How to score Jamaica, from Port Royal to treasures
Type each ship's space, then everyone's doubloons and treasures. Teamzy, your score sheet, takes the cursed treasures off the total. A tie? The spaces left to Port Royal, on their own line, decide the winner.
Jamaica in 30 seconds
Jamaica is a pirate race game by Bruno Cathala, Malcolm Braff and Sébastien Pauchon, now published by Space Cowboys, for 2 to 6 players. Each turn, the Captain rolls two dice and chooses which one is for the morning and which one for the evening. Then everyone plays one of their Action cards: it says what to do with each die, load gold, food or gunpowder into their holds, or move their ship forward or backward. A port space costs doubloons, a sea space costs food, you fight when you stop on another ship, and the pirate lairs hide treasures. As soon as a ship reaches Port Royal, everyone finishes the turn and the points are counted.
What your race, your gold and your treasures are worth
Everything is counted at the end of the match, once the turn is over. You add the white number on your ship's space, 1 point per doubloon in your holds and the value of your treasures, then take off your cursed treasures. If your ship ends on the space marked −5 or before it, the race costs you 5 points instead of earning you any. When scoring, leftover food and gunpowder are worth nothing. On a tie, the ship furthest along wins.
The points, the cursed treasures and the tiebreaker
| What counts | Points |
|---|---|
| Space where your ship is | the number on it |
| Ship still on the early spaces | -5 |
| Doubloon in your holds | 1 |
| Treasure | +3, +5 or +7 |
| Cursed treasure | −2, −3 or −4 |
| End of the match | A ship in Port Royal, finish the turn |
| Tie | furthest along (fewest spaces) |
The example score sheet
The end of the match told below. Before the treasures, Hugo leads with 22 points, one more than Léa and Emma. The treasures, turned over at the final count, change everything: Léa moves ahead, and Hugo ends last.
| Hugo | Léa | Emma | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finishing space | 15 | 9 | 10 |
| Stuck at the startSubtracted | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Doubloons | 7 | 12 | 11 |
| Before treasures | 22 | 21 | 21 |
| Treasures | 3 | 7 | 5 |
| Cursed treasuresSubtracted | −4 | 0 | −3 |
| Total | 21 | 28 | 23 |
Léa wins with 28 points, ahead of Emma (23) and Hugo (21).
First into Port Royal, last at the final count
Hugo, Léa and Emma play a three-player match. Hugo races for Port Royal. Léa loads gold whenever she can and raids the pirate lairs. Emma follows, her holds full of doubloons.
- 1Hugo is the Captain this turn: he plays first and sails into Port Royal with his morning action. His evening action is ignored. Léa, then Emma, still play their card, then the match is over: time to count.
- 2First the race and the gold. Hugo, in Port Royal, takes 15 points for his space and has 7 doubloons in his holds: 22. Léa ends on a space worth 9 with 12 doubloons: 21. Emma, on a space worth 10, has 11 doubloons: 21 too. Hugo leads by one point.
- 3The treasures are turned over. Hugo adds a +3 treasure, then takes 4 points off for the cursed treasure Léa gave him when she beat him in combat: he drops to 21.
- 4Léa turns over a +7 treasure and climbs to 28. Emma adds a +5 treasure and takes 3 points off for a cursed treasure drawn in a lair: 23.
Léa wins with 28 points, ahead of Emma (23) and Hugo (21). Hugo finished the race first and led before the treasures, but he ends last.
In Teamzy, you type each player's space number, doubloons and treasures, then the cursed treasures on their own line, without the minus sign: 4 for Hugo, 3 for Emma. The app takes them off the total, puts Léa in the lead and keeps the match in the history.
The questions that come up at the table
At the end of the match, each player adds the white number on the space where their ship is, 1 point per doubloon in their holds and their treasures, worth +3, +5 or +7. Then they take off their cursed treasures, worth −2, −3 or −4. A ship still on the space marked −5, or before it, costs 5 points. The highest total wins. In Teamzy, the score sheet has one line per category, Finishing space, Stuck at the start, Doubloons, Treasures and Cursed treasures, and the total adds up by itself.
The Jamaica rules on the Space Cowboys websiteAs soon as a ship reaches Port Royal, it stops there. If it gets there with its morning action, its evening action is ignored. The current turn is finished: the players who haven't played their card yet play it, then the match ends and you move on to scoring. A ship that moved backward from the start still has to sail all the way around the island to finish the race.
Ending on the space marked −5, or on any space before it, costs 5 points. Teamzy's score sheet is filled in with positive numbers: type 0 on the Finishing space line and 5 on Stuck at the start, a subtracted line. The app takes those 5 points off the total.
The game has 12 Treasure cards, and 3 go back in the box at the start, unseen. 4 give a power, like a 6th hold or a stronger combat die, and score no points. 5 treasures are worth +3, +5 or +7, and 3 cursed treasures cost −2, −3 or −4. You draw one when you stop on a pirate lair that still has its treasure token, and the winner of a combat can steal one or give away a cursed treasure. The ones that score stay facedown until the final count. On the Treasures line, type the sum of your treasures, 8 for a +3 and a +5, and on Cursed treasures yours, without the minus sign.
When scoring, each doubloon still in your holds is worth 1 point. Leftover food and gunpowder are worth nothing: they are for the race, to pay for sea spaces and to win combats. On the Doubloons line, type the total from all your holds.
On a tie, the player furthest along in the race wins. If it is still a tie, the victory is shared. In Teamzy, type on the Spaces left line the number of spaces between each ship and Port Royal, 0 for the one that is there: it doesn't add to the points, and on a tie, the fewest spaces wins.
Not necessarily. Reaching Port Royal ends the match and gives you the number of your space, with no other bonus. The other players' doubloons and treasures can put them ahead: in the example above, Hugo arrives first but ends last. Loading gold sometimes pays more than racing ahead.
Teamzy counts matches of the base game. The Crew expansion replaces the Treasure cards and adds crew members, some of which change the final scoring: the app has no line for them.
Your next Jamaica match, without pen and paper
Type everyone's space, doubloons and treasures, the spaces left on a tie, and find your matches in the history. Free to start, Premium as a one-time purchase, no account and no ads.
