X Marks The Spot

Once Liz got home from work, we picked up some food supplies and she got makin' with the food. I got makin' with setting up...

Martinique 2 players
I got this from a co-worker who was trying to thin out his collection. It's a pretty basic game of treasure hunting. Each player adds one of 4 of their pirates to the board. The pirates move based on the number on the tile that they are on. They also collect the trinket or treasure clue that they left from. If they ever end their move on an empty square or in the center, that pirate goes to the first available stool in the bar. If a player has any matching trinkets to the three smaller treasures, they can trade them in for that treasure pile. Once all pirates are at the bar. The second phase begins. Pirates, in order based on seating at the bar, make guesses about which of the 64 locations the lost treasure can be found. There player can use the treasure clues they picked up to help know where the treasure isn't. If the treasure is found (based on the 2 treasure clues not added to the map), that player wins. If not, then the player with the most points, based on treasure piles gained, wins.

I took a strategy of getting as many treasure clues as possible and keeping my pirates on the board the longest. Once the second phase came around, I had the first guess and last three guesses. I had limited the location to columns F, G, and H and the rows 1, 2, 4, 7, and 8. I started with a guess of F1, then Liz made all of her guesses. Hers were all in the A-E range, but she did make 2 guess in row 2. I then put all of my 3 remaining guesses on F2, G2, and H2. It was at H2. I won! We did a points count anyway so Liz fully understood the game if we didn't find the treasure. I had 19 and Liz had 18.

It's an interesting game. It's not great, but I like it. It's a thinker that makes you constantly balance your strategy. If you go all out on treasure clues, you'll probably have very little treasures and therefore very little points. If the other player gets more points, they could bluff you into picking the wrong locations. I like that.

Tally: 158/182  Bonus: 42/50