The gameboard is a ficticious nautical chart which is divided into three sections ie Daylight, Night time, and a Fog area. There are seven ports on the chart and players navigate their vessels across the chart to visit all the ports, the first player to have visited all the ports is the winner.
At the start of the game, players choose the type of vessel they wish to control from a pack of cards ie Sailing vessel, Fishing vessel, Constrained by draught etc. and prepare their vessels with the correct day shapes and navigation lights shown on the card. The fog signal for the vessel is also noted. Players then move their vessels with the throw of a die, changing the lights/ dayshapes as they enter the different sectors on the chart and sounding the correct fog signal in the fog sector.
Landing on a square prompts a Situation Card to be selected and players follow the instructions on the card. Some squares are marked with a question mark and landing on one of these prompts a question from the Question Cards. A correct answer to a question advances the vessel (the answers are on the card) whereas an incorrect answer retreats the vessel.
Questions at Competent Crew level are included in the free version of the game. More advanced questions at Day Skipper and Yachtmaster levels are available as an ‘In App’ purchase.