About Captain Park’s Imaginary Polar Expedition
Captain Park’s Imaginary Polar Expedition is a 2002 Cheapass Game by James Ernest. In 1898 Captain Jack Park claimed a heroic trip to the South Pole; you know he spent those months in his flat. So you and the other players do the same: you stay out of sight in London for months, collect artifacts, photographs, facts, anecdotes and heroes from shops around town, then march into the Gentlemen’s Club and claim you went to Africa, China, Mount Everest or the Pole.
Captain Park wanders the streets, and if he lands on you, the club hears you were in town and your months away are wiped out. The publisher describes the game as the rough draft of Stuff and Nonsense, a later and simpler version of the same idea. Crab Fragment Labs offers the original files with an optional price and a free download. Plan on about 90 minutes with 3 to 7 players who like push-your-luck timing and steering a villain into their friends.
How to play in one minute
- Everyone starts in the Gentlemen’s Club with five cards; Captain Park starts on News Stand 1.
- At the start of each turn add one Month counter to your pile, then move one step along the paths or stay put.
- At a Café, draw a card. At an Antique Shop, Gift Shop, News Stand, Gymnasium or Hall of Records, play the matching card type face up into your Inventory; each card played makes Captain Park jump to the next numbered space.
- If Captain Park lands on you, you lose all your Month counters. Return to the Club with enough months and the right cards to score an adventure, with bonuses for variety, extra months, the current Fad and being first to a destination.
- The first player to reach the target score for the player count wins.
What’s in the PDF
- A ZIP of PDFs: the main board on one 16.5 x 8.5 inch page (print large, shrink to legal paper or tile it), the scoring side board, 90 cards on 10 Letter pages, the fold-in-half rules sheet and the original box art.
- A one-page read-me with printing tips. Everything is black and white.
- You add a pawn and counters for each player, two extra pawns and something to keep score with.
In the PDF
- Main board, 16.5 x 8.5 in (1 page) and scoring side board (1 page)
- 90 cards, 9 per page (10 Letter pages)
- Rules (1 double-sided Letter page that folds into a booklet)
- Original box art (2 pages) and a read-me with printing notes
