Pirate’s Cove by Days of Wonder

Since it’s International Talk Like a Pirate Day (TLAPD for short), I thought I’d sing the praises of one of my favorite games – again.

In Pirate’s Cove, players take on the role of ship captains as they battle for the rights to plunder and become the most famed and feared Pirate the world has ever seen. To do so, they will need to navigate shrewdly, fight recklessly, and pillage mercilessly. Gain fame by winning battles, burying gold and treasure, and bragging about your exploits at the Tavern, and at the end of twelve months, the pirate with the most fame will be declared the most fearsome Pirate of the High Seas! A swashbuckling board game for 2-5 fortune-hunters, ages 10 and up.

Pirate’s Cove is a game by Days of Wonder, a company that also makes Ticket to Ride (also very fun game I’m told). Pirate’s Cove appears complex at first glance but actually is not. The basic idea is to try to get the most Fame points by balancing ship upgrades, choosing the best moves to make and avoiding confrontation with other players.

So the game play is simple. There are twelve (12) rounds representing the twelve months of one year. Each round, players secretly decide which island to sail to based on the resources or blunder to be had at each island. If two or more players go to the same island, then they must fight or flee. The surviving ship collects the resources and plunder which can include fame points, treasure (to buy fame), gold (to buy upgrades and tavern cards) and tavern cards (which add extras).

Now the first two images are from a large scale model of the game at the Days of Wonder which, as far as I know, is not available but was on display and playable at Spiel 2005 in Essen. To see what the consumer version looks like, check out these images.