What makes a game "Piratey"?

Maybe I'm the wrong person to ask, since I do not own even a single "Pirate" game. But to me, pirates are primarily folk who attempt to capture treasure-ships. To do that, they must engage in ship-to-ship combat with the well-armed escorts that treasure ships usually have; they must storm and board the treasure ships; they must escape pursuit afterward (if they have left any capable survivors behind); they must hide their treasure someplace. The hazards they face include vengeful military vessels, bad weather and shipwreck, mutinies, and attack from other pirates who covet their treasure or who just don't like competition.

There should be opportunities to be sneaky, conniving, and untrustworthy.

The goal of a pirate game could be simply to amass the most treasure; or it could be something more complex, such as attempting to buy "respectability" and a place in society by only robbing ships of one nation and giving some of the treasure to the grateful government of another nation. The latter could be a more sophisticated game in which players must choose sides in a national conflict: robbing ships of the wrong nation would work against you if you later tried to buy your way into that nation's good graces. So you might have to pass up some juicy prizes, or even defend them, in order to be sure of finding a favorable patron nation at the end of the game. The winner would be the pirate most favored by his chosen patron, not necessarily the pirate who stole the most money.

Work in some daughters-of-the-nobility to be kidnapped and ransomed, and you might have an innovative winner. :)

Eyepatches, skulls 'n bones, parrots, colored beards, walking the plank, sharks and treasure are very piratey oh and peglegs and ehm... Yohoho and a bottle o'rum songs as well. Yup, that's piratey to me.

A couple years ago, I made a pirate-themed solitaire for a design contest. If you're interested in a look, it was called Piece Packing Pirates, and it's available at the following link:

http://www.piecepack.org/rules/PiecePackingPirates.pdf

While I was putting that together, I wanted to do what you're saying -- have it feel like being a pirate. But as others have pointed out, there are so many aspects to pirating, that to build a playable game that includes all, or even a lot of them would be difficult, if not impossible. Given the further restrictions for that particular contest, which included the types of bits that were allowed, I had some tough choices to make. I had to pick and choose which elements to include to make the game feel "piratey" within the design limitations, and also which elements to leave out to keep it playable and, more importantly, enjoyable.

You may not agree with the choices I made, and that's fine. Other pirate games don't, and that's fine, too. But at the time, the elements I felt were most important to the pirate theme were:

1. capturing generic booty in ship-to-ship combat, mainly in shipping routes 2. variable ship and crew capabilities
3. the economics of generally taking care of your ship and crew
4. notoriety / reputation
5. sailing, sometimes in unknown waters
6. burying treasure / saving for the future
7. end-of-career / retirement

I also thought about some other pirate games that existed at the time, and listed some things I either didn't like about them or thought weren't essential. The ones I remember rejecting included:

1. treasure maps 2. searching for treasure buried by others
3. detailed man-to-man combat
4. scurvy and other diseases
5. internal crew conflicts, plank walking, keel hauling, mutiny
6. detailed ship damage
7. rum, songs, partying, sex, land excursions
8. costumes, parrots, swinging from chandeliers, etc.
9. patronized or government sponsored pirate work
10. storms, shoals, reefs and other natural hazards
11. barnacles, sails, ammunition, powder and other detailed ship maintenance

It's not that these other elements are bad or don't contribute to the flavor of a pirate game. But I had to make choices somewhere to keep the game fun and playable. I'd say go with what elements you think will be most important and most fun. Mercilessly trim the rest.

Clark

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My sons and I have and play many Pirate games.

Yes, you get points for being marooned. Lots of them. Of course, you loose your ship and have to start over with a new one, but it is a very piratey thing to do. I'm mostly going for light-hearted, but I still want it to be a reasonably meaty game that feels piratey.

I know it was in Pirates of the Caribean, but is being Marooned Piratey?

If I made a pirate game I would follow some of the examples in Sid Miers(sp) Pirates the PC game. It is not perfect but my sons and I like it. In particular I would make the game largely about finding parts of maps and clues and then hunting down the treasure. Along the way there would be full on ship to ship combat. In the background are distractions and ways to get money to help fund your needs and of course the Governers Daughter.

Pirate games are great. Good luck.

- Dwight

Just snipped this from a Nuremburg Toy Fair report over on BoardgameNews.com. Sounds like this one will cover certain piratey aspects, but again, focusing on a few:

Auf Ru(h)m und Ehre - Stefan Feld
Press text: ‘Captain Klabauter and his wild pirates gang infest a pirates nest. Wether they dig treasures, being a nuisance with the city guard or wander from cave to cave, there is never a dull moment. For a handfull of money and a barrel of rum they are always in for the one or the other adventure.’
Honor point can be gathered at several places on the board but players can only do this if the captain himself moves there. The biggest problem is that all the groups only have this one leader. Five rounds are played, and every round there are less pirates available because the leader only visits a place if a player has a pirate of that group left behind. By paying extra money the leader can be moved twice. When the gang wants to lie and rest down a bit, dice duels are fought for the best sleeping spots, where the input of a barrel of rum can change the outcome of the fight. The game has a variable mapboard. In the end it all comes down to have earned the most honour. For 2 to 5 players, 9 years and up, 60 to 75 minutes.