''Buccaneer'' is a
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.
* British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
board game
A board game is a type of tabletop game that involves small objects () that are placed and moved in particular ways on a specially designed patterned game board, potentially including other components, e.g. dice. The earliest known uses of the ...
published by
Waddingtons
Waddingtons was a British manufacturer of card and board games. The company was founded by John Waddington of Leeds, England and the manager, actor and playwright Wilson Barrett, under the name ''Waddingtons Limited''. The name was changed i ...
between the 1930s and 1980s.
Board design
The game board depicts the sea, broken into squares. Around the edges are ports, some owned by players, others being "free ports". At the centre is Treasure Island, upon which are
placed semi-realistic looking treasures:
diamond
Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...
s,
rubies
Ruby is a pinkish-red-to-blood-red-colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum (aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapphi ...
,
pearl
A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle (mollusc), mantle) of a living Exoskeleton, shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pear ...
s,
gold
Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...
bars, and
rum
Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is often aged in barrels of oak. Rum originated in the Caribbean in the 17th century, but today it is produced i ...
barrels.
Evolution of design
1930s
The 1938 version of the game had a roll up canvas board (packaged in a tube) and a playing area of 25 x 25 squares, the Treasure Island in the middle spanning 5 x 5 squares. Complete sets of this version are now very rare and in good condition can sell for more than £100 (UK pounds - as of 2010). This version had 9 rum barrels and 6 of each of the other treasure items.
1950s
The game has been revised over the years. A major revision in 1958 saw the playing area change to a folding board with a square cut out for a plastic tray insert as Treasure Island. The island shrank to 4 x 4 squares and the playing area to 24 x 24 squares. However, the 1958 continued to be a 6 player game.
At least three versions of the game appeared in this format, the 'small box' version with all the pieces and cards in a small box and a separate board which was made quite thick and heavy, then there came the 'large box' version where the box now contained the folded board. Both versions used the same basic graphics until these were replaced by the 'blue box' version with excited Pirates finding a treasure chest displayed on the cover. A box insert now came with 'Treasure island' graphics, palm trees etc.
1960-70s
Important changes in the late 1960s-1970s saw the number of players fall from 6 to 4. The playing area shrank from 24x24 squares to 20x20 squares, ports were relocated or lost, and treasure available was reduced to 5 of each type.
Game play
The players each have a ship which they can sail to
Treasure Island
''Treasure Island'' (originally titled ''The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys''Hammond, J. R. 1984. "Treasure Island." In ''A Robert Louis Stevenson Companion'', Palgrave Macmillan Literary Companions. London: Palgrave Macmillan. .) is an adventure a ...
and pick up a "Chance Card." These cards contain instructions, either bad ("You are blown to Cliff Creek") or good ("Take treasure up to 5 in total value"). The treasure is placed inside the plastic ship, which can contain up to two treasures, and the player can sail back to home port to unload the treasure, or trade treasure and crew at the other ports.
Players can attack other players' ships during the game and capture their treasure or crew. The number of spaces a player can move and outcomes of battles are decided on the crew cards held in the hand of each player.
In all versions since "1958 version" (and perhaps earlier) the winner was the first to collect 20 points worth of treasure.
Treasure table
Other versions
The US version of the game was called ''Trade Winds'' and used slightly different rules and board additions. The winning condition was not changed, gathering treasure worth 20 points at the player's home port.
To coincide with the recent
Pirates of the Caribbean
''Pirates of the Caribbean'' is a Disney media franchise encompassing numerous theme park rides, a series of films, and spin-off novels, as well as a number of related video games and other media publications. The franchise originated with Wa ...
movies, a special ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' edition of Buccaneer was launched in 2006.
Reviews
*''Games & Puzzles''
References
External links
Describes various editions, with links to PDF rules*
{{Waddingtons
Board games introduced in 1938
Board games about history
Waddingtons games