Review

Like pirates and treasure? Like blowing up your enemies with cannons? If so, Dead Man's Treasure by Playroom Entertainment is for you.

For three to five players, ages 8 and up, this fast-moving game from famous board-game designer Reiner Knizia comes with six island boards, two pirate pawns, 20 treasure tiles, 40 pirate cards and a colorful 4-page instruction booklet.

The game is quick to set up, easy to learn and plays in 20 minutes or less.

Essentially, Captain Flint buried his treasure, consisting of 20 tokens with random values printed on them, on six different islands before he died.

During game play, players use numbered cards to place hidden bets on the islands of their choice in an attempt to gain control of that island. At the end of the game, the bets for each island are tallied, and the player with the highest total points wins the best treasures.

There are two additional elements that make this a fun game. One is that each player gets one cannon card, which he may use instead of a bet. When a cannon card is revealed, it wipes out all bets on that island, making for some great fortune-reversing game play.

Also, there are two pirate pawns in the game: one for the ghost of Captain Flint, who is trying to protect his treasure, and the other for Pirate Ben Gunn, who is searching for it. When a bet is placed on an island containing one or both pawns, it advances them to the next island.

Game play stops when either pawn circles the board and returns to its home island. The island that Captain Flint ends on is considered haunted, and no treasure is awarded. The player who wins the island where Pirate Ben ends the game receives 10 bonus treasure points.