18-card recipe for 4 to 6 players. Or, be adventurous and build your own recipe!
03. Locate Your Orders & Warehouses
Roll your die for all Zones except yours. Place the total 5 Orders on the corresponding Node numbers in each zone. Then, setup 2 Warehouses in your zone on any empty Node without an Order.
CO-OPERATIVE MODE SETUP
Follow all steps of the Competitive Mode with the additional setup for Co-operative Mode:
01. Place Bot Warehouses
Roll a die for your own Zone and place a Bot Warehouse of your color on that node along with a Bot Ship. Roll again if there is already a Player Warehouse. Take note that Bot Warehouses can be placed on Nodes with Orders.
02. Place Bot Ships
Roll a die and place a Bot Ship on the corresponding Nodes in all Zones. For example, if you roll a “6”, place a Bot Ship on all Nodes labeled “6”. Bot Ship can be placed on any Node, even if it’s already occupied.
03. Place The Co-op Tracker
Place the Co-op Tracker token at Round “1” on the Co-op Tracker on the map.
PLAYING A ROUND
There are 3 phases in a round: Draft, Place, & Action Phases.
01. Draft Phase
In the draft phase players choose ability cards, which can either be beneficial to them or harmful to others. Start by choosing a starting player who will pick one card before passing the remaining cards to the player on the left, until everyone has an ability card. Each player may hold up to two cards during the round.
02. Place Phase
Place a Ship on each of your Warehouses. Each player can have a maximum of 6 Ships on the board. If a player already has 5 Ships on the board, they place 1 Ship on either of their Warehouses.
03. Action Phase
Players will take turns moving their Ships and play their ability cards. The starting player moves first, followed by other players in a clockwise direction. Ships move from one node to another via the connecting routes.
Each of your ships can move up to 2 nodes. If a Ship’s final location is on a node with an Order of the same color as the Ship, that Order is considered fulfilled and both the Ship and the Order are removed from the map. During your turn, you may also play the ability cards. There are some ability cards which can be played at anytime as stated on the card.
Ending A Round
Once all players have taken their turns moving their Ships, the round ends. At this point, each player can only have up to a maximum of one card in their hand. Any additional cards must be discarded and the next round begins. If a player plays a “Starting Player” card, that player starts the next round. Otherwise, pass the Starting Player token to the player on your left.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ability Cards
It is recommended to play with the card recipes for an optimal game experience. Avoid using the entire card deck because there will be too many things happening on the board. You could also choose two cards from each card category to cater to your own unique gameplay. If you are adventurous, feel free to try out any type of combination and share it with our fellow potato pirates!
As a guide:
- 2 to 3 Players: Choose 12 cards
- 4 to 6 Players: Choose 18 cards
When you think you have mastered the recipes, feel free to use the entire card deck for a game!
Anytime during your turn. However, there are some cards that have "Play this card anytime." written below their card effects. You can play these cards even on other player's turn.
How many cards can be kept at the end of the round?
You can only have up to a maximum of 1 card in your hand at the end of the round. Any additional cards must be discarded and the next round begins (i.e. Draft, Place, Action).
Yes, the discard pile consists of cards that have either been used by a player or cards that have not been chosen by the players during the drafting phase. However, cards that are not included in the current deck recipe do not count towards the discard pile.
In the unlikely case of such a play, please play a "Deny" card. That guy is going to win the game after all.
But in all seriousness, if such a play happens, the last player that played the card starts first.
During a "Man-in-the-Middle", the Ship's goods are intercepted by a potato-in-the-middle so the Ship will be removed from the board immediately. Then, throw the die to locate the real location of the Order. It can be on the same node but you would have to dispatch another Ship there to fulfil it again.
No. Ships moved using the "Denial of Service", "Tunneling" or "Proxy" cards, lose their 2 free movement 'allowance'. They cannot move until the next round, unless moved using ability cards.
The rules for firewalls still apply, meaning it is up to the discretion of the player who placed that firewall.
When I use a "Tsunami", can I increase Node number from 8 directly to 1 (and vice versa)?
Yes, wrap-around is possible.
No, your choice affects all ships in that zone.
Those three Ships will be destroyed since not more than one Ship can be on a node without a warehouse.
Yes, provided that it did not move before using "Intranet".
Yes, movement cards can overwrite each other. However, if a ship has a restriction placed onto it (by cards such as "High & Dry"), it no longer has its 2 free movement allowance.
Can "Redirect" move Ships that are previously affected by cards like "High & Dry" when they are on the Warehouse being moved?
Yes. "Redirect" is considered as teleporting so movement restrictions do not apply.
Can "Deny" remove structures that are already on the board?
No, "Deny" only prevents card effects at the moment when the card being denied is played.
Structures that are already placed previously are not affected.
Yes, though "Ransomware" takes precedence because a ransomed Warehouse is unable to produce any Ships that can be ransomed.
However If the ransom is paid in the next place phase, the leech will apply.
Structures
No, "Intranet" is not teleporting so you still have to follow the routes.
Firewalls take precedence so if a Ship cannot proceed on because of a Firewall, it will stay in that spot.
There are 3 locations where structures can be placed. Either on empty routes, empty nodes or Warehouses. For empty routes, it refers to routes that do not have an existing structure unit. For empty nodes, it refers to nodes without Warehouses, Ships, Orders or structures.
Each player only has two Firewall structures and if a player plays it a third time, he/she is able to move one of the existing Firewall structures to another empty route.
There are only a total of 3 on the board at any one point in time. If all three Kraken Catapult tokens are on the board, shift an existing one instead.
This also applies for "Static Route".
All of that player's Firewalls & Warehouse Status Structures will be removed from the board. If that player had played either "Kraken Catapult" or "Static Route", these do not get removed.
Bot Ships
Both the Bot Ship and player Ship will be destroyed because of the Ship Collision rule.
A Bot Ship is the same as a player Ship except that it cannot fulfil any Orders.
Bot Ships do not belong to any player.
For any card effects that mentions "choose any Ship", it can be applied to Bot Ships as well.
There can be a maximum of 10 Bot Ships on the board at any one time.
If there are already 10 Bot Ships in play, both "Botnet" and "Trojan" effects are rendered useless.
However, if there are 9 Bot Ships in play:
For "Trojan", only convert one Ship to a Bot Ship at any one Warehouse. For "Botnet", you can only place one Bot Ship upon rolling the die, so only choose 1 zone.
Ships
You get to place 2 Ships on the board at the start of every round during the Place phase.
What is the maximum number of Ships that I can have?
Each player can have a maximum of 6 Ships in play at any point in time. If you already have 6 Ships in the current round, do not place any additional Ships. If you have 5 Ships in play already, choose 1 warehouse and place only 1 Ship in that round.
Yes, a collision is a collision regardless of the colors of the Ships. You can also collide with Bot Ships.
All Ships on the overloaded Warehouse are destroyed even if it contains Ships from other players.
The same applies to the other Warehouse of the overloaded player. No ships can enter these Warehouses this round since the player is resetting his systems.
All Ships (yes, even those outside of the Warehouse) & structures belonging to that overloaded player are destroyed as well.
The "Hired Help" card does not protect Ships from an overloading attack.
This is not checkers, there is no jumping over in this game. If there is another player's Ship in the way, both your Ships will collide.
Yes, that's right.
No, Ships are removed the moment they fulfil an Order. They cannot be used to collide with another Ship or fulfil another Order.
No, you can only play ability cards before or after a particular Ship's movement allowance.
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