Piratissimo

My wife and I just finished playing Piratissmo, a two-to-four player game for ages six and up, by Rio Grande Games, designed by Manfred Ludwig. There are three things that drew me to the game: the theme, the quality of play materials, and the simple game mechanics. I will say at the outset, that this game completely failed at two of the preceding items.

But before I review, let me explain the game.

Basically, each player sails a ship around a board in an attempt to gather ten treasures. If the player gathers too much treasure, they capsize and have to start gathering treasure again. This goal is further complicated by having some treasure forced upon you by another player or by being "overcome with greed" when landing on certain spaces. As an added wrinkle, each time the player rolls to move, they have a chance to control an ocean-going "tornado" [sic]. Apparently, six year-olds don't need to be terrorized by hurricanes. Anyway, this tornado can do a number of things, such as sending players back to home port, bumping them along on the board, or forcing them to lose treasure.

That's the long and short of it, described on three tiny pages of a fat booklet with seven other languages in it.

The Review

The Presentation

The games pieces for this game are well-produced, beautifully illustrated, and all around top-quality. Of particular note is the game board, which incorporates a self-assembled spinner for the "tornado" and little depressions within which each player can horde their treasure-- like those booklets for collecting commemorative coins. Far beyond that, however, are the ship pieces which act as player pawns. They are pre-assembled, wooden, and have three nifty little masts on them which are used as posts for carrying the ring-like treasure tokens. The ships and coins look so Asian, I'm suprised they didn't go with an Asian Spice Trader theme. Regardless, all the illustrations on the board build story are fun for everyone, even the grown-ups.

The Game Mechanics

Being a game for ages six and up, my wife and I were fairly skeptical that the game had much depth. In many ways, the game is based on pure chance. The only real decisions to make are whether or not to use the tornado (whose results are completely random) and how much gold to pick up when it is available.

For a two-player game, the mechanic by which one can steal coins from or pile coins onto an enemy ship to sink it (???) occur so infrequently as to be a complete non-issue. I would imagine that impact of this mechanic only becomes truly apparent in a three- or four-player game.

The Game Play

The game plays very quickly and a single match is likely to last only 5-10 minutes for a two player game, with an extra five minutes added for additional players. The box, however, suggests that the game can take anywhere from 25-45 minutes. Even a turn-whore would have a hard time making this superficial game last that long as there are very few decisions to stew over.

But as I said, the game plays quickly, fast-and-furious. The downside is that it is hard to become emotionally attached with gameplay this light, especially when elements of the gameplay cannot be supported by the storyline, making certain things break the suspension of disbelief. At some point, moving the "tornado" around becomes a drag because it comes up 33% of the time. It often feels as though everyone is just moving the tornado around.

If you find yourself pointing out "Yeah, but this game is for kids...," I encourage you to pick up Sea Monsters, which I reviewed previously. It's a lot more fun at any age and the game mechanics all make sense within the context of the theme.

Final Notes

Piratissimo is a gorgeous-looking game with an appealing theme. As a two player game, however, Piratissimo falls flat; it becomes a series of pointless die rolls with little player interaction. In a game with more players, the problem would be lessened, but no entirely solved.

The effects of the "tornado" are so unbalanced as to make it an unappealing option for a controlling player to use. The idea of over-loading an opponent's ship by using your own treasure? While the crux of the game, the concept itself isn't supportable by the storyline. What self-respecting pirate would load his or her own treasure onto an enemy ship? It's unthinkable!

I don't recommend buying this game for anyone interested in playing with only two players... but, if you must, buy it from CardHaus. It's far cheaper than any retailer, even with the shipping costs.