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For tips on how to play nautilus, see Tips_nautilus

Object of the Game

During the six rounds of the game, place your divers in order to gain the upper hand in the five great domains that are:
- Science
- Exploration
- Navigation
- Engineering
- War
The player who has won in the most domains will be declared the winner at the end of the game.

The game board is placed between the two players.
The Diver cards are shuffled then placed in a pile at the front of the Nautilus, face down.
The special cards are shuffled then placed in a pile at the back of the Nautilus, face down.
The Domain cards are shuffled. Five of them are placed face up on the five empty spaces of the game board.
The remaining cards form the draw pile which is placed next to the game board, face down.
One of players gets the Nemo token, thus becoming the first player of the round.

Before starting a round, each player gets 5 Diver cards, which they look at secretly.
Then the first player draws two special cards.
After having looked at them, the player keeps one and gives the other to their opponent.
Some special cards can be played at the beginning of the round and others during the round.

To start, the first player places one of their Diver cards face up, along the Nautilus and in front of a Domain card, either on their own side (bottom) or on the side of their opponent (top).
Then, it's up to that opponent to do the same and so on until the 10 spaces (5 on each side of the Nautilus) have been filled by a card.
Some Diver cards have movement arrows:
- horizontal (#7 and #8) or
- vertical (#6 and #9).
- When they are played, these cards MUST cause a movement action, unless there is no possible movement matching the direction of the arrow.
At the end of the round, the value of the Diver cards placed face-up, on both sides of the Nautilus, will determine who gets the Domain cards in play.

The round ends as soon as all 10 spaces on both sides of the Nautilus have been filled by a card (Diver or special).
The Domain cards are then awarded.
- A player gets a Domain card when the value of the Diver card on their side is higher than that of the one on the opposite side.
  - There is one exception to this rule: the Diver card of value 1 (with a crab on it) always wins against the card of value 14.

The game ends at the end of the 6th round, when the pile of Domain cards is empty.
Each player takes the pile of Domain cards won during the game.
In each of the 5 domains (Science, Exploration, Navigation, Engineering, War), the players will compare their totals: two stars are worth 2 points, one star is worth 1 point, an ink blot removes 1 point from the concerned domain.
The player with the highest points score in a domain wins that domain.
The player who wins most domains wins the game.

Collected cards by player are visible and collected cards by opponent are hidden.

Duration of the game is 6 rounds by rules, but in this adaptation the game can proceed less than 6 rounds.
It can happen when one of the players has won 3 of 5 domains at end of one of the rounds.
Player wins the domain at the end a round if:
1. They have gained 4 or more score points in the domain (during all previous rounds including current round). OR
2. They have gained 3 score points in the domain and domain card with -1 point(ink blot) already was played off (already in hand of one of players).
It was done to end a game and not to play superfluous rounds when one of the players has already won a game.
At the end of the game, each player gets 1 victory point for each domain won.
- Domain won by player when one of two conditions was executed, see above.
Total score of a game is the number of domains won by each player.