Number of Players: 2-6

Time: 0.5-1 hour

Age: 8 +

Gamer Type: Casual/Strategy

Game Type: Objective Race

Complexity: 4

Welcome to 2021 and the first review of the year. In a turn of serendipity, the original Potato Pirates game was one of the first games I ever contacted a company to review. Now as we start a new year, we can look forward to a sense of normalcy.

Story

Potato Pirates: Enter the Spudnet is kind of an odd story. You are a pirate, who is also a potato. Beyond that, you are working, in this game, to complete objectives on the internet (potato pirates are hackers, get it). These objectives are on a representation of the internet. Of course you are competing against your friends to get the objectives done first, so there is a lot of chicanery going on. Good little story 6 of 10.

Artwork

The designers really had a cool concept here: potatoes in pirate clothes. They – oddly enough – go together quite well. The board itself has a 1980’s feel to it, asin the way people thought of the new internet, so that adds another cool layer to the cartoonery here. The box is a standard size, so it fits well on your shelf. 7.5 of 10.

Mechanics

This game has movement mechanics like many race games. They are augmented by a card as a randomizer. One of the factors I like about this game is that the “deck” is changed each time you play and is a limited number of cards. This adds a level of high strategy to the game as you do not know what cards your opponents have, but you know what cards they may have, making the randomization less random. 7 of 10.

Strategy

This game is fun for strategy. While the randomizers are cards, which is usually difficult for the strategy guys, the limited deck size makes it interesting. The game itself has offense (with cards), defense (with cards), and rush, with movement strategy. This gives it a strong offering in this category, 8 of 10.

Novelty

80’s style art, pirates, and potatoes? Sign me up! This game just has a cool mix of elements that work well together. Sometimes when people have zany cover art or stories, they try to force the game into the port. Potato Pirates had a strategy then brought the crazy idea to it. Great game and theme. 8.5 of 10.

Overall

The best game I have reviewed all year, but since it was the first game of the year, let that bear what it may. However, with a score of 37 out of 50, this year is getting off to a good start with Potato Pirates: Enter the Spudnet. This is a fun game that the whole family can play, but it also has the depth to keep hardcore gamers playing.

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Christopher W Smithmyer

Dr. Christopher Smithmyer is a writer for NRN, the Vice President of International Affairs at Brav Online Conflict Management, and an Adjunct Professor of MBA Business at Doane University. He is also part of the founding team at BlackWalletLTD, one of the leaders in stable coin 2.0 ecosystem maintenance. Dr. Smithmyer’s focus is international business and finance, along with reviews of board games, weapons platforms, and survival items.

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