Tea-loving pirates are always looking forward to their afternoon tea. Pirates of the High Teas is a worker placement and set collection game from Pink Hawk Games and designer Emily Vincent. With a whimsical art style and unique theme, this is a pirate game that’s made for the whole family. Let’s set sail and check out what’s in the box.
Rrrr…You Ready for Tea?
Players are given an initial hand of cards which include various dishes along with a tea card. Using your pirate meeple, you’ll choose an action in on the central ship board in each of the nine rounds of the game. These action spaces will also determine turn order in the next round. Often, taking the best action means that another player will get to take their turn before you in the next round.
In the Smugglers’ Hold, players get to draft new tea cards and/or action tokens that will be added to your player board. In the Galley, players can draft new dishes from the pantry, either face up or face down off the deck. Finally, the Captain’s Quarters is where you serve your tea and dish combinations.
Victory points in Pirates of the High Teas are based on the coins that you receive after serving the Captain their tea and treats. You want to serve the Captain tea and treats as often as possible during the nine rounds of the game.
The Perfect Pairing
Tea cards are going to dictate the amount of coins you can receive. These tea cards award you coins based on the food pairings that you turn in with the card. Food items will have a flag affiliation along with a flavor profile. These can be salty, sweet, or fruity. Players are given the biggest reward when they perfectly match the flavor profile AND the flag affiliation on the cards. Players will still receive coins based on the value of the food cards, but you really want to look for those perfect pairings to gain the most coins.
Because you’re a creative pirate, you can smash together different dishes to give you just the right flavor combinations that the Captain is craving. Players can stack the food cards to get the correct flavor pairings to fulfill the tea card criteria.
Pirates of the High Teas is very forgiving in the way that it approaches set collecting. Players don’t spend turn after turn looking for the one specific card that they need. Instead, players need to look for opportunities to smash up these dishes and serve the best combinations to the Captain. I really like this approach an it’s not punishing the player when they cannot find the right card.
The Pirates Assistant
Each player has access to three helpful action tokens that can help them in their culinary endeavors. These are free actions that can be used on your turn and players can spend as many of these as they want.
The monkey token will grab the top card from either the tea deck or the pantry deck, giving you access to a new card in your hand. The parrot token will give you coins for discarding a card based on it’s parrot value at the bottom of the card. This is a nice way to grab a couple coins when a dish isn’t needed any more. The canon token will allow you to erase a line of pantry cards below the board so they can be refreshed with new options.
Using these tokens are really helpful when you’re trying to get a couple more coins or if you’re looking for a specific dish.
To the Back of the Line
The gameplay of Pirates of the High Teas is very straight-forward with mechanics that both kids and adults are going to be able to grasp. Players will face challenges based on where they land in the turn order of the round. The face up pantry cards do not get refilled until the end of the round. Being in last position when everyone is grabbing dishes can be limiting.
Since there are only two serving spots in the Captain’s Quarters, you want to get there before spaces fill up. Turn order matters so much in this game and it gives the game much needed tension.
Final Thoughts
Pirates of the High Teas is so well designed from the simple player turns to the incredible artwork throughout. Every time I play, I get lost in a treat card that I’ve not seen before and day dream about what that dish tastes like. I love the variety of teas and various dishes from around the world that are included in the game.
This game brings something new to our game collection and I’m a big fan of it. Some gamers who are looking for deeper gameplay may not connect with Pirates of the High Teas and that’s OK. The game feels like it was built for a chill game night or as a gateway into the realm of hobby board games. The visual design is so much fun and the production is excellent.
Pirates of the High Teas is such an accessible game that it feels refreshing. The rulebook was well written and it’s easy to teach newer gamers. If you’re looking for a refreshing take on pirate-themed games, Pirates of the High Teas is a game you should absolutely check out.
Pirates of the High Teas is available on the Pink Hawk webstore, at your local Barnes & Noble, or online through Amazon today.
This game was provided to us by the publisher for review. Read more about our review policies at One Board Family.
Highs
- Fantastic art and whimsical pirate theme
- Straight-forward ruleset and easy to teach
- Different board layouts based on player count
- Large variety of fun dishes from around the world
Lows
- May not be heavy enough for seasoned gamers
Complexity
Time Commitment
Replayability
