Yo Ho! Yo Ho! A Pirate’s Game for Me!

Knucklebones: November 2007This is a reprint of an article written in May, 2007 for first publication in the November 2007 issue of the now-defunct Knucklebones magazine. Because of its origins, this article is more introductory and (hopefully) more polished than many of my online writings. Despite the original source of this article, this blog is in no way associated with Jones Publishing or Knucklebones Magazine.

November 2007 was also the first month that Knucklebones opted to accept two different articles for me; the other was an article on Z-Man games, which I finished a couple of weeks later, in June.


Shiver me timbers if it ain’t September again, and you know what that means, matey! It’s time to dedicate a noggin’ o’ rum to Ol’ Chum Bucket and Cap’n Slappy — the two scurvy lads who came up with Talk Like a Pirate Day, back on September 19, 1995.

Of course we know all you mateys and wenches alike will be taking p-arrrr-t in the festivities, but don’t take it as an excuse to just drink grog and sing shanties. You can also weigh anchor, hoist the Jolly Roger, and plunder and pillage on your own with a selection of excellent pirate games.

So keep reading for my top suggestions and I won’t have to make you walk the plank!

Classic Pirates

Although piratical theming is always colorful, it’s sometimes just a light overlay atop an otherwise classic game. So it is with these first two pirate games, which build upon the classic gameplay of Rummy and Backgammon.

Corsari (Rio Grande Games, $11.95) is a Rummy-like card game by European designer Leo Colovini. Each player is trying to press gang a good crew for his ship from among the 10 crew types (colors) available. Unlike traditional Rummy, you have to guess when you have the best hand — meaning the crew made up of the fewest colors — which can be a source of tension all its own.

The game is somewhat more difficult than Rummy because of the fact that you can declare when you’re going out and a special “prisoner” color changes as a round goes on. It’s also somewhat flawed by a badly written rulebook and poor-quality cards. However if you can get past these component issues the game is very thoughtful and quite fun, particularly for somewhat more experienced card players. 

Pirateer (Mendocino Game Company, $20.00) is a family game that abstracts two classic pirate conflicts: scuttling opposing ships and digging up buried treasure. A colorful cloth board depicts the area surrounding the imaginary Skull Island, home to legendary pieces o’ eight. Each player has a fleet of three boats which he’ll use to travel to Skull Island, secure the treasure, and then take it home. The task is made more challenging by fast-blowing trade winds. Of course, if some other scurvy dog gets the treasure first, then you can scuttle their boat and take it for your own.

The gameplay is very simple: you roll two dice, and then move one or two boats. The result is pretty light entertainment, without a lot of strategy, but it’s also tense and exciting as only a good die-rolling game can be. Particularly because a game plays in 10-15 minutes, this is an excellent choice for families. 

Casual European Swashbuckling

Many European game designs are quick, casual affairs that can be played right out of the box in 30 minutes or less. Several different pirate games fit into this mold, using card collection, auctions, and other simple mechanics to create swashbuckling adventures.

Caribbean (Rio Grande Games, $27.95) is a game of bribery. Six different pirate ships are the scourge of the 18th century Caribbean. Each player must use rum to bribe these ships to bring their booty to his own safe havens.

The result is a simultaneous blind-bidding game that can often have hilarious and frustrating results as ships constantly get in each others’ way, and no one can ever quite determine the outcome. This game doesn’t allow a lot of long-term strategy — because the results can so often be so chaotic — but nonetheless careful bidding and clever tactics can win the day.

Cartagena (Rio Grande Games, $27.95) is Leo Colovini’s classic racing game about the 1672 pirate escape from the prison of Cartagena. Using a handful of themed cards, showing keys, skulls, pirate hats, flintlocks, bottles, and knives, players move pirates forward to appropriately marked spaces, then drop them back into pirate groups in order to receive new cards. The first player to get his crew of six pirates to the boat at the end of the Cartagena tunnels win.

Though based partially on the luck of the draw, Cartagena is surprisingly strategic and rewards clever play. Players must balance setting up great opportunities for themselves to move forward with leaving those same opportunities open for their opponents. In general it’s the cleverest pirate who manages to win the day.

A new game called Cartagena II (Rio Grande Games, $27.95) was recently released with similar gameplay and a new way to construct the escape.

Dead Man’s Treasure (Playroom Entertainment, $20.00) is another simultaneous blind bidding game, this one by star German designer Reiner Knizia. Six different islands each have treasures on them, and players must decide where to send their crew to reap the best rewards. Cannons and a ghost pirate can scare off all but the stoutest maties.

One of the best elements of Dead Man’s Treasure is that it’s a quick fifteen-minute game. Things can get a bit chaotic as you try and outguess what the other players are doing, but as long as everyone keeps playing fast and furious it’s an excellent filler game.

Loot (Gamewright, $9.99) is another Reiner Knizia auction game, but this time the pirate ship auction cards are played openly. Each player has to move back and forth between putting out merchant ships and playing the pirate craft that will loot them. Only when one player has proven himself stronger than the others through card play can he loot a ship.

Like Dead Man’s Treasure this is a very quick game, and it’s hard to beat the price. There’s again a fair amount of luck of the draw, but there’s also some fun bluffing as you try and convince the other players to stay away from the ships that you’re currently scuttling! 

Serious Pirating

Most of the pirate games mentioned herein are short, casual affairs that can usually be played in half an hour or less. What follows are a few longer, more serious pirating games, each of which tends to run an hour to an hour and a half. They nonetheless remain relatively casual and still quite accessible for family play.

Pieces of Eight (Atlas Games, $20.00 per player) is an entirely unique pirate game played with coins. Each player makes a “deck” of 13 coins which contains his captain, mates, cutlasses, bombs, broadsides, monkeys, treachery, and several other unique items. Most coins have special powers that can be used when they’re at the top or the bottom of the deck, or in the crow’s nest. The object is to send your opponent’s captain down to Davy Jones’ Locker through clever setup and play.

Although this game plays pretty quickly, it’s also quite strategic because there isn’t a lot of randomness. Instead the player who makes best use of his own resources and is best able to foil his opponent will win. Being composed entirely of coins, Pieces of Eight can uniquely be played while you’re standing up, away from a table, making it a perfect game if you attend gaming conventions or other places where other gamers might be around, but not at tables.

The only downside of Pieces of Eight is its cost. For $20 you get a set of 16 coins, but you’ll need someone else to also get a set too before you can play. There are currently two sets out, The Cursed Blade and The Maiden’s Vengeance, each of which contains different pieces.

Pirate’s Cove (Days of Wonder, $50.00) is another game by the same rascals at Days of Wonder that brought us Ticket to Ride, and it shows in the typically sumptuous artwork and the high-quality components. Much as with Pirateer you’re transporting treasures and fighting against other pirate ships, but this time you’re burying the treasures on an island at the center of the map rather than looting them.

The real difference between Pirateer and Pirate’s Cove is in the details. Each player has a fully described ship — complete with hull, crew, cannon, and sails — which can be upgraded at various towns. After secretly determining their destinations each round players battle against other pirates at the same location (using a detailed combat system) and then either plunder settlements or else bury their ill-gotten loot.

In some ways Pirate’s Cove plays like an American-style adventure game with each player trying to improve their individual ship, but the die-based combat and the blind selection of destinations keeps things pretty light.

Rum & Pirates (Rio Grande Games/Alea, $39.95) is a somewhat curious pirate game because there’s ‘nary a pirate ship to be seen. Instead players wander a secret pirate town hidden in the Caribbean, using a unique mechanism where players alternate deciding where the roaming crew goes. Each player tries to lead the pack toward specific pubs, supply stations, and other special intersections that will benefit him.

The piratical color in Rum & Pirates is largely humorous. In what other game could you buy eye patches and peg legs at the pirate store? Nonetheless there’s a lot of nice strategizing as you try and figure out where other players will want to move and how you can take advantage of that. Like most of the pirate games mentioned here, the game is still fairly simple to learn and has a fair dose of luck, thanks to a dicing mechanism used to determine who gets the best bunks on the ship each night.

But then dicing is a pirate sport, ain’t it, matey?

Appendix I: Viking Games

Of course pirates aren’t the first seafarers to become scourges of the sea lanes. The Vikings are equally infamous in that regard, and are the subject of many games of their own.

Fire and Axe (Asmodee Edition, $39.99) chronicles the Viking invasions of England and the rest of Europe … and you’re the Vikings. Clever tactical play is required to trade, to loot, and to become a part of the skalds’ sagas.

Midgard (Z-Man Games, $39.99) is a tale of the last days before Ragnarok, as Vikings descend from their boats to settle newfound lands. Majority control is combined with card drafting in a fast-paced and clever game.

The Settlers of Catan (Mayfair Games, $38.00) is one of many Catan games which all deal with the settlement of a Nordic-like people in a new land. Both The Seafarers of Catan (Mayfair Games, $38.00), a nautical expansion to Settlers, and Elasund: The First City (Mayfair Games, $49.00), a standalone game, even include a pirate figure which shuts down production.

Appendix II: Other Nautical Games

A few other notable games feature nautical themes.

Clippers (EuroGames, $34.95) is a railroad-like game by Alan Moon, the designer of Ticket to Ride, but using ship lines instead. Players try to steer joint ship lines to their own ports using a variety of clever plays. The result is a very strategic game only slightly marred by a few component issues. This game is rapidly going out of print, but should still be available from Asmodee Editions, who purchased EuroGames last year.

Niagara (Rio Grande Games, $44.95) is a blind-bidding game where each player secretly decides how far they’re moving along the Niagara River in their attempts to secure valuable gems. After everyones’ move is revealed there are then interesting interactions between the players and the river itself, which just might dump boats over the infamous Niagara falls if players aren’t careful. This game includes beautiful components, including a (dry) river that actually moves. It’s won several prizes, including a 2005 Game of the Year award in Germany.

Tongiaki (Uberplay Entertainment, $19.99) is a crazy game of Polynesian migration. The players are at the mercy of the forces of overpopulation and unknown ocean currents as they try and colonize the islands of the Pacific. The result often feels totally out of control, but it’s still fun to watch the patterns of civilization develop.


Author’s Notes: My biggest problem with the pirate theme — and I run into this whenever Talk Like a Pirate Day corresponds with a gaming night — is that there are no truly great heavy games. I think Cartagena and Caribbean are just the cat’s pajamas, but you get heavier, and the field is good, not great. In fact, Pieces of Eight, Pirate’s Cove, and Rum & Pirates have all gone out of my collection over the years.

The appendices were boxes in the original article, something that Knucklebones always requested. I still find those Viking games listing very strong (and mostly heavy!), a notable comparison with the pirate offerings. My “other nautical” listings on the other hand is very incomplete, as I could find tons of other games about ships, rivers, and even Polynesian migrations; I’ve left it in anyways, as it highlights some good games. —SA, 6/23/13

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