Below are some optional rules and game variations that have been submitted from Pillage & Plunder players from around the world.

If you have a variation of the game rules that you would like to posted here for other players to see, please contact us and tell us about it.  

Infectious Rat Bite
Instead of playing the Rats card to destroy someone's fruit and rum, you can play it on an opponent who loses an officer of their choice due to an infectious rat bite.

Steve Slater
Albuquerque, NM

Alternate Mutiny Rule
In this variation, playing a Mutiny card on an opponent causes their crew to revolt against one of the officers. Your opponent must make one of their officers "walk the plank" (to the discard card).

Steve Slater
Albuquerque, NM

Alternate Cannon Battle Rule
In this variation, damage received from enemy cannon fire during a ship battle reduces the number cannons and crew the ship can hold. The total number of cannons and crew that can be held on a damaged ship is equal to the number of remaining strength points plus two. For example, a Man O' War with 7 units of damage would only be able to hold 5 cannons and 5 crewman because the remaining strength points (3) plus 2 equals 5. This reduces the number of crew available for the melee round after cannon damage.

Steve Slater
Albuquerque, NM

Iron Hull Reduces Speed
Adding an iron hull to your ship increases its weight, thereby reducing its speed by one.

Mike Smith
Bothell, WA

Timed Game
When you’re looking for a shorter game of Pillage & Plunder, simply set a time limit before starting. The winner is the player who has the most money in their hoard at the end of the pre-determined amount of time.

Mike Smith
Seattle, WA

Marooning
If you have a full crew, but want to replace a lower level crewman with an officer or better crewman, you can sacrifice one action during your turn to "maroon" that guy, leaving an empty slot which you can then fill in your next turn with the new crewman.

Josh Fisher
Elkton, MD

Stealing Treasure Maps
When playing a treasure hunt card, your have the choice of either following the standard treasure hunt procedure or attempting to steal another player’s treasure map. To steal a map, announce which player’s map you are attempting to steal (and which treasure map, if they have more than one) and roll two dice. If you roll doubles, the treasure map becomes yours and you can retrieve it at the beginning of a future turn.

Mike Smith
Seattle, WA

Asset Liquidation
When calculating how much a player is worth, factor in the face value of all of his assets: cannons, crewmen, ships and so on. This makes for a faster game and allows you to indulge in those must-have pirate toys without worrying so much about your bottom line or keeping as much cash onboard your ship.

Mike Smith
Seattle, WA

Privateering
Instead of playing a Navy Ship card on an opponent, you can lay it in front of yourself and announce that you are "privateering" for the country shown on the card. (Privateering was basically a "legalized" form of piracy, where one country granted you permission to attack the ships of its enemies at sea. Privateers who were captured were usually treated as prisoners of war instead of being hanged as pirates. In exchange, privateers were required to give a portion of their prize to the country for which they were privateering.) As a privateer, you can attack merchant ships of any country except the one that you are privateering for, and you cannot be attacked by navy ships. However, when you capture a merchant ship, only half of the prize money goes into your hoard. The other half is placed on top of your Navy Ship card and represents money you owe to your sponsoring country. When another player attacks you and defeats you in battle, they can attempt to steal the money that you owe to your sponsor in the same way that he would try to steal one of your treasure maps. During the pre-draw stage of any turn you can end your privateering career by paying all of the money that is on top of the Navy Ship card to the bank, and placing the Navy Ship card under the top card of the discard pile. Any prize ships you have remain with you, and you now become vulnerable to attacks from navy ships. You can only privateer for one country at a time.

Mike Smith
Seattle, WA

Fleet Play
In fleet play, you buy additional ships instead of upgrading them. Each Ship Hull card that you play has its own ship add-ons, crew quarters, cannon deck, and cargo hold. Crewmen, cannons and cargo can be moved from ship to ship during the pre-draw stage, but not after you draw cards. Ship add-ons cannot be transferred between ships. Ship hulls and their add-ons can be sold to the bank for half their cost during the pre-draw stage, but not after you draw cards. Cannons and crewmen cannot be sold. Only one ship is used in a battle. When attacking, you must declare which ship you will be using in the battle before you begin the attack. When being attacked, your opponent has the choice of which ship they will attack. Each ship maintains its own hoard, which can be transferred from ship to ship during the pre-draw stage, but not after you draw cards. When buying items for a particular ship, only that ship’s hoard can be used. Treasure maps and prize ships apply to the fleet as a whole and do not belong to any specific ship.

Mike Smith
Seattle, WA

Flagship & Tender
Flagship & Tenders In the history of sailing ships, fleets often had ships in the fleet act as "tenders". These ships often carried cargo, provisions, extra munitions and often the sick or injured. This left the other ships lighter and more able to battle.

In this variation, you purchase additional ships (as in the Fleet variation) and use the smaller ships(no more than 2) as tenders. These ships would not be suseptable to "Attack" or "Navy Ship" cards. They would also be unable to attack merchants. These tenders need not carry any cannons(they can"t fight). The extra hold upgrade would be a great benefit to these ships as they could carry more cargo, if you have pesos to spare, the "Iron Hull Plating" may be used also. The other two Add-Ons are not needed for Tenders. They would, however, need to carry at least 2 crew. These tenders would still fall victim to certain "EVENTS" cards (and be exempt from others). The attacking player would specify which ship he was attacking.

Tenders EXEMPT from:"Siren's Song", "Mutiny", "Scurvy", "Shipwreck", "Attack" & all "Navy Ship" cards.

Tenders NOT exempt from: "Rats in Cargo", "Stormy Seas", "Sea Monster", "Thieves Onboard" (the reason to have two crew onboard tenders) and "Leaky Cargo Hold".

Todd Goff
Warrenville, SC