Friday, September 19, 2008

Play Like A Pirate Day: Cinerati's Replacement for Talk Like A Pirate Day

Nothing is more irritating than hearing your co-workers say, "Aaaargh, Avast, Ye Mateys." Potentially worse is the evergreen, "Dead Men Tell No Tales...Yar." For years, we have be scourged with International Talk Like A Pirate Day. It is time for that phenomenon to die.

That doesn't mean that we should no longer have a day celebrating piracy and the outlaw attitude, or as the founder of Talk Like A Pirate Day called it "Piratitude." Pirates are still awesome, it's just talking like a pirate that is lame. So we hear at Cinerati have decided to reclaim the holiday by creating "International Play Like A Pirate Day."

From now on September 19th will be a day when families and friends get together and enjoy some form of Piratical Recreation. Such recreation can include celebrating by talking like pirates, certainly role play (in the traditional sense) is play. Our celebration is inclusive, not exclusive. But families and friends will no longer be limited to listening to the "yars" and "aaarghs" of everyone around them. Some might choose more formal ludographic participation -- that's game play.

We here at Cinerati have some recommended Play Like A Pirate Day activities. These include:

1) Play a pirate themed roleplaying game. In particular, we recommend Pinnacle Entertainment Group's excellent PIRATES OF THE SPANISH MAIN. This is highly recommended for those who want to talk like a pirate. It encourages such behavior in an appropriate venue. Besides, by role playing (in the game sense) participants can act far more Piratical than is allowed under modern mores and laws.

If you want a more heroic bent with mystical aspects, you can always play Pinnacle's 50 Fathoms instead.



2)If you own a copy -- and not many do -- play an exciting session of the classic Broadsides and Boarding Parties



If you don't own a copy of Broadsides, try one of these two excellent pirate games from GMT Games.

3) Blackbeard: The Golden Age of Piracy. The game is a redesign of Avalon Hill's classic game of the same name. The new version is suitable for 1 to 5 players and has less "down time" for players who aren't in their current turn.



4) Winds of Plunder is a quick and fun game that is more in the style of the "Eurogame" than Blackbeard or Broadsides.


5) You can play the previously reviewed Sword and Skull.


6) Lastly, we recommend watching one of your favorite pirate films. We've included some of our favorites in the carousel below.



Or your can sing "For I am a Pirate King!"

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