Buccaneer (game)
Encyclopedia
Buccaneer was a board game
published in Britain
by Waddingtons
between the 1930s and 1980s.
The game board depicted the sea, broken into squares. Around the edges were ports, some of which were owned by players, others were "free ports". At the centre was Treasure Island, upon which was placed realistic looking treasures: diamond
s, rubies
, pearl
s, gold
bars, and rum
barrels.
Diamonds are worth 5 points.
Rubies are worth 5 points.
Gold is worth 4 points.
Pearls are worth 3 points.
Rum is worth 2 points.
Each player had a ship which they would sail to Treasure Island
and pick up a "Chance Card." These cards contained instructions, either bad ("You are blown to Cliff Creek") or good ("Take treasure up to 5 in total value"). The treasure would be placed inside the plastic ship, which could contain up to two treasures, and the player would sail back to home port to unload the treasure, or trade treasure and crew at the other ports.
Players could attack other players' ships during the game and capture their treasure or crew. The number of spaces a player could move, as well as the outcomes of battles was decided on the crew cards in the hand of each player.
In all versions since at least the 1958 version; the winner was the first to collect 20 points worth of treasure. There seems somewhere to have been the idea that in at least one version the winner of the game was the first to acquire five treasures of the same kind, but this Wikieditor has seen many versions of this game and believes the 20 points worth of treasure to be the standard win condition. There are only 6 of each treasure type in all versions up to the time the game was changed from 6 to 4 players (see below), when the treasures were dropped to 5 of each type. The only exception to this is in the early 1938 version, where there were 9 rum barrels available, but only 6 of each of the other treasure items.
The early 1938 version of the game had a roll up canvas board, that came in a tube, and the playing area was 25 x 25 squares (Treasure Island spanned 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)
The game went through several different revisions. The game was revised around 1958 (hence versions with 6 players after this are usually referred to as the '1958 version'). The playing area was now a folding board with a square cut out for a plastic tray insert as Treasure Island. The island was now only 4 x 4 squares and thus the playing area shrunk by one square to 24 x 24 squares.
There were at least three versions sold 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, and the box used the same basic graphics as the 'small box' version, then came what has become known as the 'blue box' version with the exciting Pirates finding a treasure chest on the cover, and the box insert also containing 'Treasure island' graphics with palm trees etc.
The most obvious version change was during the late 1960s-1970s. These changes included shrinking of the playing area from 24x24 squares to 20x20 squares, the reduction and re-location of certain ports, reduction in the amount of treasure available (only 5 of each type now), along with the maximum number of players being reduced from 6 to 4.
A version of the game named Trade Winds, with slightly different rules and board additions, was available in the US. The winning condition for Trade Winds was to gather treasure worth 20 points at their home port.
To coincide with the recent Pirates of the Caribbean
movies, a special Pirates of the Caribbean edition of Buccaneer was launched in 2006.
Board game
A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...
published in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
by Waddingtons
Waddingtons
Waddingtons was a publisher of card and board games in the United Kingdom. The company was founded by John Waddington of Leeds, England and Wilson Barratt, under the name Waddingtons Limited...
between the 1930s and 1980s.
The game board depicted the sea, broken into squares. Around the edges were ports, some of which were owned by players, others were "free ports". At the centre was Treasure Island, upon which was placed realistic looking treasures: diamond
Diamond
In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...
s, rubies
Ruby
A ruby is a pink to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum . The red color is caused mainly by the presence of the element chromium. Its name comes from ruber, Latin for red. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapphires...
, pearl
Pearl
A pearl is a hard object produced within the soft tissue of a living shelled mollusk. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is made up of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers. The ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth, but many other...
s, gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
bars, and rum
Rum
Rum is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from sugarcane by-products such as molasses, or directly from sugarcane juice, by a process of fermentation and distillation. The distillate, a clear liquid, is then usually aged in oak barrels...
barrels.
Diamonds are worth 5 points.
Rubies are worth 5 points.
Gold is worth 4 points.
Pearls are worth 3 points.
Rum is worth 2 points.
Each player had a ship which they would sail to Treasure Island
Treasure Island
Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "pirates and buried gold". First published as a book on May 23, 1883, it was originally serialized in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881–82 under the title Treasure Island; or, the...
and pick up a "Chance Card." These cards contained instructions, either bad ("You are blown to Cliff Creek") or good ("Take treasure up to 5 in total value"). The treasure would be placed inside the plastic ship, which could contain up to two treasures, and the player would sail back to home port to unload the treasure, or trade treasure and crew at the other ports.
Players could attack other players' ships during the game and capture their treasure or crew. The number of spaces a player could move, as well as the outcomes of battles was decided on the crew cards in the hand of each player.
In all versions since at least the 1958 version; the winner was the first to collect 20 points worth of treasure. There seems somewhere to have been the idea that in at least one version the winner of the game was the first to acquire five treasures of the same kind, but this Wikieditor has seen many versions of this game and believes the 20 points worth of treasure to be the standard win condition. There are only 6 of each treasure type in all versions up to the time the game was changed from 6 to 4 players (see below), when the treasures were dropped to 5 of each type. The only exception to this is in the early 1938 version, where there were 9 rum barrels available, but only 6 of each of the other treasure items.
The early 1938 version of the game had a roll up canvas board, that came in a tube, and the playing area was 25 x 25 squares (Treasure Island spanned 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)
The game went through several different revisions. The game was revised around 1958 (hence versions with 6 players after this are usually referred to as the '1958 version'). The playing area was now a folding board with a square cut out for a plastic tray insert as Treasure Island. The island was now only 4 x 4 squares and thus the playing area shrunk by one square to 24 x 24 squares.
There were at least three versions sold 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, and the box used the same basic graphics as the 'small box' version, then came what has become known as the 'blue box' version with the exciting Pirates finding a treasure chest on the cover, and the box insert also containing 'Treasure island' graphics with palm trees etc.
The most obvious version change was during the late 1960s-1970s. These changes included shrinking of the playing area from 24x24 squares to 20x20 squares, the reduction and re-location of certain ports, reduction in the amount of treasure available (only 5 of each type now), along with the maximum number of players being reduced from 6 to 4.
A version of the game named Trade Winds, with slightly different rules and board additions, was available in the US. The winning condition for Trade Winds was to gather treasure worth 20 points at their home port.
To coincide with the recent Pirates of the Caribbean
Pirates of the Caribbean
Pirates of the Caribbean is a multi-billion dollar Walt Disney franchise encompassing a series of films, a theme park ride, and spinoff novels as well as numerous video games and other publications. The franchise originates with the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction, which opened at Disneyland in...
movies, a special Pirates of the Caribbean edition of Buccaneer was launched in 2006.