Board Game Reviews

Tom Vasel takes a look at We're Sinking.

A pirate's life is all about the treasure — or surviving to tell the tale! Turn yourself into a legend by defeating the enemy, saving the ship, and having the most valuable loot in your hand...but if the ship does sink, be the pirate who survived to tell the tale by having the fewest cards in your hand so that you can be light enough to flee on the lifeboat.

In We're Sinking!, a 3-6 player, secret action-taking survival game, players take on the role of pirates on a ship under siege. As the ship takes damage, the crew must work together to repair the ship and defeat one of the threats — kraken, skeleton pirates, megalodon, or sirens — while keeping the ship from sinking.

Each turn, players choose one of four actions: Bucket decreases the current water level; Patch fixes breaches and busted cannon; Fire allows you to fire cannons at the enemy; and Plunder allows you to steal revealed loot cards. Players discuss and possibly bluff about which actions they should take, then they secretly choose their actions on hidden compass dials, place them face down, then reveal them simultaneously.

Will you or your fellow crew instead choose to selfishly pocket treasure as precious time runs out? If you can manage to take out the threat, the game ends, and you win if you have the largest treasure score. If the ship sinks before taking out the threat, you win by having the fewest cards in hand.

Players constantly make tough decisions as they change their strategies based on how close they think the ship is to sinking or how trustworthy their fellow mates ar(rrr)e.