I downloaded Pirateer from their web site a few months ago, and mounted the board on a poster board. I thought being able to demo his board game was a very generous thing to do. I had heard some good things about the game, and the web site was very well done, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

After playing Pirateer a few times I'm not too impressed by it. Let me point out that I've never played it with more than two players, but I'm not too sure how much fun additional players will add to the game. My 6 year old enjoyed Pirateer at first, but he's kinda cooled off on it since I showed him Safari Jack (fun game BTW).

To me Pirateer seems to boil down to sitting around hoping to get a good roll before your opponent. Sure, I can maximize the probability of getting a good roll to some extent, but if I'm doing that I'd rather play Formula.

I wouldn't recommend the game. I'd put Pirateer firmly in the family game category in which case it isn't too bad (relatively speaking). But, it doesn't compare favorably to most 'niche' or 'core' games. I'd rather recommend Guillotine, Formula or Safari Jack as a family game heck, I'd rather play Monopoly). Any of these games leave Pirateer in their wake.