You will have one ship on each of the three ‘tracks’: pathways through the Caribbean Sea. On each turn, you will play three cards from your hand to move your ships. Your cards will have a basic movement number, and often a secondary power. You may use one or the other to move your ships down the track or perform special actions.
Each of the three tracks winds through the Caribbean islands toward your ultimate goal: the Spanish Treasure Galleon at Trinidad. Along the way, there will be detours that lead to merchant ships that may be plundered, and towns that may be visited to cash in the cargo for famous treasures. Plundering merchant ships and visiting towns also allow you to recruit more crewmen (cards) for your crew (your deck). The better your deck is, the faster that your ships will be able to move. So deciding when to take detours for plunder and recruiting and when to sail on toward your ultimate goal, is an important decision that every pirate captain must make.
The first pirate captain to reach the Treasure Galleon at the end of any track, ends the game. Each pirate ship scores points based on what place they finished on each track, as well as for the treasures earned by selling plundered cargos.
The richest captain will go down in history as the Pirate King!