Potato puns, coding, and pirates; what could be better? Okay, it’d be really great if Potato Pirates was cooperative, but unfortunately, it’s not. Other than that, though, if your kids love pirates or you’re exploring coding, you need to check out Potato Pirates!

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I got Potato Pirates toward the beginning of our gameschooling adventure. It was touted as a great game to learn coding principles (and it is!) and I found it for a great deal on eBay. Unfortunately, my son was about 5 at the time and going through a super competitive phase. We only played it once or twice before putting it up for the time being.

My son has much better sportsmanship now, but alas, after nearly a decade of being obsessed with pirates, he isn’t anymore. However, he still gets a kick out of the bloodthirsty (carbthirsty?) nature of the game. His little sister, on the other hand, is at an emotionally sensitive period and usually does not have the emotional resilience to play.

The worst part about Potato Pirates is how very cutthroat it is. There aren’t very many ways to gain more potatoes, so it’s basically whoever bleeds out slowest. Everyone starts out with 20 potato crew and every action others take has the potential of removing some of your potatoes. There’s no “being nice” in this game and I’m still working on adapting it for cooperative play.

Potato Pirates does have a lot going for it, however. The coding principles are solid. You can use the game to explore conditional programs (“if/then” or “while”) and nested loops. Limiting each ship to only having 3 cards on it and discarding programs after they’re used help to keep the game balanced.

The potato puns throughout the game are golden. “The Frying Dutchpan” and the “SS Megachip” are special cards that allow you to keep a program after use or to have more than 5 cards on a ship. The attacks are roasting, frying, and mashing. Reading the instructional booklet is hilarious; the game is worth it for the puns alone.