13 Best Pirate Board Games of 2025 Reviewed
Set sail for fun with these pirate games. Perfect for new players, each one brings wild pirate adventures to your table!
13 Best Pirate Board Games for New Players: Set Sail for Fun! Ahoy! If you’ve ever wanted to yell ‘Arrr!’ at your friends and get away with it, you’re in luck. We’ve rounded up the 13 best pirate board games after plenty of raucous game nights, arguing about rules and fighting over plastic doubloons. For this list, we focused on pirate games with easy rules, clever twists, and enough adventure to make you feel the salty spray. Whether you want to loot, plunder, or just steal your mate’s snacks, there’s a perfect pirate board game here for every new crew.
On this list:
13 Pirate’s Cove
Pirate’s Cove throws you into wild battles on the high seas. We kept coming back for more because the game mixes luck, tactics, and a treasure-lust that makes everyone act like they just guzzled a barrel of grog. The art and components scream ‘pirate’ and even our friend Dave, who gets sea-sick on Google Maps, wanted another round. It’s easy to teach, so even new swashbucklers will pick it up faster than a seagull nabs a chip.
12 Dead Man’s Doubloons
This pirate game is a wild race for treasure followed by fierce fights to escape with the most loot. We loved how the board flips, turning the race into a final brawl for all the coins. It’s fast, chaotic, and packed with scurvy dog shenanigans. Playing with friends led to dramatic betrayals and wild laughter—like every good pirate story should. Perfect for anyone who loves quick play and plotting.
11 Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest
Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest takes the pirate theme into the sky (yes, there are flying pirate ships). We were hooked by the bluffing and card play. Every game feels different because you use the same hand as everyone else, but play it in your own sneaky way. It’s a real brain-burner with just enough luck to keep things spicy. We always ended up accusing each other of being ‘honest pirates,’ which, of course, is impossible.
10 Merchants & Marauders
Merchants & Marauders is a sandbox adventure where you get to pick between hunting pirates or being one yourself. We spent hours fighting ships, avoiding storms, and giggling over the trade system. Every game feels like a new story—sometimes you’re filthy rich, sometimes you’re shark food. It’s a little complex, but once everyone has a peg leg in the rules, you’ll all be yarr-ing until dawn.
9 Jamaica
Jamaica is a pirate race around the island with more backstabbing than a barrel of cutlasses. It looks whimsical, so new players get roped in fast, but behind the pretty art hides a mean streak! Fighting over treasures, careful planning, and a good bit of dice luck kept us all on our toes. Quick to play and easy to love, this pirate game is a staple on our shelves.
8 Treasure Island
Treasure Island is all about deduction and bluffing, just like a pirate hiding their loot. One player is Long John Silver, lying through his teeth, while everyone else pokes around the map with dry-erase markers. Drawing on the board to search for treasure made us feel like real-life pirates (minus the scurvy). It’s tense, clever, and filled with memorable moments of ‘aha!’ and ‘arrrrgh!’.
7 Skull King
Skull King is trick-taking with a pirate twist, and we mean twist! Bidding, pirates, mermaids, and even the mighty Skull King himself make this card game more fun than singing sea shanties. We played so many rounds we started talking like pirates even outside the game. Great for families, parties, and anyone who likes their card games with a side of chaos.
6 Sea of Clouds
Sea of Clouds puts you in charge of a pirate airship (so many airborne pirates!). The game features set collection with a push-your-luck mechanic that got us taking risky treasures and sometimes ending up with nothing but old boots. The art is charming, and the rules are light, making it perfect for a casual pirate-themed night.
5 Rattle, Battle, Grab the Loot
The name says it all! This pirate game has dice as ships. Yes, we ‘sailed’ our dice into battles by literally rolling them into the box. The fun comes from customizing your ships and laughing at how badly your dice land. It’s silly, strategic, and way more fun than we expected. Recommended for anyone wanting a goofy but clever pirate game experience.
4 Black Fleet
Black Fleet offers the perfect mix of moving pirates, merchants, and navy ships around a beautifully colorful board. We loved delivering goods, nabbing gold, and unleashing special powers for wild swings. The turns are snappy and the board never sits still, which kept everyone at the table alert and cackling. Great for families or anyone wanting lighter pirate action.
3 Loot
Loot is a fast-playing pirate card game where you fight over merchant ships with your pirate crews. We loved how simple rules led to cutthroat take-that moments. The art is fun, the laughs are real, and we always play more than one round. Perfect when you need a pirate fix in under half an hour.
2 Pirate Fluxx
Pirate Fluxx takes the wacky Fluxx formula and stuffs it full of pirate-y goodness. The rules change every turn and the goals shift, which keeps everyone guessing and sometimes groaning (in a good way). When we play, nobody trusts anyone and there’s always at least one person talking in a bad pirate accent. A must for fans of chaos and laughs.
1 Merchants & Marauders: Broadsides
We saved the best for last. Merchants & Marauders: Broadsides is a two-player pirate duel that feels like a real ship battle. You’re manning ships, firing cannons, and shouting ‘reload’ while your opponent tries to sink you. The tension is high, the action is fast, and every decision feels important. We picked this as the top pirate board game because it’s pure, focused pirate action without all the extras—just you, your opponent, and victory (or a trip to Davy Jones’ Locker).
