Dicey Waters is the English anniversary edition of AMIGO's dice-and-card game Piraten Kapern.
As you might expect with a game titled Dicey Waters, players must set off in search of treasure, pushing themselves to find as much as possible without losing their heads.
At the start of a turn, the active player draws a Pirate card and rolls the eight special dice. They must set aside any skulls rolled, and their turn normally ends immediately with no score if they roll a third skull.
The player is free to set aside any number of other dice. A reroll normally uses at least two dice. They may continue to do this until the skulls get them or they stop.
They then score for dice combinations, with a three-of-a-kind earning 100 points, a four-of-a-kind 200 points, and so on all the way up to an eight-of-a-kind earning 4,000 points. Each gold coin or diamond showing is worth 100 points on its own. A player earns a 500-point bonus if all eight dice score.
If a player rolls four or more skulls on their first roll, they head to Skull Island for the turn, setting aside those skulls and continuing to roll as long as they set aside at least one skull each time. Once they stop, all other players lose 100 points for each skull showing.
The Pirate card affects what's possible on that turn. It might let the player score double for the treasure they collect, require them to roll sabres to fight off other pirates, give them a free diamond or gold coin, or let them keep some points even if they roll three skulls.
Once a player reaches 8,000 points, the final round begins. The other players each take one more turn. If they overtake the player who triggered the final round, that player also gets one last turn. The player with the most points wins, provided they still have at least 8,000 points. Otherwise, play continues until someone reaches 8,000 points and wins immediately.
