BERMUDA PIRATES
Designer: Jeppe Norsker | Publisher: Foxmind
It’s hard not to be intrigued by magnets in a game – after all, they’re a bit magic. In this case, they’re for scuppering your treasure transporting plans. Bermuda Pirates uses a series of small magnetic discs, hidden beneath the main game board on modular underboards so that it’s a bit random each time you set up the game.
Each player then takes turns moving from their dock on the edge, to the central treasure-laden island, popping a treasure that matches the colour of that side of the island into your boat, and trying to head back. You do this by pushing the back of the boat only. Simple right? Not when the front of your boat might at any time be snapped down by the wild, and magnetic, currents. Annoying when unburdened, awful when you see your hard-collected gem catapult across the board, to splash down nearby one of your competing pirates. You can make thing easier to remember by putting down buoys for future reference, but that only goes so far. You’ll have to rely on your memory to guide you towards the bejewelled island.
It’s really well put together, or should we say engineered? The gems rarely fly beyond the board and it’s actually quite tricky to do exactly what you want. It’s competitive in a way that games aimed at children are often best at (which is to say when adult play it can get a bit rough). The only downside is that there is downtime, so if your younger pirates struggle with that – and don’t enjoy holding their breath in the hope their piratey opposition fails – that may be a setback, but otherwise it’s a charming, novel and pleasing dexterity game.
CHRISTOPHER JOHN EGGETT