I really like pirates, and when you can add them to board games you’ve definitely got me interested. In fact, to pass the time while sailing the open seas pirates often played a bunch of different games, including a fan favorite: Liar’s Dice. When it comes to pirating, though, the best thing about the job is the loot! While some pirate games have you attacking other ships out in the water, Jackal Archipelago from Mosigra Studios has you disembarking on different islands to face danger and squander what booty you can find!
In Jackal Archipelago you’ll control a band of pirates as they sail from island to island on a quest to find the Jackal’s buried treasure. You’ll visit randomly-generated islands where you’ll have to dig for buried treasure, face the wilds of the forests for gold, and climb deadly mountains for delicious doubloons. On your adventure you might find yourself looking down the barrel of a cannon, or worse – the maw of a giant crocodile! Your group of pirates will need to make their way across the island to not only find the buried treasure, but to haul it back to your ship to make a (somewhat) clean getaway. Keep your good eye out, though, as other players will undoubtedly send their pirates to intercept you in their attempts to not let you off the island with any loot!
Jackal has been doing amazingly well in the Russian market for 8 years now. Recently in 2015 Jackal sold 40,000 copies, and it qualified as the best-selling strategy game in the three years leading up to it. Mosigra has taken to Kickstarter to help fund the game in efforts of getting the title more notability here in the states as well as offering gamers the opportunity to see what the Jackal series of games has to offer. For $30 you can secure yourself a copy of the game and it’ll be delivered by July of this year, according to the campaign. What makes me the most excited about this game, outside of the stunning artwork and theme, is the fact that it’s 2-4 players and supports ages 6 years and older. This immediately makes me want to grab it to take home and play with my little geekling. Make sure you don’t lose your opportunity for some shiny treasure by heading over to the game’s Kickstarter page and burying a pledge!