How to Play

Frequently Asked Questions

General

Q: Why is Portsmouth the only town that sells cotton and spices?

A: Portsmouth is the deepwater port in the Seacoast. Ocean-going ships would unload their cargo in Portsmouth and this cargo would then be distributed to other Seacoast towns, usually by gundalow. So Portsmouth is the only town where you would find goods from distant areas. However, locally-produced goods could be found in any town.

Q: I just dropped off a passenger in a town at the end of my last turn. Can I pick up that same passenger on the start of my next turn?

A: Yes. You can load any passengers present in a town onto your gundalow at the start of your turn (if you have space on your gundalow).

Q: For dropping off passengers, must they be dropped off only into the empty uncolored squares or can they be dropped off into the empty blue squares too?

A: Passengers can be dropped off into empty squares that are either blue or uncolored. The blue color just indicates where passengers are located at the start of the game.

Q: A “Goods Needed” event card had us place $5 on a town market card, but that town market got changed by a subsequent event card. Does the $5 get transferred onto the new town market card?

A: Yes, the $5 gets transferred onto the new town market card.

Q: In the “available” section of the town market cards, there is only one price shown but there are multiple cubes of that good. Is that the price for purchasing one cube or all of the cubes of that type?

A: The price shown in the “available” section is the price per cube.

Q:  The rules don’t seem to say how you win the game – is it whoever has the most victory cards at the end?

A:  The most victory cards at the end is a great way to determine the winner, but one of the fun things about Gundalow is that you can adapt the victory conditions to your particular playing style.

Gundalow was designed to be played with kids or kids and families (although it plays very well as a game for grown-ups only too), and one of the challenges in having a single winning condition is that it implies that if you weren't the one who won then you lost. With kids, that can create all kinds of unnecessary friction and angst. Players also enjoy doing different things in the game - one might like to transport passengers (delivering goods is an afterthought) while another might prefer to sail immediately to Portsmouth and start moving spices.  Regardless of how much money they earn, players have fun if they feel they succeed in their own little niches, and the victory cards will reward them for that.  

Gundalow is also easily adaptable to create other victory conditions, and the other variants that are suggested in the rulebook (such as skipping the title cards and just playing to see who reaches the target money threshold first) play very well for alternate single-winner endings.

If you play with competitive gamers, I'd suggest a really fun variant where you put the victory cards into play right at the start of the game and players can then gain (or lose) cards as the game progresses.  It can be a lot of fun to "steal" a title from a fellow player and agonizing to lose a title to someone else.  The player with the most cards at the end wins the game, and it can be a really fun scramble to try to scrape together the necessary cards as the $100 (or $200) threshold approaches!

The take-home is that Gundalow is designed to be really flexible to accommodate how different people like to play board games, and you can adapt the game to suit your playing style.  If you play with competitive gamers, then Gundalow is easily structured to make it fun for their tastes.  If you're playing with kids who might get upset if their sibling was the winner, then no problem!  Or if you prefer a more relaxed game just for the historical connection and fun of traveling around the Seacoast then Gundalow can do that too.

Gundalow Kids

Q:  An event card had us replace a market card with a new one. Do we keep the goods from the old market card that were previously delivered?

A:  No. Goods that were delivered on the old market card should be returned to the bank. The “Wanted” spaces of the new market card should be empty.

Expansions

Q: Can the two expansions (Gundalow Beginnings and Gundalow Destinations) be used together when playing a game of Gundalow?

A: Yes! The two expansions can be used together to create a truly epic game of Gundalow. Grab some snacks and drinks because this will be a wild ride!

Gundalow Beginnings

Q:  If I buy a lumber and store it on my home port, do I mark that wood on my tally sheet?

A:  No. You only mark goods on your tally sheet when you sell those goods to a market.