How to Play

Welcome to Pirate Paradise, a game where you become a pirate captain and seek your treasure on the open sea! The objective is to retire with the incredible fortune of ten million gold coins. In order to amass that much treasure, you'll need to manage your pirate crew, survive many dangerous battles, and defeat certain enemies who don't want to share the ocean. This guide will help you understand the components of the game.

In order to play, you'll need to create an account on Funeratic, a website offering games, contests, discussion forums, blogs, movie reviews, and more. If you already have an account, please login.

Pirates

First, let's look at the members of your crew. A sample pirate appears at right.

Name: Each pirate has a unique name that you give them. You can rename your pirates at any time.

Jolly Rogers: The flags in the upper right indicate several things:
- The number of flags is equal to the pirate's rank, ranging from 1 to 10. The higher the rank, the more effective the pirate is in battle and the more valuable.
- The number of flags is also equal to the pirate's health. Every time the pirate is hit in battle, flags are taken away. When all flags are gone, the pirate is turned gray and removed from battle. The flags reset in the next battle.
- The color of the flags indicates the owner. Each player has a unique color of Jolly Roger.

Combat Values: Pirates have four means of attacking each other, in order: Cannon, fist, pistol, and sword. These numbers in the upper left represent these values. When the pirate is sent into battle to fight with one particular skill, it will appear in red. The higher in rank a pirate climbs, the better these skills become.

Managing Your Crew

You begin with a crew of five pirates and a chest of 25,000 gold coins. As you participate in battles, you'll earn the ability to promote your crew members to higher ranks by paying them a bonus. You can also hire additional crew members at the introductory rank.

Each day, you have a random chance of coming across a merchant vessel. Keep an eye on the site footer for notification when there's a merchant nearby. Attack and defeat this ship in battle to claim their treasure as your own. If you win many of these battles, a navy vessel will attack you, seeking retribution for the stolen wealth.

Most of the time, however, you will skirmish with other pirates for fun and profit. The pirate code of honor prevents you from killing other pirates, but that doesn't mean you can't challenge another captain to battle over an agreed sum. Advanced players can fight for higher stakes, and the winner might claim some of the loser's crew members.

Battles

When your crew meets another in battle, you bring five of your pirates. You and your opponent take turns sending crew members into the fray, doing battle on the deck of the ship, each new pirate attacking those who arrived before. When the deck becomes full, whoever has more crew members still in play (not reduced to zero health) is the winner. The unplayed tenth pirate counts toward victory.

When you send a pirate into battle, you choose one of the pirate's four combat skills. He or she will attack all adjacent opponents using that number. If your pirate's number is higher than the enemy pirate's number in that skill, the enemy will lose health equivalent to the difference. For example, if you send in a pirate with a skill level of 3 in Sword beside an opposing pirate who has a skill level of 1 in Sword, the enemy pirate will lose 2 Jolly Rogers.

Any pirate who loses all Jolly Rogers will lose consciousness and appear gray from then on. When all nine spaces on the the deck have been filled, the battle's winner is declared based on who has more crew members remaining, and the winner will claim treasure from the loser. If neither crew has more pirates remaining, the fight will be declared a draw and neither captain will claim the treasure.

You have one week to make each play against another pirate captain in battle. If a week passes on your turn, you will lose the match by forfeit, and the treasure will go to your opponent automatically. You have only one day to make turns against computer-controlled opponents such as merchants.

Advanced Rules

When you accomplish certain feats in battle, such as defeating a high number of opponents or winning many consecutive victories, you'll become eligible to learn a new technique. At random intervals thereafter, you will be challenged by a Ghost Pirate, a legendary captain who has risen from Davy Jones's locker. If you can defeat this pirate, who will use an unfamiliar technique against you, then you'll learn the technique for yourself and can use it against your opponents. These techniques add variety and spice to the battles, so seek them out every chance you get.

Each summer, a special event will pit all players against one another in a quest for a large treasure haul to be claimed by the winner. To participate, you only need to be an active player in the game at the time. Details will be provided when the competition begins.

If you enjoy playing battles but can't be bothered to challenge other players yourself, there's an option to have the site begin battles automatically on your behalf.

Pirate Paradise is a living game, designed to grow and improve over time. The rules of the game are subject to change as new features are introduced and old rules are refined. Check the Game News page for announcements each time the game is changed.

Ready to Play?

In order to play, you'll need to create an account on Funeratic, a website offering games, contests, discussion forums, blogs, movie reviews, and more. If you already have an account, please login.

If you have questions any time, please contact Scott Hardie, the game administrator. Have fun!