Adam Daulton
United States
Indianapolis
Indiana
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A brief overview:
Rum & Pirates in the #10 game in the Alea Big Box Series and at the time of this writing, the first of three Stephan Feld games in the series. In the game you control a crew of pirates as you try to gain victory points by drinking, defeating guards, fighting for the best sleeping spot, and discovering treasures.
The Mechanics:
There are two mechanics about the game that I do like, which are different than many Euro games that I have played. The first mechanic that I like is the way that you move the pirate captain around the board. I find it very interesting that how fast you play through your turn is up to you and also how you set up your opponents is up to you. If you like you can not move at all, forcing your opponents to move the captain close where he needs to be or you can place all your pirates (provided you have the gold) and be finished with the turn quite quickly. The second mechanic that I enjoy is the wrangling mechanic. I'm a little iffy on the rolling of 1 dice, but the idea behind the mechanic is great. It rewards those who can play their pirates more slowly and get to the bottom of the mast, but it also rewards those who choose to put more pirates to wrangle in the first place. The problem with this mechanic is that the luck factor, especially with 1 die, is still very high.
The biggest mechanic that I am not a fan of in the game is the drinking at the pub. I like the fact that others pay you in order to get a chance to win victory points. I do not like that you have to roll and roll and roll sometimes just to get those victory points. I am also not a huge fan of the treasure chest grabbing, because even though you are the one who grabs the treasure chest, you can still get the scorpion as well. Just doesn't seem to make the treasure chest worth it.
The Pieces:
There are a lot of pieces in this game and they are very high quality like most Rio Grande games. I'm really grateful they have the chip organizer with the game, because if they did not it would just be a real hassle to organize and play the game every time. It also keeps them nice and neat while storing. The pirates themselves are plastic and look good, though some of the colors are similar to each other and can sometimes be difficult to tell apart.
My final thoughts:
Rum & Pirates is not a bad game, but it isn't a great game either. It is an average game and can be better according to who you are playing with. If you are playing with a group of hard-core strategy gamers it probably won't go over that well, but if you are playing with in a group who are not looking for the next Caylus or Puerto Rico, but are looking for a game where you do have some decisions, then the game is worth playing. The length of the game can vary, but I would suggest playing it with 3 people, which is about 75 minute game. That to me is the optimum playing time for this game before it wears out its welcome.
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