1911 Amundsen vs. Scott –
Rules

If you are reading these rules for the first time, ignore the text along the right hand side. These rules serve as a summary to help you quickly familiarize yourself with the game.

Show → summary only → detailed version only → both summary and detailed version

→ Hints for handling

Please note:

helptexts and these rules: The publisher provided playing cards like in the normal board game: In Spanish and English. Each card is provided with an English helptext. These helptexts and the following rules are not the official rules of the game but a free explanation by the developer Chris123.
If you prefer to read the official English rules, you can download them here: → Rules in English (PDF)
Not all expansions: The game 1911 Amundsen vs. Scott has one variant of the basic version and 4 expansions. Currently the variant for advanced players with 6 open cards and the patron cards expansion are implemented.
(Nearly) open game: The handcards are mostly visible for the opponent. There are 2 exceptions:
- The first card at the start of the game is shown to the opponent as a face-down card.
- When performing the 'Good Weather' action you draw a hidden card from the deck. If you cannot or do not want to advance the card will be shown face-down to the opponent.
Cards which are shown face-down to the oppenent are signed with a black dot in the upper left corner for the player who owns these cards.
Help for people with color weakness:
- We have put a white dot on each red card in the upper middle and on each red field of the game board. This should enable people with a color weakness (especially red green weakness) to play the game without problems.
- There is also a black dot in the top center of each yellow card. This is to help distinguish the yellow cards from the green cards more easily.

→ Rules in English (PDF)
→ Rules in Spanish (PDF)

1911 Amundsen vs. Scott

game components
game setup
overall game rules / cards generally
course of the game
play cards
end of game
summaries for both explorers
hints for handling
the patrons expansion
variant - game for advanced players

Game components

cards for the basic game

cards for "Patrons" expansion

Board with both sides.

Red pawn (Amundsen)

Blue pawn (Scott)

"Explorer / Player Aid" cards

Rulebook (Spanish and English)

Not included in the current version on Yucata:

white cubes for "Food Depots" expansion

cards for "Damned Weather" expansion

cards for "1912 The Way Back" expansion"

Game setup

Each player takes her or his explorer's card and placees the pawn on the explorer's 'ship on the board.

Draw 3 cards from the desk and place them face up. After that each player is dealt one handcard from the deck.

Put the board showing the main side with the four parallels (75°, 80°, 85° und 88°).
The player who has travelled further south must now choose which explorer she or he wants to play in the game.
Each player takes his explorer’s card and placees the pawn on the explorer's ship on the board.
The deck is shuffled and placed near the board.
Draw 3 cards from the deck and place them face up forming a row beside the deck.
Each player is dealt a hand of 1 card from the deck.

Overall game rules

Hand limit:

Players may never hold more than 7 cards in his hands, so they will not be able to choose the "Take Cards" action if it may provoke exceeding this limit.
Example:

The deck runs out for the second time and there are only two cards in the row.

Amundsen is one space from the South Pole with six cards in his hand. Scott, who has four cards and he is two spaces away from the South Pole, realizes that it is imposible to win and, therefore he declares he wants to take three cards. He is not able to do it and the game finishes without a winner.

Exhausted deck:

When the deck is exhausted, the discarded cards are shuffled to form a new deck.

When the deck is exhausted for the second time if a player manifests that he cannot perform the desired "Take Cards" action, the game ends without a winner:

Both explorers have died frozen in Antarctica!

The cards

Color and symbol of the card

It is used especially in the actions "Advance", "Reach the South Pole" or "Back to Route".
Symbol of the Special Action

It may be a Discard Special Action (to use with the action of "Take Cards") or a Special Action (to use wih the action of "Play Cards").
Effect of the Special Action

Explained in "Special Card" section below.

Course of the game

Players take alternative playing turns.

Each player on turn must choose: Take Cards or Play Cards

The players incarnate Roald Amundsen and Robert F. Scott in his feat to be the first human to reach the South Pole.

The winner is the player who arrives there first!

The player who incarnates Amundsen starts the game. Thereafter, players take alternative playing turns.

Each player in his turn must choose: Take Cards or Play Cards

Take cards

Take the card(s) furthest to the right

Discard cards	Take cards
-	1
1	2
3	3

Important:
The colorless special cards "Compass" and "Equipment Loss" (see Page 5) cannot be discarded with this action.

If any of the discarded cards had the "Discard Special Action" symbol, the player may, if desired, use this effect after taking cards.

If the player discards three cards and more than one contained the symbol, the player can choose only one effect.

The player draws cards from the row, adding them to his hand.

Afterwards the player must move the remaining cards (if any) to the right and fill the gaps with cards from the deck.

There are 3 options:

Take the card furthest to the right.
Discard one card and take the 2 further cards to the right.
Discard 3 cards and take all 3 open cards from the row.

Important:
The colorless special cards "Compass" and "Equipment Loss" (see Page 5) cannot be discarded with this action. This will be avoided in the game on Yucata: The cards are not clickable.

If any of the discarded cards had the "Discard Special Action" symbol, the player may, if desired, use this effect after taking cards.

If the player discards three cards and more than one contained the symbol, the player can choose only one effect.

Play cards

The player chooses one of the next options:

Advance
Reach the south pole
Play a special action

Advance

Advance: Play 1 to 7 cards with the same color as the fields

First field:
One card with the color of the field
Further fields:
2 cards with the color of each field

The player may play one or more cards based upon its color to advance to the South Pole. Depending on the played cards and their color, the explorer may advance more than one space on the track:

To advance 1 space:

Play 1 card of the color showed in the next space.
To advance 2 spaces:

Play 3 cards:
1 card of the color of the next space
+ 2 cards of the color of the second space
To advance 3 spaces:

Play 5 cards:
1 card of the color of the next space
+ 2 cards of the color of the second space
+ 2 cards of the color of the third space
To advance 4 spaces:

Play 7 cards:
1 card of the color of the next space
+ 2 cards of the color of the second space
+ 2 cards of the color of the third space
+ 2 cards of the color of the fourth space

Reach the south pole

To reach the South Pole the player must play four cards, one of each color.

Play a special action

The explorer may play cards to perform a single Special Action:

Play "Compass" (see "Special cards")
Play "Equipment Loss" (siehe "Special cards")
Play 2 "Blizzard" cards (if playing Amundsen) or 2 "Crevasse" cards (if playing Scott) so that the opponent loses the route (see "Losing the route").
Play 1 "Blizzard" or 1 "Crevasse" card (independently if playing Amundsen or Scott), so that the opponent is penalized if he has already lost its route (see "Losing the route").

Dogs and horses

In this game there are color wildcards for both players. Amundsen has "Greenland Dog" cards and Scott has "Mongolian Horse" cards.

One of the strategic differences between the two expeditions was that Amundsen based his transport in Greenlandic sled dogs, while Scott used Mongolian horses.

Amundsen sacrificed several dogs before reaching the pole and stored the meat to the journey of return, and this strategy allowed him to reduce the weight of the dog food and ensured the surviving animals feeding in the return journey.

Losing the route

When an explorer loses his route, the pawn is placed in the lost ("?") space just behind his current position.

A lost explorer only has the following possibilities:

use the "Take Cards" action
use the "Play Card with Special Action" action (except "Compass").
playing a card to go "Back to the Route"

Amundsen playing 2 “Blizzards” forces Scott to lose his route. Scott would do the same to Amundsen with 2 “Crevasses”.

When an explorer loses his route, the pawn is placed in the lost ("?") space just behind his current position. A lost player is only able to:

use the "Take Cards" action
use the "Play Card with Special Action" action (except "Compass").
playing a card to go "Back to the Route"

Penalties

If an explorer is already lost and his opponent plays either a "Crevasse" or "Blizzard" card, he must move the pawn to the previous "?" space.

Scott is still lost. Amundsen plays 1 Crevasse in order to force him to backward one “?” space.

If an explorer is already lost and his opponent plays either a "Crevasse" or "Blizzard" card, he must move the pawn to the previous "?" space.

Back to the route

A lost explorer can return to his correct route by playing any color card.

The color indicates the space to which the explorer will return, but this must be behind his current position.

It can thus be better to wait and continue taking cards until you get one allowing you to fall back a little less far. The danger lies in being vulnerable to be attacked by the opponent, forcing to move back more "?" spaces.

Note: if a player is lost close to his ship he can return to it playing a card of any color which is not shown in the spaces between.

Scott is lost.. He may back to the route playing a yellow, blue or green card, moving his pawn 1, 2 or 3 spaces back, respectively.

A lost explorer can return to his correct route by playing any color card. The color indicates the space to which the explorer will return, but this must be behind his current position, i.e. falling back to a field he already passed.

A lost player without cards may have no choice but "Take Cards" to back to the route later. Although a player can choose "Take Cards" looking for a color that will allow him to return in a better position.

But... Beware! A lost player is vulnerable to be attacked by the opponent and forced to move back "?" spaces (see "Penalties" in the left column).

Note: if a player is lost close to his ship he can return to it playing a card of any color which is not in the spaces between.

End of the Game

2 possibilities for end of the game:

A player reaches the south pole → This player wins.
The card deck is exhausted for the 2nd time. → Both players lose.

The winner is the player who reaches the South Pole first!

Be careful! Both players lose, frozen in Antarctica, if the deck of cards is fully exhausted for the second time and a player, in his turn, cannot perform the desired "Take Cards" action.

Base cards

Mongolian Horse

red (1x)

Description

Scott can use the horse as wild card

Mongolian Horse

green (1x)

Description

Scott can use the horse as wild card

Mongolian Horse

blue (1x)

Description

Scott can use the horse as wild card

Mongolian Horse

yellow (1x)

Description

Scott can use the horse as wild card

Greenland dog

red (3x)

Description

Amundsen can use the dog as wild card

Greenland dog

green (2x)

Description

Amundsen can use the dog as wild card

Greenland dog

blue (2x)

Description

Amundsen can use the dog as wild card

Greenland dog

yellow (2x)

Description

Amundsen can use the dog as wild card

Advance card

red (6x)

Description

To advance on the game board
Apart from reaching the south pole only usable by Amundsen

Advance card

green (5x)

Description

To advance on the game board

Advance card

blue (2x)

Description

To advance on the game board
Apart from reaching the south pole only usable by Scott

Advance card

yellow (5x)

Description

To advance on the game board

Special cards

Cards with 'Play cards' effect

The 'Play cards' effect is activated if they are played in a 'Play Cards' action.

'Equipment Loss'-Card

colorless (1x)

Note

This card cannot be discarded with the "Take Cards" action.

Activation:

Play card alone (without playing other cards or taking cards)

Effect:

The explorer plays this card in front of his opponent to limit his hand to a maximum of 5 cards during the rest of the game. If the opponent had more than 5 cards, he must discard the excess.

'Compass'-Card

colorless (2x)

Note

This card cannot be discarded with the "Take Cards" action.

Activation:

Play card alone (without playing other cards or taking cards)

Effect:

If played before the 85° parallel, the player advances 1 space towards the South Pole. If played after crossing the 85° parallel, the player goes back 1 space.

Furthermore, a player must play it before reaching the South Pole, given that to have a compass in his hands prevents him from reaching there.

'Blizzard'-Card

red (2x)

Activation:

Play 1 or 2 cards alone (without playing other cards or taking cards)

Effect:

If Amundsen plays two "Blizzards" at the same time, Scott loses the route.

With a single "Blizzard" card, Scott or Amundsen forces the opponent (if he already had lost his route) to move back to the previous "?" space.

'Blizzard'-Card

green (2x)

Activation:

Play 1 or 2 cards alone (without playing other cards or taking cards)

Effect:

If Amundsen plays two "Blizzards" at the same time, Scott loses the route.

With a single "Blizzard" card, Scott or Amundsen forces the opponent (if he already had lost his route) to move back to the previous "?" space.

'Blizzard'-Card

yellow (2x)

Activation:

Play 1 or 2 cards alone (without playing other cards or taking cards)

Effect:

If Amundsen plays two "Blizzards" at the same time, Scott loses the route.

With a single "Blizzard" card, Scott or Amundsen forces the opponent (if he already had lost his route) to move back to the previous "?" space.

'Blizzard'-Card

blue (1x)

Activation:

Play 1 or 2 cards alone (without playing other cards or taking cards)

Effect:

If Amundsen plays two "Blizzards" at the same time, Scott loses the route.

With a single "Blizzard" card, Scott or Amundsen forces the opponent (if he already had lost his route) to move back to the previous "?" space.

'Crevasse' card

red (2x)

Activation:

Play 1 or 2 cards alone (without playing other cards or taking cards)

Effect:

If Scott plays 2 "Crevasse" together, Amundsen loses his route.

With a single "Crevasse" card, Scott or Amundsen forces the opponent (if he already had lost his route) to move back to the previous "?" space.

'Crevasse' card

green (2x)

Activation:

Play 1 or 2 cards alone (without playing other cards or taking cards)

Effect:

If Scott plays 2 "Crevasse" together, Amundsen loses his route.

With a single "Crevasse" card, Scott or Amundsen forces the opponent (if he already had lost his route) to move back to the previous "?" space.

'Crevasse' card

yellow (2x)

Activation:

Play 1 or 2 cards alone (without playing other cards or taking cards)

Effect:

If Scott plays 2 "Crevasse" together, Amundsen loses his route.

With a single "Crevasse" card, Scott or Amundsen forces the opponent (if he already had lost his route) to move back to the previous "?" space.

'Crevasse' card

blue (3x)

Activation:

Play 1 or 2 cards alone (without playing other cards or taking cards)

Effect:

If Scott plays 2 "Crevasse" together, Amundsen loses his route.

With a single "Crevasse" card, Scott or Amundsen forces the opponent (if he already had lost his route) to move back to the previous "?" space.

Cards with 'Discard cards' effect

The 'Discard cards' effect is activated if they are discarded in a 'Take Cards' action.

'Drop Supplies' card

red (2x)

Activation:

Discard card in a "Take Cards" action

Effect:

The player draws a random card from the opponent's hand and adds it to his hand.

The effect can´t be activated if the player hand will end over the hand limit size.

'Sacrifice' card

blue (1x)

Activation:

Discard card in a "Take Cards" action

Effect:

The opponent shows his hand and discards every "Good Weather" and "Greenland Dog" (if Amundsen) or "Good Weather" and "Mongolian Horse" (if Scott) he could have.

'Good Weather' card

green (1x)

Activation:

Discard card in a "Take Cards" action

Effect:

The player draws the top card from the deck and adds the card to his hand.

If the color of the card matches with the color of his next space in the route, he may show the card to advance one space.

The effect can’t be activated if the player is lost or his hand will end over the hand limit size.

'Good Weather' card

yellow (1x)

Activation:

Discard card in a "Take Cards" action

Effect:

The player draws the top card from the deck and adds the card to his hand.

If the color of the card matches with the color of his next space in the route, he may show the card to advance one space.

The effect can’t be activated if the player is lost or his hand will end over the hand limit size.

Summary for Scott

Scott, British

Scott can use the 4 Mongolian Horses as wild cards (color).

Makes Amundsen get lost by playing 2 Crevasse cards

Summary for Amundsen

Amundsen, Norwegian

Amundsen can use the 9 Greenland dogs as wild cards (color).

Makes Scott get lost by playing 2 Blizzard cards:

Hints for handling

If one / several handcard(s) get clicked, it is possible that the cards shall be played or discarded in a "Take cards" action.

To avoid having to explain before each move whether you want to play or discard the cards you have clicked on, the following operation was chosen:

Click on the cards you want to play (maximum 7) or discard (1 or 3). Clicking on the card "activates" it. This is indicated by a blue border around the card.
Clicking on an already activated card "deactivates" the card.
If you have clicked 1 or 3 cards - neither 'Compass' card nor 'Equipment Loss' card - you can discard them to take open cards. Therefore 2 or 3 open cards are clickable. You can click on any of the bordered cards; they all lead to the same action (2 or 3 cards will be added to your handcards, the previously clicked cards will be discarded).
In addition, if you can advance one or more fields due to the card combination, the corresponding square on the field is clickable (indicated by a yellow circle). The same will happen, if you can get your opponent to lose the route (2 'Blizzard' or 'Crevasse' cards, depending if you play Amundsen or Scott) or you can get him another field back (opponent has already lost the route and you have clicked a 'Blizzard' or 'Crevasse' card).

Attention: All activated cards must completely fulfill the corresponding action. No additional card may be activated.

Colors

To facilitate the handling the cards and possible destination fields are framed or circled.

Green frame of hand cards: The card is generally clickable. Depending of combinations with other cards this can result in action possibilities.
Green frame of open cards: Depending of if, how many and wich hand cards you have clicked, the card on the right, the two mostright cards or all 3 cards are framed. It does not matter which of the framed cards you click. The same action will be performed.
Blue frame of hand cards: The hand card is selected for an action.
Yellow frame of a field: If you click the field the corresponding action (meeple will be placed or 'Equipment Loss' card will be shown to your opponent) will be performed.

Further information about the game

Where is the meeple?
If you cannot find a meeple, click on the explorer card (Amundsen or Scott card, left in each handcard container). The corresponding meeple is then enlarged and slowly brought back to its regular size.
Which color has the field under the meeple?
Click on the meeple. It then fades away for a short time and reappears.
Where can you see the cards in the draw pile together with your opponent's face-down cards?
This is only possible if the corresponding selection field has been clicked in the invitation. If you click on the display of the current number of cards in the top right-hand corner, a corresponding window will open.
Automatic execution of moves:
If you have no cards in your hand, all you can do is take the card on the far right. This move is carried out automatically.
'Drop of supplies' card:
If you use this effect, you draw a random card from your opponent automatically. Therefore, you cannot take back your move.
'Sacrifice' card:
If you use this effect, the cards your opponent has to discard will be automatically removed from his hand.
'Good Weather' card:
If you use this effect, the machine checks whether the color of the card you have drawn matches the color of the next square. If it does, you can choose if you want to advance. If you want your meeple automatically moves one space forward.
'Compass' card:
If you use this effect, your meeple automatically moves one space forward or back.
About the note in "Get lost"
It was clarified with the game designers that 'near his ship'' and the possibility of returning to the starting point (ship) refers only to the first two ?-fields of Amundsen and Scott.

The Patrons expansion

At the beginning, after choosing explorers, each player takes the four patrons from his country, shuffles them and draws one.

The player puts it visible in front of him or her. Patron cards are discarded after use. Some are activated at the beginning of the game.

Cards of the patrons expansion

Norwegian patrons (for Amundsen)

Architect

Amundsen starts the game with 3 handcards.

Army Officer

The first horse to appear in the row will be removed. The gap is then filled with the next card.

Press Baron

Amundsen starts the game on the first space of the route.

Philanthropist

Amundsen can discard this patron to use it as a color wildcard.

British patrons (for Scott)

Engineer

Scott starts the game with 4 handcards.

Army Officer

The first two dogs to appear in the row will be removed. The gap is then filled with the next card.

Show Manager

Scott starts the game on the first space of the route.

Politician

Scott can discard this patron to use it as a color wildcard.

Hints about the patrons expansion

Which card has my explorer got?
You can read about this at the top of the game log. As not all cards are used in the further course of the game, some moves are carried out automatically at the start of the game and the card is removed. These are in detail:
- Amundsen's Architect or Scott's Engineer: 3 or 4 cards are dealt automatically at the start of the game.
- Amundsen's Press Baron or Scott's Show Manager: The meeple is automatically placed on the first field of the game board.
How does this work with the army officers?
These cards are placed next to your explorer card as long as they are still relevant. When the first horse or the first two dogs in the row are dealt, the card is immediately removed and replaced by another card from the draw pile. You can see which card this was in the log. The officer card is removed after use.
What happens if I get the Philanthropist or the Politician?
These cards are placed as the first (virtual) handcard in your hand card container. You can click on this card like any other card if you can use it as a color card.

Variant - Advanced game

Advanced players will play with a visible row of 6 cards. The rest of the rules remain the same because a player only takes cards of the 3 located further to the right. To replenish cards, you move the cards to the right and then fill the gaps with cards from the deck.

Because there is not enough space to place the six cards in one row the cards are placed in two rows with 3 cards in each row. The cards are orderd in this way:

2 rows with 3 cards each, numbered from 6 in the left top to 1 in the right down

This means that the row to take cards is the row at the bottom with the numbers 3, 2 and 1.

The numbers 6, 5 and 4 show the cards which will follow after the player took cards.

This is an image after the player took the first card (number 1). You can see that the last card in row 1 (number 4 in the image above) became the first card in row 2. The other cards followed and number 6 became a new card.

2 rows with 3 cards each after player took the first rightmost card in the second row

table of contents

Game components

Game setup

Overall game rules

The cards

Course of the game

Take cards

Play cards

Advance

Reach the south pole

Play a special action

Dogs and horses

Losing the route

Penalties

Back to the route

End of the Game

Base cards

Mongolian Horse

Mongolian Horse

Mongolian Horse

Mongolian Horse

Greenland dog

Greenland dog

Greenland dog

Greenland dog

Advance card

Advance card

Advance card

Advance card

Special cards

Cards with 'Play cards' effect

'Equipment Loss'-Card

'Compass'-Card

'Blizzard'-Card

'Blizzard'-Card

'Blizzard'-Card

'Blizzard'-Card

'Crevasse' card

'Crevasse' card

'Crevasse' card

'Crevasse' card

Cards with 'Discard cards' effect

'Drop Supplies' card

'Sacrifice' card

'Good Weather' card

'Good Weather' card

Summary for Scott

Scott, British

Summary for Amundsen

Amundsen, Norwegian

Hints for handling

Colors

Further information about the game

The Patrons expansion

Cards of the patrons expansion

Norwegian patrons (for Amundsen)

Architect

Army Officer

Press Baron

Philanthropist

British patrons (for Scott)

Engineer

Army Officer

Show Manager

Politician

Hints about the patrons expansion

Variant - Advanced game