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A game of cargo ships, sea scoundrels and nautical mayhem

It’s the roaring ’20s and there’s a fortune to be made steaming across the wild oceans. To succeed, you’ll need a captain’s steady nerve and the help of Lady Luck

to deliver your cargo where it’s needed. You have ships full of passengers and precious cargo, but can you outrun pirate robbers,

terrifying storms and a stock market crash that might devalue your goods?

Overview

Manifest is a game of worldwide shipping in the 1920s. You get points for completing Contracts to pick up certain goods or passengers at their source and deliver them to a port where they are wanted.

Each player has two ships, represented on the map board by ship meeples and on-shore by a Company Shipping Board that shows what each ship is carrying. Cargo can be goods or people.

Action Cards let you move ships, spend money, or take steps to help yourself or bedevil opponents. You can play any or all of the Action Cards in your hand. You can combine actions as you like but each card can only do ONE of these things:

Move a ship up to the move point value •

Spend $ to buy Contracts or load cargo•

Use special card abilities•

You may decide to keep as many of your cards for future turns as you like. You may not discard cards - the only way to get them out of your hand is to play them.

Winning

When any player reaches the target number of Points (see below), all other players get one final turn. The winner is the player with the most points. If there’s a tie, the player with the most cargo on ship is the winner. If still tied, shake hands.

Length of Game Required 2 Players 3 Players 4 Players 5 Players45-60 min 15 13 11 960-90 min 20 17 15 13

2-5 players

Age 13 +

45-90 minutes

In this example you can either:

a) Move a ship up to 3 or

b) Spend up to $ 4 or

c) Play the Contract Confusion ability

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2

This player has completed Contracts worth seven points

The Contract to take Spice to San Francisco is worth two points. The red dots show where the goods are supplied and the blue dot where they must be delivered.

Public ContractsThese are displayed face-up on the three spaces. The first player to complete one (by delivering the cargo) can take the card and add it to their score.

A Contract is completed when ONE token is deliv-ered to its destination.

Action Card Discards Used Action Cards are placed here. When the Draw Pile runs out, the used cards are shuffled to form a new Draw Pile.

The Map and Ship MovementShips move along shipping lanes. You must pay the full cost to complete each segment of the jour-ney, either to a port or to an interchange in the sea marked by a :

Any excess movement points are lost.

Example: It costs two movement points to steam between Havana and New Orleans.

See p 5 for details.

The red routes indicate pirate water. The dice are used to resolve pirate attacks and other hazards. See p 5

Cargo TokensGoods and passengers are rep-resented throughout the game by cargo cubes and meeples.

A

E F

G

H

3

3Components

Standard Game1 Game board, showing a map of the world with shipping routes and ports (A)

10 Cargo ships of different colours. Each player plays two colours. (B)

53 Action cards. (C)

42 Contract cards (D)

48 Cargo tokens (6 of 8 colours) (E)

24 Passenger meeples (6 of 4 colours) (F)

5 Player aid cards (not shown)

2 Dice, used only to resolve pirate attacks and other mishaps. (G)

5 Shipping Company Boards, each showing ships of two unique colours (H). In this example the player will use the light and dark green ships.

For the Expert Game60 Starter & Upgrade cards, 12 per player

28 Action Cards

1 Action Card Supply Board

Contract Draw PileThe Contract back indicates the price to buy the Contract. Once bought it becomes your Private Contract.

The number on the front shows the points you can earn for com-pleting it.

Action Card Draw PilePlayers start with four Action Cards and replenish to four at the end of their turn.

Map Edge

At the east and west margins ships may

cross over to the other side of the map.

Moving a ship between the edge markers at the

same latitude does NOT count as a move.

Supply PortsPorts that supply cargo are marked

e.g. Wool is available in

Auckland or Perth.

Tip for new shippers:Loading extra passengers and cargo helps mitigate against the risk of piracy or other losses, and may help you to complete more than one Contract.

Two games in one!Using the equipment and rules provided, you can play two very different versions of Manifest. The Standard Game is ideal for beginners and novice gamers. The Expert Game adds a deck building dimension for a more challenging gaming experience. The Standard rules are presented first, followed by the Expert version

Players’ Ships

B

C

D

F

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4STANDARD GAME RULES

CONTRACTS Contracts are represented by a deck of cards placed face down on the board. The back of the card shows only the cost of the con-tract. The front shows the cargo to be picked up and where to deliver it to fulfil the contract and gain points from it.

A Contract is completed when at least one token is delivered to its destination. It is free to deliver cargo that fulfils a Contract.

You can buy a face down Contract by paying the marked cost, using the $ on one or more Action cards. You only see the front of the Contract after buying. Only the top one is available for purchase. You can look at the price of upcoming Contracts to see if you can afford more than just the top one.

Once a Contract is bought, keep it with your Private Contracts. You can buy as many Contracts as you can afford, up to the hand limit of three.

TherearealsoPublicContracts–threeonopendisplaythat cannot be bought and will instead go to the first person to complete them. Contracts here may be more than one deep. Only the ones currently on top are avail-able for completion. Whenever a space for a Public Con-tract is empty at the end of a player’s turn, flip a Con-tract card from the deck to fill it.

In the case of a dual Contract, two types of goods •must be delivered. This can be achieved with one or both of your ships. You claim the points when you unload both types of cargo on the same turn.

On completing a Contract (Public or Private), place the card next to your Company Board with the points vis-ible to all players. These points are tallied at game end.

SHIPPING COMPANY BOARDThe two colour-coded ships match the ship meeples in play on the game board.

The numbered outlines are cargo holds that you •use to display the cargo currently on each ship. You may carry a mix of different types on a ship.

Setting UpTailor the supply of cargo tokens by the number of 1. players: four of each type for two players, five for three, all six for four players.

If playing the standard game, remove the two Goal 2. Swap and the three Contract Dump cards from the Action Card deck. Also set aside the Expert Game cards with ‘Deck-Builder’ on the back.

Shuffle and deal four Action Cards to each player. 3. Place the rest face down in Siberia as a Draw Pile.

Each player takes a Shipping Company Board and 4. the two matching ship markers.

In a five player game, remove the six 5 point Con-5. tracts. Give each player three Contract Cards (one each worth 1, 2 and 3 points). Shuffle and place the remaining contracts face down as a Draw Pile.

Players decide who will go first by any means 6. desired or by rolling the two dice.

Players look at their cards to decide which two 7. Contracts they want to keep. Each player donates one Contract to the Public display, face down. Empty spaces must be filled before doubling up.

Then in turn, players place their ships in ports or 8. at sea on the marked interchanges. More than one ship can be in the same place.

Finally, the Public Contracts are turned over to re-9. veal the details. In a two-player game, draw a third Contract from the draw pile to fill the spare spot. With four players, flip the piles over so the last card placed becomes the bottom Contract.

Taking a TurnA turn consists of playing any num-ber of Action Cards from your hand. Each card can only be used for ONE purpose. Once used they are dis-carded face-up in the common dis-card pile. See p 7 for sample turns.

Play Action cards in any order you like, to optimise how you buy cargo and contracts, move ships and deliver cargo to complete contracts.

End of TurnDraw back up to four Action cards and fill any empty Public Contract spaces.

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5Once you do any port business, excess Move points (on already played cards) are lost. Ships may move on once a Contract is completed or cargo loaded, provided you have more Move points to play.

Tail winds cease as soon as you stop for port business or to roll for pirate attacks.

Note that the interchanges on the western and eastern map edges represent the same place - you can move from a map edge to its corresponding position on the other side without paying any points.

PIRATE ATTACKS and other hazardsWhenever you move through a red route while carrying cargo, you may be attacked by pirates. The dice procedure below also applies if you are at-tacked by a Roaming Pirate or other attack cards from another player.

Attack procedure:

The ship owner rolls two dice. 1. Remove any cargo from the corre-sponding numbered holds on the ship.

Example: You have cargo in holds 1, 2 and 3. You roll a 1 and a 4. You lose the token in hold 1. If you have two tokens in one position (you may have played the Double Stacked card), lose only one (of your choice) unless that hold number is rolled with both dice.

A 2. double six Pirate attack (red route or Roaming) will sink your ship! Return all cargo on board to the supply. Put the ship marker on your Company Board. On your next turn, you may redeploy your empty ship in any port.

After seeing the dice rolls, you can play a Pirate 3. Defence card if you have one, to avoid taking any losses or sinking.

You must roll for each segment of pirate water 4. you travel through, even if they are contiguous.

When you choose to stop and roll the dice, any 5. Tail Wind stops too. You can risk taking a long haul and not stopping to roll until you’ve moved as far as the Tail Wind allows, the risk being if you lose cargo it’s a longer way back to buy more.

Normally each ship has a capacity of four units of •cargo but this can be temporarily increased to eight by using a ‘Double Stacked’ card.

CARGOCargo can be goods or people. Cargo can only be loaded at ports marked with the appropriate colour symbol, at a cost of $1 per token. If no tokens of that type are available in the Supply, you cannot load any.

Each hold on the ship can take one cargo token. You may have a mix of cargo types and load them in any empty hold, however, once loaded, cargo cannot be rearranged. It’s a good idea to load more than one of each type as they can be lost through piracy and other mishaps.

Upon reaching the destination, you can unload for free one or more of the relevant cargo tokens. ONE must be unloaded to complete a Contract. Delivered cargo is re-turned to the supply. You can make space for new cargo by paying to remove cargo at any port at a cost of $1 per item.

MOVE

Ships move along shipping lanes. You must pay enough points to complete each leg of a journey, either to a port or to an interchange in the sea. Excess Move points are lost.

You can combine the Move points on two or more Action Cards to move your ship one or more legs. You cannot split the Move points of one card between ships.

This player will be using both the yellow and the orange ship

You need at least 4 Move points to travel from Perth to Melbourne

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6Action Card Special Abilities

CASH CRISIS: • Give to an opponent: they cannot spend any $ on their next turn. They discard it on their next turn, after obeying the restriction.

CONTRACT CONFUSION:• Re-order the Public Contract display as you like. You may leave ONE space empty.

CONTRACT UP: Collect the next Contract from the •Draw Pile for free if you hold fewer than three.

DIS-ADVANTAGE: Play to swap or rotate Company •Advantages. The Co. Advantage cards change hands, but any advantages had to that point are unaffected. e.g. if you lose Four-Hander you do not immediately lose a Contract but cannot top back up to 4 after one is completed.

DOCKSIDE THEFT: Attack an opponent’s ship •while it is in a port. They roll the two dice and you may collect and load any stolen cargo. You don’t need to be in the same port as the ship being attacked. A double six will not sink a ship.

DOUBLE STACKED: You may double-stack one •ship with up to eight tokens. Valid for ONE port visit only. Once you leave the port in which you play this card, you cannot add more cargo until your ship has empty positions at the lower level.

DOUBLE WHAMMY: You can use BOTH the Move •and $ values on this card on the same or different ships.

FREE TRADE: Swap onboard c• argo for a new type, one for one. Your ship must be in the port that sup-plies the items you want to load.

PIRATE DEFENCE:• Protection from any type of Piracy but not other hazards. Use instead of rolling or after rolling the dice. Also prevents sinking. Once committed towards Movement, the card cannot then be used for Defence.

PUBLIC GOOD: Flip a new Contract card from the •deck at no cost and place it in the Public Display. The new card must go in an empty space if there is one, else on top of any Contract you choose.

QUARANTINED: Play on an opponent’s ship to pre-•vent that ship moving, loading or unloading in their next turn. They then discard it after their turn.

REFUEL: Draw two cards from the Action card deck; •you may use them immediately.

RENEGOTIATE: Swap a Private Contr• act from your hand with any of the top Public Contracts.

ROAMING PIR• ATE: Attack a ship at sea. You select which ship as long as it is not in a port. If cargo is lost, even via the ship sinking, you can opt to steal those items and put them on the ship of your choice.

ROUGH SEAS: An opponent loses one item of their •choice from each ship that is at sea. Tokens return to the Supply.

SPANISH FLU: You decide which ship to attack. The •opponent must roll the two dice and any lost passen-gers return to the supply. A double six does not sink the ship.

STORM: Move an opponent’s ship (not from a port) •byuptofive.Pirateshavenoeffect.

TAIL WIND: Double movements on this turn for •one ship. Move points on this card are not included. If you stop at a port to do business or to roll dice for pirate waters, then the wind is lost. You cannot play two Tail Wind cards to quadruple movement.

WORLD CRISIS: ALL players immediate-•ly take any ships carrying cargo to the near-est port and roll the two dice to check for losses. Ships move for free. Ships under Quarantine are exempt. This action may complete a contract for any player. You cannot sink on a double six.

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7Sample Turn

White Star spends $4 (A) to load Britannia with 1. 4 British Engineers in London, then ...

Plays (B) Contract Confusion to rearrange the 2. Public Contracts - exposing a Contract to take Engineers to Georgetown...

Plays (C) Renegotiate to swap an unwanted 3. Contract from his hand for the Engineers Contract...

Holds on to (D) to use on his next turn...4.

Draws three new Action Cards to end his turn. 5. He is now in a good position to set off on a fast journey with cargo that matches his Contract.

A B

C D

Sample Turn

Turakina is in Los Angeles with three wool...1.

Refuels (A), so she now has five cards to play...2.

Plays (B) Double Stacked to allow her to...3.

Use (C) to buy four motorcycles...4.

Plays (D) Tail Wind to allow her to...5.

Double the Movements on (E, F) to move ten 6. from L.A. to Valparaiso...

Draws four new Action Cards to end her turn7.

A B C

D E + F

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8Frequently Asked Questions

Can I deliver goods without a Contract? No

What can I do to get rid of unwanted cargo?

The surest ways are to dump it in any port at a cost of $1 per token (cargo goes back to the supply), or to use a Free Trade card to swap one-for-one. You can also travel pirate routes in the hope of getting robbed or simply wait to get contracts that require those goods.

Do uncompleted contracts at game end count against me? No

Can I spend money from one Action card to load two ships?

Yes, or you can split the money for different purposes e.g. $4 can get you three cargo tokens plus a $1 contract.

Can I swap cargo between my ships at all? No

Does the World Crisis card affect the perpetrator?

Yes

Can I move my own ship using a Storm card?

No. Storm, Roaming Piracy and other attack cards are to be played on opponents only!

Who are all the people on the Action Cards?

Backers who supported us on Kickstarter.

When is a ship ‘at sea’?

When it is not at a named port.

I have a question for the designers of Manifest, how can I contact them?

Email services@schilmilgames.com

Deck-Building: The Expert Game

OverviewAre you a master at Manifest? Are you ready for a new challenge? Try picking up and delivering your cargo while building your deck… of cards. Now you must carefully optimize and balance your purchasing power, movement points and attack and defense capabilities, with an eye to the strategies your opponents are favoring. Done right, you will have the satisfaction of achieving more on each turn as the game progresses. But make bad choices and watch your shipping company end up in a whirlpool of trouble!

Components To UseAll the components from the Standard Game 1. except the Action Card deck.

The Action Card Supply Board. 2.

The ‘Deck Builder’ cards...3.

Each shipping company •has six color-coded (S) Starter cards (plain border), lettered A-F and

six matching (U) Upgrade •cards (ornate border), also lettered A-F

28 cards of Standard design that will be for sale •to all players

Winning

Play to the same point limits as for the Standard Game.

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9Set Up

Tailor the cargo supply to the number of play-1. ers: four of each type for two players, five for three or all six for four players.

Players take a Shipping Company Board, the two 2. matching ships, and a 1, 2 and 3 point Contract, as in the standard game. Shuffle the remaining Contracts to form a draw pile as usual.

Each player takes the 12 Starter and Upgrade 3. cards in their company colour. The six Start-er cards should be shuffled and the first three drawn to form a starting hand. Upgrades should be set aside within reach. Place the Action Card Supply Board in Siberia to cover the Action Card draw pile as shown.

The remaining 28 Action cards will be offered 4. for sale on this Supply Board. Shuffle these cards and place them in a facedown stack on the right of the Supply Board.

Determine the starting player. In turn, players 5. discard one Contract to the Public Contracts display and place their ships in their starting positions.

Reveal the Contracts that were donated to the 6. Public Contracts area. If two are playing, fill the empty space with a Contract from the draw pile. With four players, flip the piles over so that the last card placed goes on the bottom.

Draw the first three Action Cards and display 7. face up on the Supply Board. These are for sale.

Now the first player can take her turn.

Taking a TurnUntil you acquire additional Action Cards or up-grade your Starter cards, on your turn you will be restricted to the combined actions, money and movement points on the three cards drawn from your Starter deck. Once a card has been used it should be placed in a face up discard pile in the player’s own area.

The normal hand size is three instead of four as in the Standard game. Another important difference is that at the end of your turn, you may choose to discard or keep any unused cards, then draw back up to the hand limit of three.

Tip: At the end of your turn, draw your next three cards so you can make tentative plans for your next turn and also be ready to defend yourself, if possible, against pirates and other perils.

Whenever your draw deck is exhausted (e.g. after your first two turns), shuffle your discarded cards to make a new draw deck.

Purchasing Action CardsEach card on the display board costs $3 and when purchased, is placed face up on your discard pile, to be shuffled into your draw deck for use on later turns. You cannot use it straight away. The empty slot is replenished immediately, so if you have an-other $3, you can buy the replacement card.

You cannot buy more than one of a type (e.g. Tail Wind) within the same turn.

Shuffle the discarded Action cards when there are none left in the draw deck.

DrawDeck

Cards inHand

DiscardPile

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10Cycling Action CardsIf you have money to spend but don’t want any of the cards on offer, you can pay $1 to cycle one, two or all three of the cards on display, i.e. discard it and fill the empty slot by drawing a new one. Then you can pay an additional $3 to buy one of the new cards which have appeared.

Cycling: Pay $1 to refresh or ‘cycle’ the dis-play. Each card in turn may be removed to the Discard area and a replacement drawn. You can choose to stop cycling before all three cards are re-newed.

Upgrading Starter CardsWhenever you have $5 to spend you have the chance to upgrade any Starter card in your hand. Money on the Starter card you wish to upgrade can count towards this $5.

Example 1:

Jamie is holding Starter cards A , D, and E. He wants to upgrade his A card. The money on A and D equals $5. He removes A from the game and replaces it with its upgrade (U/A) placing the Up-graded A and card D on his discard pile. He can now use or discard Card E, or leave it in his hand for his next turn.

Example 2: (see Diagram below).

Jackie must play all three hand cards in order to pay $5. The only card she can upgrade is her D Starter card. This goes out of the game and the Upgraded D is put in her discard pile along with her other 2 hand cards.

Tip: Since many of the cards in the Deck Builder lack movement points and/or spending money and since you play with just three cards in hand, be very careful to balance your deck’s abilities as you acquire and upgrade cards.

End of TurnAfter your actions, draw your hand back up to three cards ready for your next turn.

If your Draw deck is exhausted then shuffle your discard pile to make a new Draw deck.

Check that both Action card and Public Contract displays are full before the next player begins.

Starter Cards and Upgrades ExplainedCONTRACT CONFUSION, CONTRACT UP and •FREE TRADE work as in the Standard game.

CONTRACT SHUFFLE: This upgrade allows you to •draw the top Contract for free, even if you are hold-ing the hand limit of three. Then you must discard one Contract from your hand to the Public Contracts area.

DOUBLE DEFENSE: Protection from one or two •pirate attacks.

ON THE LEVEL: Allows you to cycle each Action •Card for sale on the Supply board up to two times, which would normally cost $2.

ON THE UP AND UP: Discard this card and draw •another. A good option if you don’t need the move or money on here.

PIRATE ATTACK(s): Works just like the Roaming •Pirate in the Standard game. The opponent rolls the dice and the attacker may claim any lost tokens. The upgrade permits two attacks in one turn, on either the same opponent/ship or on two different opponents/ships.

PIRATE DEFENSE: Only effective against one •pirate attack. Can be played after the dice are rolled if the victim wishes to prevent loss or sinking. The upgrade protects you from two consecutive attacks from an opponent using the Attacks upgrade.

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11PUTTING ON THE RITZ: Like Tail Wind except •the doubled movement points only apply to one other card.

RENT-A-CARD: You may use the movement points, •money or ability of any card for sale on the Supply Board during your turn. Do not move the card from the Supply board; it is still available for purchase.

Tip: You may rent a card, then use another card (or the money you just rented) to purchase the same card.

The New Action Card Special AbilitiesThe deck builder introduces nine new types of cards for sale plus contains Double Whammy, Renegotia-tion and Tail Wind cards which work exactly as in the Standard game. Here are the details on the new cards:

THE BEE’S KNEES: This card has no movement •points, but allows you to draw another card from your draw deck for use in your turn and to spend up to $2.

COAST GUARD RESCUE: A generic defensive card •that protects you from any card played against you by an opponent or from loss/sinking incurred when go-ing through a red pirate zone.

GET A WIGGLE ON: • Purely movement points: 5.

HEDGING: You may spend up to $2. You can also •use the card to arrange tokens on one of your ships, including any you’ve just purchased with the $2, en-abling you to double-stack tokens in your holds.

HIT ON ALL SIXES: Purely movement points: 6.•

MUTINY: Move a ship to its closest ‘at sea’ spot. Can •be used to move an opponent’s ship away from their presumed destination or on your own ship to help it reach its target faster. The ship can start at sea or in port, but must end in an at-sea spot.

SITTING PRETTY: Allows you to Upgrade at a cost •of $3 instead of $5. The money on this card can be used towards the Upgrade.

THE REAL McCOY: This card has no spending •money, but enables you to draw another card from your deck and move up to three. Alternatively, use the card just like Rough Seas in the Standard game... to force an opponent of your choice to lose one token off ships at sea.

WHIRLPOOL: Can be used to move an opponent’s •ship or your own ship up to six, providing the ship is at sea. Or you may discard the card and draw an-other.

Frequently Asked Questions If I am holding “Rent-a-Card” when another player attacks or moves my ship (with Piracy, Rough Seas, Mutiny or Whirlpool) can I rent the ability on a Coast Guard Rescue if there is on one display, to protect myself?

Yes, you then discard your “Rent-a-Card” and draw a replacement card.

If I use Free Trade to swap out previously ‘Hedged’ cargo, can the new goods be double-stacked?

Yes. They can be swapped ‘one-for-one’ in the same places. You cannot rearrange though.

If I have a card with $4 on it can I use it to cycle the Supply Cards and then buy one of them?

Yes

Can I upgrade a Starter card that is not currently in my hand?

No

I have a question for the designers of Manifest, how can I contact them?

Email services@schilmilgames.com

12

12Credits

Game designed by Amanda Milne and Julia Schiller (SchilMil Games)

Artwork by Franz Vohwinkel and Amanda Milne. Rulebook by Amanda Milne.

Thank you to all our play testers especially: Zirk van den Berg, Chris Guthrey, Maurice van Liempd, Allan Milton, Kim and Shayne Neville, Jaz and Mark Rainford, Steve Taylor, Jo Foster Toon, Franz Vohwinkel, Martin Wallace, Carmy Gra-ham-Williams, David Wright, and many others at Battlecry 2013 & 2014, Board Games by The Bay 2012-13, Wellycon 2013 and CoroCon 2013.

Thanks for the permission to use the Meeple of Carcassonne, to the creator Hans im Glück. And to Martin Wallace of Treefrog Games for permission to use the ship meeple.

Technical support and assistance John Kershaw, Webstream. Kickstarter voice Sean Hansen. Wordsmith Peter Kenny.

Finally, we thank all the backers on Kickstarter who made this project possible. In particular, our pirates and other criminals.

Discover our other games at www.schilmilgames.com

Quick Start ReminderDeal four Action Cards to each player. 1. Each player takes a shipping company board 2. and the two matching ships. Give each player three Contract Cards (one 3. each worth 1, 2 and 3 pts). Players donate one Contract to the Public dis-4. play face down. Then in turn, players place their ships in port or 5. at sea on the marked interchanges. More than one ship can be in the same starting place.Finally, the Public Contracts are turned over to 6. reveal the details.

www.manifestgame.com© SchilMil Games 2014 - All rights reserved.

LAGOS LONDON TOKYO Cocoa British Engineers Japanese Migrants

CORK NAPLES LOS ANGELES

Irish Migrants Italian Migrants Motorcycles

MACAU BOMBAY & HAVANA & SANTOS

Silk SURABAYA Spice Sugar

COLOMBO & MADAGASCAR AUCKLAND & SHANGHAI Tea Vanilla PERTH Wool