Oak Island

Oak Island, Nova Scotia, 1900

In 1795, Daniel McGinnis found a 10-foot circular indentation in the ground, in the centre of a man-made clearing. A large branch (and some say the remains of a pulley) hung directly above the pit. He recruited friends and, armed with shovels, they began to dig. They found a solid floor of oak-logs every 10 feet for a considerable depth. Sea-water floodied the pit and prevented them from digging further. What still lies buried over 100 feet below the surface depends on who you ask: Captain Kidd’s treasure, Incan gold, Shakespeare’s lost manuscripts, the Holy Grail, or perhaps nothing at all.

Over the years more men brought their ingenuity to bear on the problem, but failed. The failures were due to lack of modern machinery and ignorance; each excavation being stopped by water and lack of funds. A new century brings new technology and every hope that the mystery of Oak Island will soon finally be put to rest.

Oak Island is a board game for 3-5 players attempting to get to the bottom of the mysterious treasure pit on Oak Island. The amateur treasure hunters bring their resources to bear on the problem of excavating the pit, and compete with each other to publish their findings and theories using an innovative scoring system.

Players take turns picking up a row or column of resource cards from the card display. Action cards set in the display are triggered when a player picks it up. Machinery cards in the display do not refresh until the next round. A round ends when a player picks up the Treasure Trove License card, triggering an excavation.

The Money Pit consists of consecutive tiles that are revealed as they are excavated jointly by the players. In order to excavate a tile, the symbols shown on it must be matched on resource cards invested secretly and simultaneously by the players. Each resource card has an abstract monetary value ($, $, or $$); the players are ranked in order of investment, with the one who invested least playing first in the next round. The player who invested most gets first pick of the assets (clues, machinery, and victory points) collected by the venture.

Another source of VPs are the theories a player can publish. A theory consists of two or more clues joined together. A complete theory is any size rectangle (2xY) while a partial theory is any other assembly of clue pieces. Publishing a theory during the game consists of a player revealing one or more new clue pieces to form a new theory, or revealing one ore more new clue pieces and reinterpreting the clues of the same colour in an existing public theory (theirs or another players) in order to form a new theory. Clues that don’t make it into the new theory cost the player points. The first clue played of any given colour are worth bonus points. Adjacent clues of the same colour within a theory are worth additional points. Complete theories earn a player 2 points per clue, excluding blank ones - incomplete ones earn a player 1 point per clue, including blank ones.