Pirate Coins 2012

Pirate Coins is a pocket-sized game played with 75 coins – 25 each of gold, silver, and copper, worth 3, 2 and 1 – and a pouch. Over the course of five rounds, you'll decide when to keep searching for more treasure and when to snatch any loot you can and run away.

Each player starts with one gold as booty. Each round lasts multiple turns, and at the start of each turn the active player draws a coin from the bag to determine how the current pile of loot would be split should players make a grab for it, e.g., if this fortune coin is gold, a player can take the loot if he's the only one to grab for it. Players then use a coin in their stash to secretly decide whether to grab for loot or stay the course and hope for more treasure in later rounds. After players (potentially) plunder the loot, the active player flips the fortune coin, adding it to the loot if the skull side lands up or placing it aside in the monster pile if the monster appears; when three monsters of the same type have shown up, the round ends and all remaining loot returns to the bag.

If a player holds booty worth 25 or more during the game, he wins immediately. Otherwise the player with the most booty after five rounds wins.