For those pirate fans looking for something a little different, Bluffaneer is it! The game first intrigued me when I saw it used bone dice. “That’s super cool,” I thought. “We don’t have any games that use dice like this.” And I’m so glad I got it!
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In Bluffaneer, each player draws one card. They look at the card but don’t show anyone. Then, turns are taken to “throw” the bone dice. If the symbols face-up on the bone dice match the symbols on your card, you tell whoever threw the dice to “Gimme Yer Booty!” However, this is where it gets interesting. You can also choose to say this when the symbols *don’t* match. You can bluff. Now, if the player decides to trust you, they pay you one gold coin. If they don’t trust you, they say “Bluffaneer”, and if you were telling the truth, they pay you two gold coins. If you were bluffing, you pay them a gold coin. Afterward, whether or not you were bluffing, discard your card and draw a new one.
A fast-paced game
There are various things to do when you, the roller, roll doubles, like give every other player a gold coin, every player gives you a gold coin, or steal two or three gold coins from another player.
If you rolled the dice, and your cards match the dice, every other player discards one coin (removes it from gameplay). There’s no bluffing on this one – they have to match. And again, discard your card and draw a new one.
“Buried here beneath the tray,
Lie the map and rules ye need to play.”
Bluffaneer is great for developing social skills
My son is the big pirate lover in our house, but he still has a hard time with Bluffaneer. He desperately wants to win (he finds those gold coins very rewarding, and hates when he loses any), yet he lacks the necessary social skills. So far, we’ve only played within our family, and I know my husband and my kids really well. I can almost always tell when they’re lying. I also almost never bluff myself, choosing instead to only say “Gimme Yer Booty” when my card actually matches the dice. I do it because I usually don’t have the brainpower to lie effectively, but the result of these two factors means, so far, I’ve always won. I’m sure I wouldn’t do so well playing against strangers or new friends. Anyway, this game gets frustrating for my son.
Overall, this is a small, fun, relatively quick game that doesn’t have to take a lot of brainpower (even little kids could play it, albeit not necessarily effectively). Yet, the possibility of strategy exists, and I think it’s an important skill to learn how to read people. Like they said in “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days”: it’s all about reading people. (The game they were playing was a card game called Bullshit – I grew up calling it I Doubt It – but the same premise applies).
