There’s something so fun about finding a game you are excited to share with new folks! And that’s exactly what we found in ShipShape!
This enjoyable game has yet to fail in delighting new players with its strategic bidding, bluffing, and puzzle-y goodness!
How Do You Play ShipShape?
In ShipShape, each player will captain a ship, attempting to find the best combination of treasure, cannons, and contraband to earn the most gold and claim victory.
The game plays over the course fo three voyages (rounds.) Each player has an identical hand of cards with crew members numbered 1-10. In the center of the table is a stack of crate tiles that have various items on them (gold, canons, contraband.) Together, the players will look over the stack of tiles to determine which one they would most like to add to their ship. You cannot touch or move the stack, though.
At the same time, players select a single card from their hand to bid on the crate tiles. All players reveal simultaneously. The highest card takes the top crate, continuing in descending order. If any players played the same card number, they cancel each other out, the rest of the players take their crates, then those tied players select another card from their hand to bid again. Any further ties are broken by the number on your ship deck.
Players take their crates and stack them on their ship. Each voyage will result in players adding three crates to their ship. Then players will earn coins for the combination of treasure, canons, and contraband on their ship while losing points for any rats that are visible.
Then the ships are cleared, ship holds for the next round are given out, and a fresh stack of crate tiles are placed in the center with the game continuing as before with the one notable exception that player are not able to pick up their cards. Any cards used to bet on tiles in the previous round not allowed to return to their hands until they have played all of their cards, at which point you may return all cards to your hand.
The player with the most gold at the end of round three wins.
What Do We Think?
Simple. Clever. Tricky. FUN! Ship Shape is a fantastic casual game the whole crew can enjoy!
We love the visual, spatial skill element that combines with the bluffing mechanic as you must carefully select your cards, knowing that you may need to save a higher one for later in the game when that crate you really need greets your eye.
This game always gets people up on their feet, examining the stack of crate tiles, trying to decide which one is going to best suite them. It’s so interesting how the game is set up because the tiles overlap and make it difficult to truly see just what is present on anything below the top tile. Sometimes the tile that you think you need and bid to get, ends up being the exact wrong one! With each crate, you then have to think cleverly about how best to situate it on your ship, making sure to cover up any negative points, while also trying to anticipate what future crates you might get so you don’t cover up anything valuable.
ShipShape is a very tactile gaming experience which always makes it fun to share with new players. Everyone enjoys the chance to try and build their ship perfectly with these tiles — flipping them, rotating them, and frustratingly wishing they could move that one piece to the other corner to solve the puzzle. And of course, it’s so fun to have that 3-dimensional element from the stack in the center, and then build your own mini version of it in front of you on your player board.
Interesting Scoring
The scoring of ShipShape is similarly clever and keeps you paying attention to what your opponents are doing throughout each round. While gold pays out exactly as you have earned it in your ship, all players must take the lowest cannon score from amongst the ships and subtract that from their total. That means, if you didn’t work hard to get a decent stash of cannons on your ship, you’ll be walking away with little to nothing. Contraband too is really clever. All contraband except the highest amount pays out. This again keeps you watching what’s going on on everyone else’s ships, trying to make sure that you have at least one less contraband than someone else.
Limited Downtime with Great Player Interaction
Because everything happens simultaneously, there is very little downtime in ShipShape and the whole game moves quite quickly along. This helps keep the experience pleasant and fun. You’re never really waiting for someone to make a move — everything progresses quickly and the game itself is often played out in about 20-30 minutes.
The card revealing is always so fun because without fail, someone always thinks they are going to be able to get that perfect tile by playing their carefully chosen card only to reveal and either have been beaten or tied by another. Laughter and groans abound!
While the card selection process may seem easy, there’s actually a bit to think about here. Sometimes you want to anticipate people going for a really valuable tile and tying for it so you can swoop in with a lesser card and steal the prize. However, tying isn’t always that bad and often might be something you want to do. If you play the game and never tie with another player, you’ll never be able to pick up your cards. So when you’re thinking about selecting your cards, sometimes it help to think about how you might force a tie so that you can make sure you have more options in the final voyage.
I also love that the scoring keeps you invested in what everyone else is up to. Too often games can become solo experiences played out with other players. Here you need to really keep watch on what tiles are being selected and how many cannon and contraband points you have in relation to others. These factors will help guide your strategy.
As you’ll see below however, sometimes watching what everyone else is doing is futile, especially if you’re playing against a 6 year old.
Perfect to Play with Kids
I don’t know how, but our son is ridiculously good at this game. He’s just 6 years old, his strategy is to play his cards highest to lowest every time, and he confidently places his crate tiles with little contemplation on top of his ship hold. Yet he wins nearly every single time. Meanwhile there’s me, studiously looking over the crate deck, really thinking through which cards I’m going to select, and I’m unable to beat him. I love it.
ShipShape plays up to 6 players which is great for those with kids who want to be involved. This is one that the whole family can play together and kids can grasp and take part in as well.
It’s simple fun and there’s the ability to introduce some strategy to younger kids as they learn about bluffing and how to place their ship tiles to maximize points. But you can also just let them be the wild card in the mix and just have fun with it.
You might be amazed at how much better they perform than the adults at the table!
Summary
ShipShape is a new go-to family game recommendations for us! There is something here for everyone and it’s a game the whole family can play — even those who might be too young to quite grasp the strategy can still find success.
While light and fun, there’s a deeper element of strategy present in the game for those that want to take part in it. It combines the fun of card play bidding and bluffing with a tactile puzzle that is really enjoyable to fiddle around with.
This isn’t a game that you’ll likely stumble upon in big box stores like a Target or Walmart, and that’s a shame because it is a lot of fun for all ages and we hope more families can stumble upon it!
While ShipShape is fun at all player counts, we think the more the merrier with this one!
To bring home a copy of ShipShape for your home, click HERE!
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A special thank you to our friends at Calliope Games for sending us a copy of ShipShape for review. As always, our thoughts and opinions are our own.
Game Info:
Title: ShipShape
2-6 Players Ages 8+
Designer: Rob Daviau
Artist: Dhaniels Castillo, Andrew Hepworth, Ben Wootten
Publisher: Calliope Games
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