Publisher: Out of the Box Publishing
Designer: Max Winter Osterhaus
Artists: John Kovalic and Cathleen Quinn-Kinney
Genre: Light strategy game aimed at kids
Year: 2010
Players: Two to three players
Ages: 8+
Playing time: 20 minutes
MSRP: $24.99
The first game in this series, Ninja versus Ninja, featured two players facing off at opposing dojo’s. The game had miniature toy ninjas, which were very cool and the kids loved them. To follow up this release is Pirate versus Pirate, which can be played with two or three players, and of course has miniature toy pirates.
Let me start out by saying that the components are excellent. Each pirate is fully painted and wearing coats and hats in their player’s color. The figures are flexible, like rubber. They do have a smell, a chemical smell that has me keeping a sharp eye on them around the kids so they don’t put them in their mouth. I imagine that the smell will dissipate over time, but I don’t know.
The dice are unique as well, two rectangular blocks with bones sticking out of the ends making them in effect, 4 sided dice. The pips are tiny skulls! The coins are nice and shiny too. The board is also well done, and features 
Each player sets up their six pirates in one of the corners of the triangle. The coins are placed in the center of the board, or in the top corner in a two player game. The first player rolls the dice and moves one pirate exactly that many spaces. What makes this interesting is that you are dealing with triangular movement, not squares. So you think that you can move six spaces and grab that coin, but you end up nowhere near there when you count it out. You can’t move diagonally, only edge-to-edge, it is interesting and you really need to try it in order to appreciate how it works.
If you can land on another pirate, that pirate is removed from the game. If you land on a coin, you pick that coin up and it moves with you. If you can get the coin back to your corner, you can win the game (either 2 silver or 1 gold coin needed to win). The more likely way to win is to wipe out all of the competition, at least in the two player game. In the three player game you have a better chance of getting the coins back to your boat.
The game is a lot of fun, it is fast and is more of a family game to play with the kids than anything else. Everyone wanted to play again after we finished, and the game is quick enough to get in a good number of plays in a short time. It all boils down to the roll of the dice and expect to count out your moves in several ways before making your decision.
You can also take your ninjas from Ninja versus Ninja and play pirate versus ninja too!
- A Dungeon Delve for Kids?: A Review of Dungeon! - Oct 24, 2022
- Better, Stronger, Faster | Descent: Journeys in the Dark Second Edition Reviewed - Oct 23, 2022
- Your Planet is Doomed!: Invasion from Outer Space Reviewed - Oct 22, 2022
