Back in the early 80’s, while writing the original volume of BROG (then known as RBROG), I did a review on a nice little game, Privateer. It was rather interestingly packaged, complete with cloth map, polished wooden discs, and tubular packing; I gave it a good review. That’s the last I ever heard or saw of it … until a few weeks ago. Fade to fifteen years later, and inside my POB is a package containing a spiffily - and quite professionally - re-packaged version, now entitled Pirateer (… no explanation forthcoming for the change in name), and a letter from the designer, Scott Peterson, asking me to take another look at it. (It also contained some rather interesting industry statistics about game sales. Adult board games, Scott says, were down 20% last year; family board games were up 2%. I’m not sure I buy that - especially the latter figure - but it does look like Magic-at-Work, a game probably not included in the former numbers.) Now usually I don’t review old games, or old games re-released disguised as new games, but the BROG Crack Testing Staff was twixt assignments, so we trotted Pirateer out and gave it a spin. Make no mistake; while the subject matter here is pirates, Pirateer is as much a simulation of history as “Pocahontas”. As I said before, it is more an upscale variation on checkers, but it is a truly enjoyable one. The game is now quite professionally packaged, with mounted map and colorful playing pieces. It also takes about 1 minute to learn to play, and about 15 minutes to play to completion … maybe more if you start to get scientific. We played three games in an hour; I won twice, which shows you how good the game is … and how easy to play. Basically, in the center of the board is a Treasure disc. Each player (2-to-4, but 4 is best) gets three ships, which he moves by throw of two dice. The object is to either pick up the treasure and get back to base, or sink all the enemy ships. The hook is that moving ain’t so simple, or easy. It is also where all of the strategy comes in. You can use the two dice to move two ships, or combine the dice into one ship’s move. However, you cannot change direction while moving on a single die’s result, and you have to use the full result to move. (There are some vagaries in the rules, which take about 15 seconds to read, but nothing you can’t either figure out or make up House Rules for.) It is a system that requires the players to think 2, 3 turns ahead, even when they know that the DR is unpredictable. The end result is a fast, furious, and often vicious little game that has massive potential for tournaments … aside from just playing it for sheer fun in between Rising Sun Weightlifting Contests and attempts to figure out why you paid $65 for GRD’s third-rate paean to Hemingway. Speaking of money, the game includes a catalogue of Pirateer tie-ins, including pirate flags, t-shirts, tournament invitations, and a Deluxe Pirateer Set, in walnut, for $599. We do note that the latter is limited to 1000 sets, a number, I’m sure, which will not be reached in our lifetime. What the catalogue does not say is how much the game costs, although you can call Mendocino at 1-707-964-7367 to find out. I highly recommend you do. CAPSULE COMMENTS Lots of fast fun, even if it isn’t very “deep”. Highly recommended for kids, and this would make a great tournament. from MENDOCINO GAME CO Mounted, 16’x21’ gameboard; 13 Plastic pieces; Rules Book; Boxed. $?. Medocino Game Co., POB 1339, Ft Bragg CA 95437 Back to Berg's Review of Games Vol. II # 19 Table of Contents Back to Berg's Review of Games List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1994 by Richard Berg This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com