Dread Curse

About this board game

Dread Curse is a push-your-luck pirate game for 3–8 players that plays in about 30 minutes. Players compete to build the most valuable stash from a sack containing sixty golden doubloons, while trying to avoid a curse that can end their game.

Each pirate is entitled to a share based on rank and station aboard the ship, but every crew member also has a unique talent for taking coins from shipmates. On each turn, players reveal coins from their hidden cache to compete for the captaincy or one of the other seven crew assignments.

Every assignment offers a distinct way to draw loot from the bag or use a special cheat ability available only to that pirate. These powers create opportunities for cunning theft as players decide when to take what they can and when to risk staying in the game for more treasure.

• Push-your-luck play: Keep drawing loot while fortune is on your side, or stop before the danger becomes too great.
• Pirate abilities: Compete for crew assignments with unique ways to collect coins and special cheating powers.
• The Black Spot: Coins bearing the mark bring a deadly curse that must be passed to another player.

The Black Spot is the game’s central threat. Holding one feels like death closing in, and failing to get rid of it is fatal: any player who ends the game with the Black Spot in their stash automatically loses.

With fortune constantly shifting between daring draws, theft, and cursed coins, Dread Curse challenges players to judge exactly how far their luck can be pushed. Take your rightful share, outmaneuver the other pirates, and try to finish with the richest stash—and no Black Spot.