Skills on Gilligan's Island
Like all humans, Castaways possess a wide range of skills thanks to natural aptitude, many hours of practise, or both. During the game, characters will find their skills tested by many challenges, suffering penalties to their chance of success if they do not possess the particular skill needed in the given moment.
The following skills are most relevant to life on the island:
AcrobaticsThe ability to bob, dodge, weave, balance, and perform other feats of dexterity.
ActingThe ability to play a role convincingly on stage or film or even during one’s personal life.
Animal FriendshipThe ability to make friends with animals, or at least to convince them you’re not a threat or prey.
Animal Husbandry
The ability to breed livestock.
Archery
The ability to shoot a bow and arrow.
Bamboo Building
The ability to create buildings and vehicles out of bamboo.
Banjo
The ability to play the banjo.
Brass
The ability to play brass instruments, such as the tuba, sousaphone, trumpet, etc.
BullyingThe ability to threaten and coerce others into doing your will.
Butterfly Collecting
The ability to identify, collect, and display butterflies.
Camping
The ability to create a campsite and live comfortably outdoors for days or weeks at a time.
Carpenter
The ability to use tools and raw materials to assemble structures.
Cinematography
The ability to competently shoot motion pictures with a motion picture camera.
Climbing, Cliff
The ability to scale cliffs, with or without equipment.
Climbing, Mountain
The ability to scale mountains, with or without equipment.
Climbing, Tree
The ability to climb trees.
Clothes Washing
The ability to wash clothing.
Coconut Crafting
The ability to create useful tools out of coconut shells, oil, meat, and leaves.
Cooking
The ability to cook with primitive equipment.
Cycling
The ability to ride a bicycle.
Dancing, Ballroom
The ability to ballroom dance.
Dancing, Tap
The ability to tap dance.
Deception
The ability to fool someone into believing something that is not true.
DisguiseThe ability to change your appearance with clothing, makeup, and appliances.
Driving
The ability to drive an automobile.
Dynamite Handling
The ability to handle dynamite without blowing yourself up.
Electronics
The ability to understand and repair electronic devices and understand the principles behind their function.
Farming
The ability to plant, raise, and harvest crops.
Finance
The ability to invest wisely in capital markets.
First Aid
The ability to provide basic first aid to an injured person.
Fishing
The ability to catch fish.
Fistfighting
The ability to engage in fisticuffs.
Flirting
The ability to arouse someone’s interest in you as a sexual being.
Gardening
The ability to grow small-scale plots or planters of flowers, herbs, vegetables, small fruits and berries, and trees and shrubs.
GatheringThe ability to gather fruits, nuts, and other naturally-occurring foodstuffs.
Grooming
The ability to maintain one’s own personal hygiene and personal appearance.
Guitar, Rhythm
The ability to play rhythm guitar.
Guitar, Bass
The ability to play bass guitar.
Hairdressing
The ability to cut and style hair.
Harmonica
The ability to play the harmonica.
Harpsichord
The ability to play the harpsichord.
Hiking
The ability to walk long distances through challenging terrain.
History
Understanding the study of history, focused on the past of the human species.
Hot Air Ballooning
The ability to operate a hot air balloon.
Hunting
The ability to track down game.
Illusion
The ability to perform feats of illusion through slight-of-hand or other trickery.
Invention
The ability to conceptualize and assemble a device for some utilitarian or artistic purpose.
Juggling
The ability to juggle two or more small items such as balls, boomerangs, jars, pineapples, coconuts, pies, torches, batons, etc.
Language, American Sign Language
The ability to speak American Sign Language.
Language, Cannibal
The ability to speak the language of the cannibals on nearby islands.
Language, Cantonese
The ability to speak Cantonese.
Language, English
The ability to speak English.
Language, French
The ability to speak French.
Language, German
The ability to speak German.
Language, Japanese
The ability to speak Japanese.
Language, Mandarin
The ability to speak Mandarin.
Language, Spanish
The ability to speak Spanish.
Language, Swedish
The ability to speak Swedish.
Language, Tagalog
The ability to speak Tagalog.
Language, Transylvanian
The ability to speak Transylvanian.
Lip Reading
The ability to read lips and discover what a person is saying even if you can’t hear them.
Lockpicking
The ability to pick small locks.
Makeup
The ability to apply makeup to oneself or others.
Martial Arts
The ability to use your body as a weapon.
Mechanics, Aircraft
The ability to repair aircraft.
Mechanics, Astronautics
The ability to repair spacecraft.
Mechanics, Automobile
The ability to repair automobiles.
Mechanics, Bicycle
The ability to repair bicycles, tricycles, unicycles, penny-farthings, etc.
Mechanics, Motorcycle
The ability to repair motorcycles.
Mechanics, Ship
The ability to repair seagoing ships.
Mechanics, Submarine
The ability to repair submarines.
Medicine
The ability to diagnose and treat a variety of ailments.
Melee WeaponsThe ability to use weapons such as clubs, brass knuckles, swords, hammers, screwdrivers, bottles, knives, daggers, and other non-ranged implements of menace in combat.
Mime
The ability to mime.
Minesweeping
The ability to locate and safely deactivate mines.
Mockery
The ability to lower someone’s morale by insulting, degrading, or humiliating them.
Modelling
The ability to use appearance and performance to showcase consumer products.
Mouth Harp
The ability to play the mouth harp.
Navigation
The ability to know where you’ve been, where you are, and where you’re going in a boat, raft, submarine, or other watercraft.
Negotiation
The ability to make deals that benefit both parties.
Organ, Electronic
The ability to play an electronic organ.
Organ, Pipe
The ability to play a pipe organ.
Packing
The ability to pack goods into the most efficient space.
Painting, Canvas
The ability to paint works of art on canvas.
Painting, House
The ability to paint a house, fence or other large pieces of infrastructure.
Percussion
The ability to play drums.
Photography
The ability to shoot photographs with a camera.
Piano
The ability to play the piano.
Pilot, Fixed-wing
The ability to safely operate a fixed-wing aircraft.
Pilot, Rotary
The ability to safely operate a helicopter.
Pilot, Ship
The ability to safely operate a ship.
Pilot, Space Capsule
The ability to safely operate a space capsule.
PistolThe ability to maintain and shoot a pistol or flare gun.
Poisoning
The ability to mix ingredients and calculate the correct dosage to kill or incapacitate a human or animal with poison.
Pottery
The ability to shape clay into pots and other ceramic items, and to use a kiln and paint and glazes to finish said items.
Pratfalling
The ability to comically stumble or crash in a way that may be painful and embarrassing, but avoids significant injury.
Puns
The ability to craft puns in order to trigger a desired emotional response from an audience.
Rafting
The ability to pilot a raft.
Repair, Appliances
The ability to repair appliances, given the right tools.
Repair, Electronics
The ability to repair electronic devices, given the right tools.
ResearchThe ability to discover new information by referring to books, journals, photographs, interviews, and other data collection.
RifleThe ability to maintain and shoot a rifle or machine gun.
SafecrackingThe ability to break into a safe or other sealed container.
Sailing
The ability to sail a sailboat.
Scavenging
The ability to find useful resources or trinkets.
Science, Astronomy
Understanding the science of celestial phenomena and their motion in space.
Science, Astrophysics
Understanding the science of ascertaining the nature of astronomical objects.
Science, Biology
Understanding the science of life and living organisms, including their physical structure, chemistry, physiology, development, and evolution.
Science, Chemistry
Understanding the composition of elements and compounds and how they react with other substances.
Science, Computer
Understanding algorithmic processes and computing machines.
Science, Entomology
Understanding the classification, structure, and habits of insects.
Science, Geology
Understanding how the solid earth changes over time and how that informs the structure of the Earth and its natural history.
Science, Ichthyology
Understanding the habits, structure, and classification of fish.
Science, Mad
The ability to apply several different scientific disciplines to achieve unconventional--some might say impossible--results, often with evil intent.
Science, Mathematics
Understanding the study of quantity, structure, space, and change through numbers and formulae.
Science, Metallurgy
Understanding the physical and chemical behaviour of metals and alloys.
Science, Physics
Understanding matter, energy, spacetime, and the other foundations of the universe.
Science, Political
Understanding systems of governance and political thought and activities.
Science, Radiology
Understanding how to use medical imaging to diagnose and treat diseases.
Science, Rocket
The ability to design, build, and maintain rockets, satellites, probes, and other Space Age infrastructure.
Science, Zoology
Understanding the classification, evolution, habits, and distribution of animals and how they interact with their ecosystems.
SCUBA Diving
The ability to use SCUBA equipment to explore underwater.
Sculpting
The ability to create sculptures from clay, ivory, stone, wood, or other raw materials.
SeductionThe ability to use charisma and sex appeal to change the behaviour of others in a way favourable to you.
Sewing
The ability to create and repair garments with a needle and thread or sewing machine.
Singing
The ability to sing melodiously.
Sketching
The ability to draw.
Skydiving
The ability to skydive with a parachute.
Slinging
The ability to fashion a sling or slingshot, to gather stones of the proper size and shape to serve as ammunition, and to use the sling or slingshot to incapacitate targets.
Snorkeling
The ability to use a snorkel to look below the surface of the water while swimming.
Spacewalking
The ability to maneuver in space with a spacesuit and tether or jet propulsion.
Spear
The ability to fashion a spear out of native materials and use it to incapacitate targets.
Sport, Bowling
The ability to bowl.
Sport, Boxing
The ability to box.
Sport, Field Hockey
The ability to play field hockey.
Sport, Ice Hockey
The ability to play ice hockey.
Sport, Darts
The ability to throw darts.
Sport, Golf
The ability to golf.
Sport, Roller Skating
The ability to roller skate.
Sport, TennisThe ability to play tennis.
Sport, Wrestling
The ability to wrestle.
Strings
The ability to play stringed instruments such as the violin, viola, double bass, fiddle, etc.
Surgery
The ability to operate on a person to fix an ailment.
Swimming
The ability to swim.
Trapping
The ability to set traps for small game such as bunnies, wild turkeys, snakes, and so on.
Unicycling
The ability to ride a unicycle.
Wayfinding
The ability to use natural landmarks and tools like compasses to avoid getting lost on land.
Weaving
The ability to weave blankets, mats, and other items out of cotton and other natural materials.
Woodwinds
The ability to play instruments from the woodwind family, such as saxophones, flutes, etc.
Woodworking
The ability to create useful implements or works out art out of wood.
Writing, Essays
The ability to write non-fiction works that present a compelling argument.
Writing, Fiction
The ability to write a compelling short story or novel.
Writing, Journaling
The ability to write an interesting personal diary of life events.
Writing, Poetry
The ability to write poetry evocative enough for publication.
Writing, Scientific Papers
The ability to write scientific papers suitable for publication in peer-reviewed journals.
Writing, Screenwriting
The ability to craft a screenplay suitable for the demands of motion picture production.
Writing, Travel
The ability to write compelling travelogues.
Yelling
The ability to yell powerfully enough to startle a person or beast and perhaps cause them to flee or respond to a challenge.
Yodelling
The ability to yodel compellingly. Can be used as a signal of distress, success, or call to attack.
Have I missed any skills that someone might need to survive on Gilligan's Island? Post in the comments below!
