Ahoy Mateys! Today is the day! Talk Like A Pirate Day has closed in fast on our stern and we here at The Cardboard Cantina are continuing our course with another pirate-themed review! We tip our hats to some of history’s finest this day with a game that pays tribute to the not-so-lacey lassies of the high seas. Notable figures such as Anne Bonny, Grace O’Malley, Ching Shih, and more set sail in search of booty with Pirate Party: Women of the High Seas, and, if our inklings are any indication, we all will need to batten down the hatches because the battle is bound to begin between these bloodthirsty beauties.

Pirate Party: Women of the High Seas is Seaport Games‘ first release. The game started as a passion project for designer Marge Rosen during COVID and is currently being brought to life on Kickstarter as of this writing. This 1-4 player card game features artwork from Laura Erwin. Erwin is credited with having designed, illustrated, and self-published her own game, Potions Please, in 2019. Erwin’s recognizable style does an excellent job portraying the depictions of the six real-life pirates presented in the game while also appealing to a wide range of audiences.

Pirate Party: Women of the High Seas is all about set collection, hand management, and point salad with a bit of take that garnished on top. Preparation is quick and easy by simply shuffling the deck and dealing a hand of eight cards to each player. One suggestion we took from the Kickstarter page was to shuffle the Kraken Attack card separately into the bottom quarter of the draw deck to make sure rounds did not end too quickly. If not playing with this optional rule and the card ends up in a player’s hand it is shuffled back into the draw deck and they replace it with a new card. Players will then parley (a.k.a. determine amongst themselves) the victory conditions: how many rounds to play or a point total to reach before the winner is determined. This seemed a bit out of order and we suggest deciding this before the initial hands are dealt. The rules do not state how to determine the first player of each round, but we chose one randomly for the first and the player with the lowest point total began each of the following.

On a player’s turn, they may play cards from their hand in several ways. Suits sets of three or more are played by placing a captain and at least one crew on the table with the other cards also matching suit and up to one ship. When a captain is played you should immediately use the action printed on their card. Kind sets are things like birds or cannons and are also played in groups of at least three cards. Adventure cards are singularly played and will have actions on them that affect the game as they come out. Mermaid cards are considered wild, though it should be noted that if a player can ever replace any in-play mermaid with the actual card she is representing then they may replace her on their turn. There is also a Booty card in the deck that can be played as its own set of one for a decent point boost. As many cards as are desired may be played on your turn and you finish your plays by drawing a single card into your hand. Play will progress until either a player has no cards in their hand or the Kraken Attack card is drawn. If the latter occurs then all players will reduce their final score for the round according to any cards they had left in their hand, but no penalty occurs should a round end with someone emptying their hand.

There is a lot to love about this game – and not all of it has to do with actual gameplay! One aspect that we truly appreciated, for example, is that the cards do not solely rely on color to determine their suit, but also shapes to differentiate them. This will be a great help to those that may have color blindness or other vision concerns. Additionally, there are included rules for a single-player version, but we had so much fun playing this with friends that we didn’t get a chance to play it before writing this review. Be that as it may, there are days when one or the other of us just wants to hang out and play a game during our downtime, and including a solo option is very helpful for this. As noted above, this was a passion project and it shows! Within the rulebook, on the Captain cards themselves, and the game’s website, there is information on the real-life ladies and the ships that are featured in the game. A lot of care was given to their depictions and stories and, though there are only six female pirates present in the game thus far, it left us wanting to know more! When it comes to the game itself, it is quick, easy to learn, and can be played with people of any age. The game pays homage to its classic card game roots but adds enough twists and changes that it still holds its own. Check out the Kickstarter running now for more details on Pirate Party: Women of the High Seas and to see what all this great little game has to offer today!

All photos of Seaport Games products were taken and edited by Krista.