Sail the High Seas and Collect Shiny Treasure in Plundering Times!
Island hop and say ahoy to the infamous dragon pirates while putting multiplication and addition skills to the test in SimplyFun's latest Math & STEM game, Plundering Times! With scales of shimmering gold, these winged buccaneers have sailed the high seas using their math skills to raid the Islands of Numbers and collect the greatest hoard of shiny treasure. Now, it's your turn to put your savvy math skills to the test for the opportunity to plunder your opponent's most valuable gems. Plundering Times can be played by 2-4 players ages 8 and up in about 15 minutes.
Game Overview
Sure, collecting the most treasure is the goal of this game, but the real wealth will be seeing the satisfaction on each player's face as they strengthen their multiplication and addition skills. What's really unique about Plundering Times? It offers a reverse application to solidify already established multiplication skills from a result back to its individual components. Players will creatively place two numbered dragon pirates on each treasure island so that the values multiplied and added meet or come as close as possible to the island number card without going over. The captain who meets or gets closest to the island number gets first dibs on one of the four island treasure chests filled with valuable gems!
Plundering Times also helps develop memory skills, as each player also needs to think about the best place to hide their treasure chests and remember where they placed them. All while making multiple calculations throughout the game.
How Plundering Times was Created
Plundering Times, formerly known as Bunny Pirates, was created by Dr. Reiner Knizia. Dr. Knizia, born in Germany, is one of the world's most recognized and prolific game designers with more than 800 games published worldwide.
After SimplyFun licensed the game from Reiner, the game mechanics essentially remained the same while the theme shifted to dragon pirates finding their way to various islands.
SimplyFun's Partnership with Dr. Reiner Knizia
SimplyFun has partnered with Dr. Knizia since 2007 and to date, published over 35 games designed by him. We're talking about best-selling, award-winning titles such as Arctic Riders, Dreaming Dragon, Ice Tumble, Wake Up Stars, and Word Bits, to name a few. But there are so many more! Check out the complete array of games designed by Reiner for SimplyFun.
How do we decide on who to partner with and what games to publish? Choosing from a range of prototypes shared by our partners, we evaluate and select which games to produce based on a range of criteria. We ask ourselves many questions like "Is it fun?" and "Does it fill a need in a particular age range, skill, or target?" From there, we work on developing the game to fit our content goals and high standards.
Gameplay Set-up
Treasure Islands:Place the four treasure islands in one row in the play area. Ensure the ‘white dragon icons’ are set in the same orientation across all islands.
Island Number Cards
- Select 10 smaller island number cards (with the teal backs).
- Shuffle them.
- Select four cards from the deck.
- Place one card on each island in numerical order.
- X marks the spot to place each card!
Grab Your Color, Matey!
Each player chooses a color set of dragon pirates, treasure chests, and a captain board.
The Dragon Pirates
- Rally up all of your dragon pirates marked with the numbers 2-6 to place (number side down) anywhere on your dragon's board.
- Place the higher-valued dragon pirates (7–10) back in the box. Use them for a more challenging multiplication game.
- Each captain selects six random dragon pirates to place upright on their captain board, numbers facing them.
Treasure Chest and Pirate Gems:
- Captains claim one of the four spaces on each island to place their treasure chest, gem side down.
- Place the bonus gem tokens on the side for now, and any remaining tokens back in the box.
*Sneaky tip: Remember where you placed your gems — at the end of the game, you may be able to pick up another player's treasure chest instead of your lower-valued treasure if you recall where you placed yours.
Who Starts Gameplay?
The first player to name a famous captain starts the game.
We are featuring a basic game set-up. See the ‘Extended Play’ section on the product page for an advanced multiplication version.
Playing Plundering Times
Simple gameplay overview:- Island hop to score buried treasures by selecting two dragon pirates from your captain's board and placing them in island rowboats. Multiply the values on your two dragon pirates (and add any dragon icons) to produce an answer that equals or comes closest to the number on the island without going over.
- To reach your final answer, you may need to add white dragon icons in front of your island rowboats to your equation total. In front of each set of rowboats on each island are 1, 2, 3, or ZERO white dragons that must be added to the sum of the equation. Be sure to consider the white dragon values when selecting your numbered dragon pirates to place on the rowboats.
- The closer you get to the island number (without going over), the closer you are to claim an island treasure chest of your choice and the opportunity to plunder your opponent's most valuable gems!
- At the end of your turn, randomly draw one more dragon pirate from your supply to have six dragon pirates standing in front of you again. Then it's the next player's turn.
Scoring:
Score each island in numerical order after the game ends to determine which captain selected the dragon pirate pair to meet or come closest to the island number without going over.
Captain tip: Flip over your captain board to help check your multiplication using the timetable.
- The captain who meets or comes closest to the island number gets dibs on the treasure chest of their choice for that island.
- The second captain that comes closest to the island number picks a treasure chest, and so on.
- If two or more players have the same total on an island, the player with the highest single number dragon pirate picks a treasure chest first.
- Exceed a number on one of the islands and remove the captain dragon pirates from the rowboats. The captain cannot select an island treasure chest on that island.
- When all four islands have been scored, the players count their gems. The player with the most gems wins! If there is a tie, the tied players become joint winners.
Go Behind-the-Scenes with Plundering Times!
Game Development Q+A with Director of Product Development, Tiffany O'Brien, and Plundering Times' Artwork Designer, Brian Kolodziejski.
What was Plundering Times originally, and how did it become a pirate multiplication game?
Tiffany: Plundering Times was always a game that focused on learning and expanding multiplication skills. Initially, this game was called Bunny Pirates and focused on bunny rabbits with tasty carrot rewards. Other than shifting the theme to dragon pirates finding their way to various islands, the play mechanics that Reiner Knizia originally designed are essentially the same.
One tweak we made to the game was to give players more agency with how they played the treasure tokens and by allowing players to place their own treasure tokens where they felt most confident in the math, added an element of strategy to the game. We did, however, add two elements to the game. The first was we felt like players who played dragon pirates together (which equated to the exact number on the island) should be rewarded with bonus points.
The second adjustment we made was to add the multiplication tables on the back of the captain boards so that players learning their multiplication tables could still enjoy the game. Additionally, players could easily use the back of the boards to check their calculations.
As The Captain of Product Development, how long did Plundering Times take to produce?
Tiffany: It took two years from when we decided to make the game to publish date. We had a good nine months of development time.
Arrrr' there any fun stories about the development of the game?
Tiffany: I think one of the fun things about this game is that you have a lot of leeway when it comes to putting the pirates onto the islands, as long as you don’t go over the number on the island. This means, if you’re super competitive, you can be rewarded with precision and planning, but you can also take your time and think about each play and still be successful. It took us a long time to get that balance correct to work for varying skill levels, and I’m quite pleased with the final results.
Any interesting challenges during the illustration process?
Brian: Early in the design process, we knew the pirate theme was ideal for blending "X marks the spot" with the multiplication symbol, but choosing the right kind of pirates took some brainstorming. We considered using animals known for their memory, like parrots, elephants, and dolphins, but the real inspiration struck when we thought of dragons—creatures with a natural affinity for treasure. This unique twist added an exciting layer to the theme.
Throughout the artwork, I creatively incorporated the "X" symbol to reinforce the connection to multiplication. You'll find Xs on the captains' outfits, the arrangement of palm fronds and islands' shapes, and the rowboats' oars, which were designed to cross, forming an X shape.
One of the biggest challenges was fitting all possible multiplication answers legibly on the cards. The team had an aha moment when we realized the captain boards could accommodate a full multiplication table on the back, making the game more intuitive and player-friendly.
What was your inspiration for the artwork?
Brian: After settling on dragon pirates, I explored different dragon types to bring diversity and color to the game. Each dragon captain was designed around a specific element—Sky, Earth, Land, and Water—with details like feathers, rock textures, leaves, wood, coral, and fins to reflect their element. I drew from traditional pirate captain outfits, adding long coats, big hats, and boots for an authentic feel. To deepen the narrative, each captain carries a tool, such as a compass, treasure maps, shovel, and spyglass, tying their role to the story and making their personalities stand out.
What do you love most about this pirate multiplication game?
Tiffany: I can be intimidated by math games, so what I love about Plundering Times is that you have time to take in the whole board and work your way through multiple pathways to win, and I can feel really successful even if I don’t get the most treasure.
Why do you think young mateys will love Plundering Times?
Tiffany: Dragon pirates hunting down treasures by finding the right team to row up to an island makes brushing up on your multiplication skills exciting and fun! However, if that doesn’t work, getting to bury treasure on each island is a side game that always brings me a bubble of joy.
Why is Plundering Times an essential game for practicing multiplication?
Tiffany: Plundering Times challenges players to have the answer to the equation first and then dip into their times tables to figure out the best way to pair dragon pirates to get to that answer. I think it’s a great way to practice multiplication and the bonus element of addition makes this a fun game to work on basic math skills.
Looking for more math games or to learn more about game designer, Reiner Knizia? Check out:
Meet Game Designer Dr. Reiner Knizia