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In Dead Man’s Draw, press your luck as a pirate trying

to amass the most booty. But here’s the catch, get too
greedy, and you could lose it all!

Dead Man’s Draw is played by 2-4 pirates in about 10-15

minutes. Draw cards one at a time trying to collect the
most loot, comprised of ten suits with six cards each.
Draw different suits and your treasure grows, but if you
get two of the same suit you Bust and your turn is over.

What will it be, Matey?

Contents:
-1 Rulebook

-60 Loot Cards:

Loot Cards are divided into ten different suits. Each
suit has six cards with a value of 2-7, except the
Mermaids which range 4-9 in value.
 -17 Trait Cards:
Traits are special powers that
give each player a unique
ability that can be used over the
course of the entire game (See
Traits on pages 9-11).

-6 Game Variant Cards:

Used to modify play or change
how players win the game.

traits
traits
GAMEPLAY
On your turn, choose to:

DRAW A CARD from the Draw Pile.

-4 Gameplay Cards
If the drawn card is the same suit of any
card in the play area it is a BUST!
Your turn is over and all cards in the Play
Area go to Discard Pile.

If the drawn card is not the same suit of any

card in the Play Area, place the drawn card in
the Play Area and activate it’s Suit Ability.
-4 Suit Ability Reference Cards
OR

COLLECT THE LOOT!

Take all the cards from the Play Area and
place them in your Bank.

Sir Lovesword -3 Mermaid Variant Cards

Identified with on the
SIREN
Bank your oppone
are as soon
nts’
bottom of each Mermaid
as they are drawn
from the Draw Pile. Variant Card.

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 Set up:
1a

3 1c

1b
2 2

1. The Main Area in the center consists of three parts:

1a. To form the Discard Pile, remove the Loot Cards with the
lowest number from each suit. (Nine Loot Cards with the
value of 2, and one Mermaid card with the value of 4.) Shuffle
these ten Loot Cards together. Place the Discard Pile face up
on one side of the Main Area.
1b. To form the Draw Pile take the remaining fifty Loot Cards
and shuffle them. Place this deck face down on the opposite
side of the Main Area.
1c. The Play Area is the empty area between the Draw Pile and
Discard Pile where Loot Cards are drawn and played. Leave
enough room here for ten cards to be played in a row.
2. The Banks are the areas directly in front of each player. Each
player’s Bank should be large enough to fit ten stacks of cards,
called Suit Stacks (one stack for each of the ten suits). This is where
a player’s collected loot is placed each turn.

3. Shuffle the Gameplay Cards (one card per player always including
the “Starting Player” card). Deal one card to each player to
determine the starting player. These cards also serve as player aids.
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 Gameplay:
Draw a Card:
On your turn draw the top card from the Draw Pile and place
it face up in the Play Area.

The Most Important Rule:

Any time a card is placed in the Play Area, whether from the
Draw Pile, Discard Pile or any player’s Bank, you MUST activate
the Suit Ability. The only exceptions are the Key & Chest cards
whose Suit Abilities only activate when both are collected.

Draw if you Dare!

You may now choose to continue drawing cards. If the card
just drawn is NOT from the same suit as any other card in the
Play Area, add it to the Play Area and activate its Suit Ability.
However, if the suit of the card just drawn is same as any other
card in the Play Area, you Bust! When you Bust, all cards in the
Play Area are immediately placed in the Discard Pile (including
the card that caused the Bust). You DO NOT activate the suit
ability of the card that caused the Bust. You DO NOT score
ANY points if you Bust, and your turn is over. You continue
drawing cards until you either Bust or choose to stop drawing
cards and Collect.

Bust!

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 Gameplay Continued:
Collect, Bank:
Instead of drawing another card you may Collect. When you
Collect, move all the cards from the Play Area to your Bank.
Organize the cards in your Bank by suit, creating one Suit
Stack for each of the ten suits. Cards in each Suit Stack should
be placed in descending order (7 on the top down to 2 on the
bottom). Your Suit Stacks must be able to be seen by all players,
and the cards in each Suit Stack are public knowledge.
End of Turn:
A player’s turn ends after he or she either Busts or Collects.
Play then proceeds to the left.
Game End:
The game ends after the turn in which the last card is drawn
from the Draw Pile. The player who draws the last card gets to
finish his or her turn as normal, either by Busting or Collecting.
Players may count the number of cards remaining in the Draw
Pile at any time.
Determining Winner:
You only score the most valuable card of each suit. Players
each add the value of the top card of each Suit Stack in their
Banks to determine their scores. The player with the highest
score is the winner.
Tie:
If there is a tie, the tied players count the number of cards in
their Banks. The tied player with the most cards in the Bank
wins the game. If there is a tie after that, both players share
the victory.

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 Suit Abilities:
Anchor:
Collect all cards drawn before the Anchor,
even if you Bust.
Example: Eliza has two cards in the Play
Area, a Mermaid and a Cannon. She draws
an Anchor, then draws another Mermaid
and gets a Bust. The first Mermaid and the
Cannon are moved to her Bank. The Anchor
and second Mermaid are discarded.
Hook:
Choose the top card from any Suit Stack
in your Bank and place it into the Play Area.
You MUST play a card from one of your Suit
Stacks even if the only available card will
cause a Bust. If your turn ends in a Bust, you
will not recover your card that was moved to
the Play Area by the Hook. It is discarded
with the rest of the cards. If you do not have
any cards in your Bank, this Suit Ability is
nullified.
Cannon:
Place the top card of a Suit Stack from any
other player’s Bank into the Discard Pile. If
there are not any cards in any opponent’s
Bank, this Suit Ability is nullified.

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 Key & Chest:
If there is a Key & Chest in the Play Area
when you Collect, draw as many bonus cards
from the Discard Pile as you moved into your
Bank.
Example: Zach chooses Collect and he has
five cards in the Play Area. Two of them are a
Key & Chest. After he moves five cards from
the Play Area into his Bank, Zach shuffles the
Discard Pile and adds five more bonus cards
to his Bank.
Map:
Shuffle the Discard Pile and reveal three cards
from the Discard Pile. You must place one
card in the Play Area, even if this causes a
Bust. If there are no cards in the Discard
Pile when the Map is drawn, the ability is
nullified. If there are less than three cards,
draw the remaining cards.
Oracle:
Reveals the next card on top of the Draw Pile.
Example: Eliza places an Oracle into the Play
Area and flips over the top card of the Draw
Pile. She may decide to place the revealed
card into the Play Area, or flip the card back
over and leave it on top of the Draw Pile,
choosing to Collect instead. If the Oracle
is the last card in the Draw Pile, the ability
is nullified.

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Sword:
Steal the top card from any other player’s
Suit Stack and place the stolen card in the
Play Area.
You must choose a Suit Stack of an opponent
that you do not have in your own Bank, even
if the chosen card will cause you to Bust.
Example: Zach draws a Sword. Zach has
Anchor, Hook, and Cannon Suit Stacks
in his Bank. Zach cannot select an Anchor,
Hook, or Cannon from Eliza’s Suit Stacks.

Kraken:
Forces you to place two additional cards in
the Play Area before you can Collect. You
will draw two cards from the Draw Pile,
unless the first card drawn is a Hook, Sword
or Map. Any of those three Suit Abilities
adds an additional card to the Play Area.
Both scenarios fulfill the Kraken, since at
least two additional cards were added to the
Play Area.

Mermaid:
This suit does not have an activated Suit
Ability, but card values range from 4-9,
rather than 2-7.

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 Traits:
Traits add a powerful special ability to each player and
remain active the entire game. All Traits must be activated
if possible. At the start of the game, shuffle and deal each
player two Trait cards. Players choose one Trait card to keep
and discards the second back to the game box. Players then
reveal their chosen Trait card to the other players.
Golden Scales, Mermaid:
Mermaids are worth an extra five points.

Casanova, Mermaid:
Mermaids are Banked as soon as you draw a
Mermaid from the Draw Pile. If you have a
Kraken in play and you draw a Mermaid, it
does not count towards the Kraken because
the Mermaid is Banked before it is placed in
the Play Area.

Plunderer, Key & Chest:

Bonus cards are randomly drawn from one
opponent’s Bank instead of the Discard Pile.
Shuffle all the cards in your opponents Bank
before you take your bonus cards. You cannot
split this between two or more players. If
there are fewer cards in the chosen opponent’s
Bank than your bonus, take all the cards from
his or her Bank. Do not take the difference
from the Discard Pile.
Treasure Hunter, Key & Chest:
Double the amount of bonus cards from the
8 Discard Pile when you Collect a Key & Chest.
Navigator, Map:
Instead of picking one of three random cards
from the Discard Pile, you may pick any one
card from the entire Discard Pile.

Master Gunner, Cannons:

Discard the entire Suit Stack instead of just
the top card.

Scavenger, Cannon:
Place the card discarded by your Cannon into
your Bank instead of the Discard Pile.

Mystic, Oracle:
Reveal three cards instead of one. You may
not change the order of the cards revealed.

Swordsman, Sword:
Steal the top card from an opponent’s Suit Stack,
even if you have that Suit Stack in your Bank.

Miser, Hook:
When you place a Hook in the Play Area, the
Hook and the card it adds are protected from
a Bust.
Example: Eliza has a Cannon in the Play
Area, and subsequently draws a Hook and
adds a Mermaid. Next she draws a Cannon
which causes a Bust. Eliza adds the Hook and
Mermaid to her Bank, but the two Cannons
are discarded as normal.

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 Captain’s Hook, Hook:
Must play two cards from your Bank instead
of one.

Safe Harbor, Anchor:

The Anchor card and the next two cards after
the Anchor are protected from a Bust. If you
cause a bust one or two cards after the Anchor,
you do not collect the card that caused the
Bust (because the card that caused the Bust
does not enter the Play Area).

Fisherman, Kraken:
Krakens are Banked as soon as you draw a
Kraken from the Draw Pile.

Beastmaster, Kraken:
All opponents must add four cards instead of
two when the Kraken is drawn.

Misfire, Cannon:
Each opponent that draws a Cannon must
place the top card of a Suit Stack from his or
her own Bank into the Discard Pile.

Parry, Sword:
Opponent’s Sword must steal a Kraken. If
there is not a Kraken to steal, discard the
Sword without any effect.

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 Davy Jones’ Locker:

Bank your opponents’

Choose only one opponent in a game. You

from the Draw Pile.

as they are drawn
are as soon
SIREN
Bank their cards when they Bust.

Sir Lovesword
Mermaid Variant Rules:
To play Dead Man’s Draw with the Mermaid Suit Ability,
remove the 8 and 9 value Mermaid cards from the Loot Cards.
Add the 2 and 3 value Mermaid
cards to the Loot Cards. Add the
Siren Trait card to the rest of the
Trait cards. Set Up is the same
as the original game. Play is the
same except the Mermaid suit
now has a Suit Ability.

Mermaid Suit Ability:

Replay a card in the Play Area.
When you place a Mermaid into the Play Area, select a previous
played card in the Play Area, move it to the right of the Mermaid,
and activate the chosen card’s Suit Ability.

Example: Eliza draws a Mermaid and activates the Mermaid’s

Suit Ability. There is an Anchor and a Cannon in the Play
Area; therefore, Eliza can choose either card. She opts for
the Cannon. Eliza moves the Cannon card to the right of the
Mermaid, activates the Cannon’s Suit Ability, and discards one
of her opponent’s cards from his/ her Bank. If Eliza chose the
Anchor instead of the Cannon, she would move the Anchor
to the right of the Mermaid, which would now protect the
Mermaid and the Cannon from a Bust.
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Siren Trait, Mermaid:
W hen your opponent draws a
Mermaid, you immediately Bank
the card selected by the Mermaid
Suit Ability. The Siren Trait activates
before the selected card’s Suit
Ability activates. Sir Lovesword
Example: Zach has selected the
Siren Trait card. Eliza draws
a Mermaid and picks a Sword. SIREN
Bank your opponents’
Zach immediately places the are as soon
as they are drawn
Sword in his Bank and Eliza does from the Draw Pile.

not get to activate the Sword’s

Suit Ability.

The Casanova Trait is changed while playing with the

Mermaid Suit Ability.

Casanova Trait, Mermaid: When you add a Mermaid to the

Play Area, immediately Bank the card selected by the Mermaid
Suit Ability. Therefore, you do not activate the Mermaid Suit
Ability because it was placed into the Bank, not the Play Area.

Anchors:
If either the Siren or Casanova Trait collects an Anchor,
the cards that the Anchor protected from a Bust are still
protected from a Bust after the Hook is Banked.

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 Pirate Party Game Variant:
Dead Man’s Draw is a tense push your luck game for 2-4
players. If you would like to play with 5-8 players, combine
an additional copy of Dead Man’s Draw and shuffle the two
games together. At the beginning of the game you will have
20 cards in the Discard Pile and 100 cards in the Draw Pile.
Mix all the Trait Cards together, but still give just two Trait
Cards to each player. Play resumes as normal.

A Note From Mayday Games:

Mayday Games worked very closely with Stardock Enter-
tainment to capture the original tabletop card game. Players
familiar with the digital versions will notice some slight
differences in game play. In the physical version of Dead
Man’s Draw, players may cause a Bust from the actions taken
when playing a Map, Sword or Hook Suit Ability.

At MaydayGames.com, find official Stardock Entertainment

variants used in the digital versions of Dead Man’s Draw.

http://maydaygames.com/dead-mans-draw.html
www.deadmansdrawgame.com

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 Producer: Ryan Bruns
Game Design: Derek Paxton, Leo Li, Chris Bray
Illustrator: Leo Li
Graphic Design: Allison Litchfield, Benjamin Shulman
Rulebook: Daniel Peterson, Paula Hiatt
Mayday Games Play Testing: Adam Drew, London
Malmrose, Daniel Benson, Jordon Field, Seth Hiatt,
and Leo Wild.

© 2015 Mayday Games, Inc. www.stardock.com

All rights reserved.
www.maydaygames.com

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