Published by Ravensburger
Translated by Kendall Johns and David de Zwaan
Distributed from The Rules Bank by Mike Siggins
The prisoners aim to break out of the cells at the top of the board, make their way along the track to freedom in the boats at the base of the board. The first two prisoners are placed in Boat No 1, the next two in Boat No 2 and so on. Players try to influence the order of the breakout so that their prediction conies true.
Place one Prisoner in each Cell at the top of the board at random. They can leave in any order so there is no importance attached to any particular cell. Also note that Prisoners are not owned' by any player, and that all seven Prisoners are put out regardless of how many players are in the game. Each player now secretly forecasts the order in which he/she thinks the Prisoners will escape in the four boats (see diagram). This is the player prediction which one tries to fulfil.
Roll a dice to determine who starts, then play proceeds in a clockwise direction. Each turn, a player selects and rolls three of the coloured dice. The corresponding Prisoners are then moved the same number of spaces as on their appropriate die. The Prisoners moved just count empty spaces up to the total on the die. Any other Prisoner in the way is jumped over, still only counting empty spaces. However a Prisoner may NOT jump on the last pip of the die, nor on a roll of "111. In this case,' the Prisoner is moved on TOP of the one already there.
A Prisoner or Prisoners may not move when covered by another Prisoner on top. Only the top one may move so the others remain blocked' until released by the top counter moving on. As a player may move the Prisoners in any order, it is possible to move one Prisoner on top of another so that it is unable to use its die roll that turn. Players are also able to select dice to roll of blocked Prisoners, so influencing what occurs. After the first turn, players have the option of selecting the special white die in ADDITION to the three coloured ones. In this case, they must replace one of the coloured dice results with the white dice result, and move the corresponding coloured Prisoner BACK the number of space shown on the white die. Blocking and jumping works the same on backwards moves.
A Prisoner cannot be moved further back than the Cells. Once Boat No 1 is full, players only throw two dice (+ white dice). When Boat No 2 is full, players may either throw two coloured dice OR one coloured die plus the white die. An exact number is not needed to enter a boat but the Prisoner must pass the last space and reach the Boat. Once a Prisoner is on a Boat, that colour die can no longer be selected. Once six Prisoners are on the first three Boats, immediately move the last on to Boat No 4.
For each correct forecast in Boat No 1 - 1 point
For each correct forecast in Boat No 2 - 2 points
For each correct forecast in Boat No 3 - 3 points
For each correct forecast in Boat No 4 - 4 points
The player with the most points is the winner. Note that for scoring points it does not matter which order two Prisoners entered a Boat, only the Number of the Boat in which they finish is significant.
Prisoners enter the path at the breakout space in the top left corner of the board. The players may agree to escape via the rope from the top right cell, which gives a shorter game. As the distance is much shorter, it is much harder to influence the game. This version is therefore only recommended for experts!
There are 5400 different ways that 7 prisoners can finish!