FAQ
42 answered questions36 official
Rules questions from the BoardGameGeek forum. Answers marked Official were confirmed by Capstone Games or the designers.
Common mistakes
- Your pumpjacks in an area count toward rig cost: your fourth piece there costs 6 workers. Ruling · Rule
- Rail costs one own-color share per barrel for each other player's train passed, not one per barrel. Ruling · Rule
- Refinery-icon Area cards work only in action F or at game end, never during a Wildcatter auction. Ruling · Rule
- Refill the display with one card after every turn, not only at the start of a round. Ruling · Rule
Showing 42 of 42
Where do two Wildcatter disks in the same area go at setup? Official
Stack both disks on one oilfield, so they block only one space for rigs and pumpjacks. The game needs six free spaces in each area for drilling. After the auction, unstack them, but leave both on that one spot.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread · BGG thread
Can I build a rig on the space a Wildcatter disk used? Official
Yes. The disk occupies that oilfield while it is on the board. Once its barrel has been transported and the disk taken, the space is free for a rig.
Source: BGG thread
Are pumpjacks and oil barrels limited? Official
Pumpjacks are limited to the pieces in the box. The designers disagree on barrels: André Spil calls them limited, while Rolf Sagel says they are not, and that in the rare case a player runs out, they take barrels back from their pumpjacks. Both say it almost never happens.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
At setup, where may I place my refinery if the continent on my card already has one? Official
During player setup no continent may hold more than one refinery. You may always use a card from your hand to place the refinery in Africa, Europe or Australia instead, even if another card in your hand shows a continent that is still free. Each continent has two refinery spaces, 14 in all.
Source: BGG thread · Capstone rulebook
Can I play the first edition with the second-edition rules? Official
Yes. The second edition replaced money with workers and added the Consolidation chips; the rest plays the same.
Source: BGG thread
How does the display get back to eight cards? Official
After each turn, slide the remaining cards toward the draw pile and draw one card into the far end, back to eight. At the end of the round the designer counts seven cards left: discard the card next to the draw pile, slide the rest, and draw two into the far positions, back to eight.
Source: BGG thread · Capstone rulebook
Can I spend 4 VP to replace the display more than once?
Yes, as long as you have at least 4 VP before each replacement. You can't go below zero.
Source: BGG Rules forum · BGG Rules forum
Is there a limit on Consolidation chips? Official
No overall limit. Only the active player may buy, only one chip per turn, and only the top chip of the continent on the card just chosen.
Source: BGG thread
What are other players' shares good for? Official
Any three shares, whatever their colors, hire one worker. At game end every three shares you hold also become one worker for the worker majority. Most payments to other players need your own color.
Source: BGG thread
How many workers can I hire with shares in one turn?
As many as you can pay for, three shares each. You can hire during both building and oil actions.
Source: BGG Rules forum · BGG thread
Do my pumpjacks count when I work out what a new rig costs? Official
Yes. Your rigs and pumpjacks in the area count together: the first three cost 4 workers each and your fourth piece costs 6. With two pumpjacks there, your next rig costs 4 and the one after costs 6.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
Can I build several rigs, trains or tankers in one turn?
Yes. In the chosen area you are limited only by free spaces, four pieces of yours per area, your pieces and your workers. More than one tanker may also sit in the same harbor.
Source: BGG Rules forum · BGG thread · BGG Rules forum
When I also build in a white continent, must everything go in the same one? Official
Yes. Your white-continent train and refinery both go in the same continent, for example Europe.
Source: BGG thread
What happens to a rig when it becomes a pumpjack?
The rig goes back to your supply and can be built again elsewhere. The pumpjack stays on the board for the rest of the game.
Source: BGG Rules forum
Can I build a rig in an area that has already struck oil? Official
Yes. Each area is drilled only once per game, but you can still build rigs there and later convert them with Develop (D.2) at 3 workers per pumpjack.
Source: BGG thread
Must I put three barrels on a new pumpjack? Official
Normally yes. On your last turn, when nobody will transport from it again, placing fewer changes nothing.
Source: BGG thread
Does an empty pumpjack leave the board? Official
No. It stays and keeps blocking that space.
Source: BGG thread
With two Wildcatter disks in an area, can someone who passed on the first bid for the second? Official
Yes. Each disk has its own auction, and everyone with a pumpjack in the area may join the second one. If the active player doesn't open, the next player with a pumpjack there may.
Source: BGG thread
Can I use an Area card with a refinery icon after winning a Wildcatter auction? Official
No. Only the Refinery chip may be used during the auction. A refinery-icon Area card is used only in action F or at game end. The player summary that suggests otherwise is a mistake.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
Can other players transport if the active player doesn't? Official
No. Only the active player starts transport by paying 4 workers. Others may then join for free, paying only for other players' trains and tankers they use.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
If I join a transport, what moves? Official
One barrel from every one of your pumpjacks and won Wildcatter disks in the area, never just some of them. With two disks of yours in one area, both barrels move.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
Must I take a loan to pay for rail and tanker fees if I joined a transport? Official
Yes. Joining is your free choice, but once your oil moves you must deliver it if you can reach a refinery, and if you run short of your own shares you must take a loan. If you don't want that risk, don't join.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
How much do I pay to move a barrel along several trains? Official
One share of your own color per barrel for each other player's train it passes. Moving one barrel past two of someone's trains costs two shares. Every link of the route needs a train; with one missing, the barrel can't get through.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
Can my barrels use different players' trains or go to different refineries? Official
Yes. You choose a route for each barrel separately. Your only obligation is to reach a refinery if you can.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread · BGG thread
What happens to barrels left waiting in a harbor? Official
They stay there until someone chooses that area and pays 4 workers to transport. They then move with that transport under the normal rules. You may also choose an area and not transport at all.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
Can I load a tanker and unload it at the same harbor? Official
No. A loaded tanker must move to another harbor's refinery. If it fills that refinery and still has oil, it may then go anywhere, including back to the harbor it came from.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread · BGG thread
Who decides where a tanker goes, and in what order do tankers move? Official
Tankers move in turn order, starting with the active player. You captain your own tanker while it carries your oil; you captain another player's tanker if you loaded first and its owner has no oil on it. Each player moves the tankers they captain before the next player does.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
What happens when a refinery fills while a tanker is unloading? Official
The tanker moves on at once to another refinery, which may hand control to a different captain. The next tanker moves only after this one has delivered all it can. The owner always unloads first; then barrels leave from the front, the end farthest from the cabin.
Source: BGG thread · BGG Rules forum
Can a tanker drop oil in a harbor so it can continue by train? Official
No. A tanker only goes to harbors with a refinery that isn't full, and delivers there.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
Can a part-loaded tanker sail to another harbor to pick up more oil?
No. Once loaded, it heads for a refinery.
Source: BGG Rules forum
When can I use a refinery-icon Area card, and how many? Official
In action F of your own turn, and again before final scoring. Each card empties one refinery, any player's, even if it isn't full, and is then removed from the game. You may use several cards in the same turn or at game end.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread · BGG thread
When can I use the Refinery chip? Official
In action F, or right after you win a Wildcatter auction. It empties one of your own refineries and can't be used at game end. The designers added it for the two-player game and new players; experienced players may leave it in the box.
Source: BGG thread
If I empty someone else's refinery with a card, who gets the shares?
The refinery's owner, exactly as if it had filled up. Refinery cards and the chip work on refineries anywhere on the map.
Source: BGG Rules forum · BGG Rules forum
Can I take a loan when I'm not short, or take several? Official
Yes to both. You may take a loan at any time, even on another player's turn, for example to fund a Wildcatter bid. The designer suggests no more than two per game, since each brings 10 shares now and costs 25 at the end.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
Can I repay a loan in round 6 or 7? Official
No. Repay at 18 shares in round 5, or at 25 at game end.
Source: BGG thread
At game end, what if I have fewer than 25 own shares for a loan? Official
Pay all you have, then lose 1 VP for each share you are short.
Source: BGG thread
Do I score a continent if I delivered nothing there, or if I'm alone? Official
With no oil on a continent you score nothing there. If you are the only player with oil there, you get only the first-place points.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
Do Wildcatter disks still on the board score? Official
No. A disk scores only once its barrel has been transported and you have taken it into your supply.
Source: BGG thread · Capstone rulebook
Can the three-player Corporation have more than one rig in an area? Official
No, one at most. When a player drills there, only rigs in the active area become pumpjacks.
Source: BGG thread
What happens when the Corporation deck runs out? Official
Nothing more is placed: its eight rigs are all it has. A card for an area that already struck oil goes to the discard pile without a rig.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
How does a Wildcatter auction work when only I and a Corporation have pumpjacks there? Official
You buy the disk for the minimum of 4 shares of your own color. The Corporation never bids.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread
How do the two-player D2 and D3 chips work? Official
Each is used once and then goes back to the box. D2 turns one of your rigs into a pumpjack in any area without paying. D3 is an extra transport in an area other than your chosen one, without the 4-worker cost, but otherwise under all the normal rules, including paying other players for their trains and tankers.
Source: BGG thread · BGG thread