Jolly & Roger Review

Have you ever heard of the rare pirate challenge known as “the double-boarding”? Neither have I. I don’t think it’s a real thing. Nevertheless, it’s the basis of Jolly & Roger. Two pirates and their crew attempt to simultaneously board 4 ships in the final round of a competition of some sort. It’s largely irrelevant. This isn’t a game whose mechanics reflect a richly thematic experience. It’s a simple game of ludological tug-of-war. It’s also a lot of fun.

The core mechanic of Jolly & Roger is “I Split, You Choose”. In the center of the play area are 4 differently colored ships, each with a different point value. All of the pirate cards are shuffled together, along with some optional special ability cards, and the game begins. One player draws 5 of these nautical rapscallions and divides these 5 cards into two groups. The other player chooses which pile they want and plays all the cards to the ships and then it goes back to the person who did the splitting. Roles swap and this goes back and forth until there are no cards left.

It’s dirt simple, but it’s extremely tense. Pirates have varying strengths used to take control of the ship that matches the pirate’s color. If you control a ship, you can instead bury the pirate in your treasure pile and score its strength. At the end, the person who controls the ship gets some bonus points. That very simply scoring system drives the tension. It’s a constant balance of attempting to maintain control and actually scoring points. Splitting is even harder. Its agonizing trying to decide how to split 5 cards when you know your opponent will get to play first that round.

It feels silly looking back on my plays given how simple the game is, but my knee was constantly bouncing through each game. Every time I drew I’d groan and think “man I have no good options” and every time it was my turn to pick I’d feel the same. I’ve never played a game where both players were so desperately scrambling to prevent what felt like a sure loss. Unfortunately, the simplicity has meant I’ve never felt like I made a strong play.

Jolly & Roger is a game won in the margins. A little play here – scoring that 1 pointer when you thought about using it for control – or nailing your split to just eek out a win on the high-value red will turn the game. It’s just a shame you don’t feel it when it happens. Without the special abilities, it’s impossible to look back and think “Yarr that be the winning play” or whatever a pirate would say in that situation. The special abilities can change that. Pulling your opponent’s 5-strength pirate off the board with The Kraken, or flipping all your parrots over for bonus strength injects some narrative drama but it can also blow the game open and ruin the tension.

It doesn’t ruin the game, I just wish there was a slightly bigger release for all that tension. It’s present though. That’s a lot more than you can say for a lot of games we’re getting these days. I doubt it’s going to demand table time like Patchwork or some of the other games in this light 2p space, but Jolly & Roger is plenty of fun and a cracking 2p game I’m happy to add to my collection.