Sharpen yer cutlass, grab a sturdy barrel of rum (or juice, if it’s family night), and prepare to set sail on the high seas. These here games are full of treasure hunts, daring bluffs, treacherous crew mates and more double-crossin’ than a mutiny in a storm. Whether you’re commanding a mighty vessel, sneaking through the shadows as a stowaway or pushing your luck for gold and glory, this list is packed with adventure.
So batten down the hatches and get your game night crew ready. These are ten of the best pirate-themed games to bring the spirit of the seas right to your table. Feed the Kraken by Sean Franks
Feed the Kraken is the next step along the social deduction boardgame ladder, if you’ve played The Resistance before than you’ll find some similar gameplay, along with several new parts of the formula. The players are a crew of sailors trying to steer their ship home, but some of you are secretly sneaky pirates trying to steer it towards the Bermuda triangle, whilst a Cult has infiltrated the ship too, trying to raise the legendary Kraken from the ocean’s depths.
Each round the ship needs a direction to move. The Captain chooses two crew members to help him navigate, then he selects a direction card in secret with one of them and the second chooses one of the two to be the chosen course. The rest of the cards stay unrevealed, then let the accusations begin for who’s at fault for the played pirate card! Next round The Captain chooses more navigators, the previous ones off-duty this round, unless, that is, a munity happens, in which case everyone brings out their guns and whoever has the most becomes the new Captain. Who knows how long for though, as there might be another mutiny immediately!
Navigation cards can have extra effects on them adding to decision making, certain spaces allow the Captain to cut out tongues or flog the crew, and the cult leader can secretly convert more crew members to his cause. What I enjoy most is the hilarity that ensues when accusations and conspiracy theories get thrown around the table, then watching crew members throw themselves overboard in the final round rather than steer the ship to a team loss. Plus it goes up to 11 so great as a final game to round up a few groups at the end of the night!
Ahoy by Dan Street-Phillips
What says Pirates more than warring factions of vicious anthropomorphic sea creatures fighting it out on the open waves? Ahoy is one of Leder Games’ smaller titles but comes off the back of the mega success of Root. It takes the same premise of cute creatures turned menacing and lets them attack each other in a multitude of different ways.
However, Ahoy is more streamlined and easy to learn. A great step on the plank of asymmetric war gaming. Each player will have a different faction. In a two player game, both factions are all about attacking and trying to own as much territory as possible whereas the fourth and fifth players have a much more underhand game to play, smuggling goods across the map. Each faction has a number of dice and a player board and on your turn you roll the dice and decide where to place them on your ship in order to take specific actions. You can load your cannons meaning that anytime you share a space with another place, a fight breaks out. Or you can simply sail and move across the map.
Each faction has their own set of actions as well allowing you to try and achieve your unique victory goals. You can all visit islands in order to get crew cards too, which give you a variety of extra abilities and powers. In such a small box there is so much going on! But don’t let Kyle Ferrin’s cute and colourful artwork fool you, this is an aggressive game, so all that is left for me to say is, beware me hearties… beware!
Sea of Thieves: Voyage of Legends by Steve Conoboy
Like any pirate worth his (sea) salt, this particular peculiar vessel has a bit of a reputation. Some people (moaners) say they’ve done the maths and feel that attacking other players is pointless. Others have gone so far as to claim that the game is broken. That’s fine, but they’re wrong.
The combat has to be looked at from a different angle. In this game it’s a disruptor. In the videogame you respawn, and besides, you can’t have a board game in which a player is killed outright while everyone else plays for another two or three hours (oh, this game can run way longer than the box claims).
It looks amazing on the table (biggest one you can find, please). And it feels very piratey too. This feel is more important to me than whether or not the rulebook is a bit iffy (it is). It adheres to the open world style of the original game, which is what we’re here for. Horde treasure. Complete quests. Focus on the kraken. Hunt your fellow players and be a total pain. Collect your reputation points any way you see fit. I beg you, however, to use this house rule: don’t use the Fortune cards to reroll. I guarantee a much better experience this way. Take a gamble on this one, and may your anchor be tight, your cork be loose, your rum be spiced and your compass be true. Land lubbers need not apply.
Libertalia by Favouritefoe
Pirates are generally pretty salty folk. All that sea air and ocean-going. But sometimes they’ll surprise you. Libertalia is a twist on the norm as it is a game where players are competing sky pirates. Admirals in charge of flying ships full of brave buccaneers who ride the winds in search of loot.
Mechanics wise, it’s a simultaneous action, hand management, push your luck, deck curating, variable turn order strategy game for 1-6 players. Played over three rounds (“voyages”), you get to decide which crew members are going off to do your bidding on each day of the relevant journey. Actions and abilities are then taken and triggered according to initiative (numeric value) and the time of day. Once the loot has been picked, those characters go back to your ships. Scoring at the end of a voyage adds doubloons to your score dial and then, after kicking any crew members into the graveyard (pirates are harsh!), it’s time to head out again. At the end of the 6th day of the 3rd voyage, players will reveal their final scores, and the richest Admiral will be crowned the Swarthiest Sky Pirate of them all!
Libertailia is easy to learn and simple to play and the decision making is great.
Predicting who your opponents might send out, working out your timings to snatch the loot you want, and knowing you’ll likely lose the crew members you play is a tasty mix. Mixing the short and long game, attending to both strategy and flexibility, and countering a dose of lady luck keeps all the sky pirates on their toes. With superb Stonemaier components and unique anthropomorphic illustrations in this revamped edition, Libertalia is a great game to satisfy your inner swashbuckler.
Traitors Aboard by Sophie Jones
If you love pirate-themed games but also can’t get enough of bluffing and social deduction, Traitors Aboard is a perfect fit. In this 3 to 8 player game, pirates are working together to fill a treasure chest with gold… or so it seems. Hidden among them are sneaky mutineers who are quietly trying to sabotage the crew’s efforts. If the pirates declare the wrong amount of gold when they challenge it, the mutineers win. Simple as that.
To stir the pot, players can draw ability cards that bring plenty of pirate mischief. You might play a Spyglass to peek at the top three cards in the chest and rearrange them to your advantage, or Miraculous Catch to draw three and add two back onto the treasure deck. It’s all about gathering information, sowing doubt and turning suspicion on everyone else.
Of course, if someone’s acting a little too shifty, the crew can hand them a Walk the Plank card. Three of those and it’s overboard for you. But watch out. If too many loyal pirates end up swimming with the fishes, the mutineers can win by simply outnumbering the crew.
This game is loud, chaotic and full of sneaky twists. Every turn feels like a guessing game of who’s lying to cover their tracks and who’s just got bad luck. It gives off strong Werewolf and Mafia vibes, but with a cutthroat pirate twist.
Traitors Aboard is best with a bigger crew and only gets better when you fully embrace the pirate theme. Talk the talk, call out the scallywags, and trust no one on deck.
Skull Queen by Roger BW
This 2-6 player game by Stefan Dorra is a wolf in trick-taking clothing, best with four players or more.
Superficially it’s a must-follow trick-taker: four suits with values 1-12, plus a wild-suited 0 and 13. One player leads, everyone else must play from the same suit if they can. Then comes the resolution: every card that is the only one of its suit in the trick goes to the centre, and will be counted in every future trick. For each suit with more than one card in the trick, the player who put down the highest card moves their pirate of that colour one step towards the outer end of their plank; lowest card moves inwards. (Some cards can force this to be a double move.)
If your pirate falls off either end, they won’t score. Otherwise, you score the value of the spaces they’re on at the end of the round. The plank is double-sided: you decide at the start of each round whether you’ll get more points from the far end (you have high cards) or the near (low). Having the highest card in the lead suit only makes you the lead player for the next trick. Play one round per player and add up the scores.
This is a fiddly game to get the hang of, but rewarding once it “clicks”. There’s no connection with Skull King apart from the publisher. Players with colour vision abnormalities will have trouble, as the meeples and some of the cards are only distinguished by colour.
Stomp the Plank by Sam De Smith
If nautical nonsense be what ye wish, then grab yer elephants and Stomp The Plank! Or something. It’s very unusual to see a family game in high spec packaging, but in Stomp the Plank! is ALL about the package. The sleeve slides off to reveal the box becomes your pirate ship. Your task? Balancing your nautical elephants on planks that attach magnetically to your ship, placing crates (wooden draughts) on the end of the planks – first one in the water loses!
The push your luck element comes from the treasure cards. Players take turns flipping them over: for each different card type turned revealed, the other players will have to add a crate on BUT if you reveal two cards the same instead you must advance along your own plank. In theory, you can outright win by revealing one of every treasure type but the chances are very slim – then again, it IS about pushing your luck.
I don’t normally like games about making someone lose rather than winning, but all of us agreed that this was so much fast, furious fun that it really wasn’t an issue – we just wanted to keep playing!
An absolute cracker, proper all ages fun. Yarr, etc.
Port Royal by Rob Wright
Ahoy, me hearties! Hoist the Jolly Roger, splice the mainbrace and the let’s sail the Spanish Main – I spy a sail on the horizon, and if it’s yellow, then we’ll be rolling in booty and swimming in grog tonight…
Port Royale is not a pirate game, per se – it features pirates but is more about crews, boats, wizbolts and pushing your luck. On your turn, you turn over cards from a shared deck that comprises of boats, crew, expeditions and tax demands (yes, really). You can decide to stop at any time, but the more cards you show, the more booty you can scoop.
But beware – if you reveal two boats of the same colour it’s a bust. If you don’t bust, though, you get a chance to pick up gold from the boats or to hire crew to gain you bonuses (including the jester/wizbolt that gives you a payout if someone busts out) or help to see off ne-er do well pinasses (tee hee). If there are cards left, other players can obtain them… with you getting your cut, of course.
A simple, small box game with plenty of scope for outrageous gambles and absurd bad luck, but huge amounts of fun either way and will not require a huge pile of doubloons to get hold of. Arrrh!
Dead Reckoning by Neil Parker
Dead Reckoning is an excellent pirate themed game. Do you like player interaction? Dynamic games where being proactive is important? If so, Dead Reckoning is one for you.
In this game, players take the role of pirates. You have your ship, your crew and the game involves exploring sea and island tiles, raiding opponents for booty, colonisation and building, achieving objectives and ultimately being the richest pirate at the end of the game.
There are some excellent mechanics in the way your crew are upgraded and you are limited in what crew you can use, but it isn’t too onerous. What crew you choose or are dealt with determines what actions you can take and how effective you are to circumstances like being attacked.
This is a game with a heavy slice of confrontation. You can win without it, but the game rewards those pirates that put their reputations on the line, yaarrgh! So it pays, literally, if you are proactive and don’t mind a little aggression. I wouldn’t want to put people off playing because of this, but it is a pirate game there is no space for mere explorers and merchants.
In the games I’ve played, it’s been clear you cannot turtle and expect success. You have to explore and take risks. The game is very thematic in the way it plays and the aesthetics and is a quick enough game to allow for a quick replay.
Plunder by Sophie Jones
When you’re ready to hoist the sails and live the pirate life, Plunder is a great choice. This 2–6 player game throws you right into the action, building up your armada, battling rival ships with cannon fire, claiming treasure and seizing islands to rule. There’s danger on every wave, including an ever-moving storm and the occasional need to parley with pirates far stronger than you.
What I really like about Plunder is how it balances big pirate action with simple rules. It’s got enough going on to satisfy seasoned players but remains accessible enough for families and casual crews. With each additional player, the game gets more chaotic and a fair bit longer but that only adds to the tension and drama on the high seas.
Gameplay leans into luck, using a simple roll-and-move mechanic that suits the unpredictable nature of sailing. The modular ocean map is made up of tiles that can be rearranged each time you play, which keeps things fresh. Spinners control where treasure pops up and where the storm drifts, adding even more randomness, just like real pirate life.
But one of the best things about Plunder is its production. You get tiny 3D ships you can kit out with cannons, sails and crew, giving the game a tactile, toy-like feel that fits the theme perfectly. It’s got the looks and the loot to make any cap’n proud.
And there you have it, me hearties, ten pirate games that’ll have you plundering, plotting and laughing all the way to Davy Jones’ locker. Whether you’re outwitting your crew in Traitors Aboard, balancing treasure on a wobbly plank, or fighting for fame in Ahoy!, there’s no shortage of mischief and mayhem.
If you’re ready for a bit of lootin’, lyin’ and late-night sea shenanigans, any one of these games will do the trick. Now off you go, the tide’s in, the wind’s fair, and your next adventure awaits.
