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DIY Board Game: Kraken Wind

Hi! We’re Greg and Jennifer, The Makers, and we’re the creators and authors of the Kraken Wind board game. We made this game just for the JoCo 2024 cruise and had so much fun creating it! Here are interesting things about the game:

We made these items of the game:

  • Rules and strategy – while we were inspired by some of our favorite games, this is not based on anything else known to us. We came up with the idea, playtested and simplied it many times, and this is the result! That said, the rules can always be refined and changed.
  • Ships (red/white and brown) – 3D printed on the Bambu X1 Carbon with Silk PLA from this model by interitusdei
  • Kraken tentacles (green and blue) – 3D printed on the Bambu X1 Carbon with Green Silk and Whisper PLA from this model by skriver
  • Game tokens (brown, pink, and orange) – 3D printed on the Bambu X1 Carbon with Silk PLA in brown, pink, and glow-in-the-dark orange
  • Kraken Wind spinner – 3D printed on the Bambu X1 Carbon with Green Silk PLA (made from this model by MRKPMNTL), vinyl sticker printed on an Epson EcoTank and cut on a Cricut Maker 3, and the base is blue acrylic cut on the Glowforge Pro
  • Hex Tiles – Cut from MDF on the Glowforge Pro, painted with Rustoloem 2x acrylic spray paint, clear coat spray, and vinyl stickers made in Adobe Photoshop, printed on an Epson EcoTank, and cut on a Cricut Maker 3

We purchased these items for the game:

  • Wood box (we thought about laser cutting this, but these boxes were perfectly sized and easy to get)
  • Drawstring bag (same comment!)
  • Gold coins (we could have 3D printed these, but the ones we got were just cooler)
  • Die (we thought about making this, but we have SO many dice that we decided to just re-home some of our existing dice that aren’t getting played)

Kraken Wind: Game Rules

Hoist your flag and brace for rip-roarin’ adventure in search of booty, all while dodging the dreaded Kraken and the noxious winds! The Kraken’s gut be rumblin’ louder than a cannon blast, and its temper’s as fiery as a dragon after a feast of spicy tacos!

Objective:

Your goal is to gather as many gold coins as possible before all the island’s resources are depleted. Players achieve this by navigating their ships across the hexagonal ocean and island tiles, collecting resources, trading them for gold, safely banking their earnings at the home port, and avoiding the Kraken’s tentacles of terror.

Setup:

  • Place the “home port” tile in the center of your table (it’s the one with a shield on it) and then place your ships on it.
  • Place the other 36 hexagonal tiles in a bag to mix them up.
  • Blind draw the tiles from the bag and place them around a central “home port” tile in a spiral. There are 28 ocean tiles, 6 island tiles, and 2 whirlpool tiles that will be placed randomly.
  • Place three resource tokens on each island tile according to the group of three icons shown on each island: two islands have three brown barrels, two islands have three pink crates, and two islands have three orange baskets.
  • Place one Kraken tentacle marker on each whirlpool tile (two total).
  • Place the larger hexagon, the “Kraken Wind,” off to the side – this will be used to determine wind direction and Kraken movement. The Kraken Wind hexagon should not be moved once placed, as the numbers on it correspond to movement on the board.

Starting the Game:

  • Determine which player goes first by rolling a die. The player with the highest roll goes first.
  • Roll the die again to determine the initial direction of the wind based on the numbers on the Kraken Wind hexagon. Move the arrow to the corresponding number on the wind spinner to point in that direction. The wind remains in this direction for the entire game, providing one free move (sail) action to any player moving in that same direction when they perform an action to move.
  • Krakens move first, followed by players.

Kraken Movement:

  • Roll the die to determine the direction in which the Krakens move, based on the numbers on the Kraken Wind hexagon (remember, do not move the arrow — it stays pointed in the wind’s direction for the duration of the game). Kraken tentacles move to the next hexagonal tile in the direction indicated by Kraken Wind once per round. If a Kraken tentacle moves off the tiles, it reappears on the tile on the opposite side of its row going in the same direction it was moving. Kraken cannot move onto the home base island.
  • Important: If a 1 or 2 is rolled on the die, a new Kraken tentacle should be placed in one of the whirlpools marked with the same number of eyes. If the whirlpool is occupied, no tentacle appears. No more than six tentacles may appear on the ocean at any one time.

Player Turns:

  • Each player takes turns, starting with the first player.
  • Players have two actions per turn, which can be used to perform one of these:
  1. Sail: Move your ship to an adjacent tile. You can move against the wind without any penalty, but if you move in the same direction as the wind, this is a free action (one free action move per round). You cannot sail off the edge of the board and reappear as the Kraken can.
  2. Gather: Collect up to two resources from the island tile your ship lands on, spending one action point per resource. (Ships can only carry a maximum two resources at any one time.)
  3. Trade: Trade any gathered resources for gold at the home base (1 coin for 1 resource) or at the island tiles based on what they love as indicated by the heart icons (2 coins per 1 resource), spending one action point per resource traded.
  4. Bank: Save your gold by returning to the home port, spending one action to save any and all gold you have accumulated up to that point.

Kraken Encounter:

If a Kraken moves into the tile occupied by a player’s ship:

  • The player loses all cargo and any gold not yet banked.
  • The player’s ship returns to the home port.
  • The player loses their turn on this round.

End of Game:

The game ends when all resources are depleted from the island tiles and traded for gold.

The player with the most gold, including any banked gold, is declared the winner.

Additional Notes:

  • Players cannot enter tiles with whirlpools, Kraken tentacles, or other players (the exception is the home port, which can have more than one player on it.)
  • Players can enter tiles with the home port and islands.
  • Actions can be performed in any logical order during a player’s turn.
  • Pay attention to the wind direction and the island’s resources/interests for strategic movement.
  • Beware of Kraken movements and plan your route accordingly.
  • Trade wisely to maximize your gold earnings.
  • Keep track of your gold and bank it regularly to avoid losing it to the Kraken.

We hope you enjoy this game and stay away from the tentacles of terror!

Love,
Greg and Jennifer