Has some part of you always wanted to be a smuggling pirate?? I have! The danger, the romance, the adventure…it seems intriguing! But dangerous…and dirty…and probably not really much fun at all. An imaginary plundering expedition is much better.
Ship Shape is just that, a game where players get to be plundering pirates who are filling their ships’ holds with the best combination of treasure, cannons, and CONTRABAND!
The game lasts 3 Voyages.
Each player starts the game with a Hold card from Voyage 1 and a deck of Crew Cards numbered 1-10.
Crates are stacked in the center of the play area, 3x the number of players.
Each player will choose 3 crates in each of the 3 voyages.
Players bid for the crates they want by choosing a crew card and playing it face down on the table. Once everyone has placed a crew card, all players simultaneously flip their cards over, revealing their bid. The player who played the highest crew card number gets to choose the first crate and so on down the line. If there is a tie, those crew cards are thrown out, and the tied players must bid again.
Players can rotate or flip the crates in any way to maximize points, which are earned for all VISIBLE items as follows:
- Gold – collect coins equal to total gold value minus the value of any rats showing in the hold
- Cannons – collect coins equal to their total cannon value MINUS the value of the lowest cannon total at the table
- Contraband – collect coins equal to their total contraband value EXCEPT the player with the highest contraband value. He got caught and all his loot was seized by the Royal Navy!
Pirates must take care to arrange their crates to show the most gold, a strategic number of cannons, and NOT the most contraband. Players also get a Full Ship Bonus for completely filling all hold spaces with cargo.
Ship Shape is an excellent way to gameschool math and logic. Players must add and subtract the value of their coins, rats, cannons, and contraband and think logically about which crates to collect. Playing the game is also a great way to improve spatial intelligence and manipulate shapes to reach specific objectives. It is also a wonderful supplement to a wide variety of history and science unit studies!
Plus, it’s just a fun family game! Thanks to Calliope Games for sharing with us!
