Pirates Crossfire

I received Pirates Crossfire from Timberdoodle Co in exchange for my fair and honest review. I am under no obligation to write a positive review. I would never recommend or promote a product my kids and I didn't find useful or helpful in our own homeschool journey. Pirates Crossfire is part of Timberdoodles 6th grade curriculum kit. I used this game with my 14-year-old 9th grader and 11-year-old 6th grader. My husband and I even joined in on the fun.

We have always been big fans of smart games brand games and Pirates Crossfire kept up the high standards we've come to expect from their amazing collection of critical thinking games. Pirates Crossfire is for ages 7 to adult with 5 levels of difficulty and 4 modes of play. The 4 modes make for interesting game play but dividing up the levels between the 4 modes makes it seem like there are less of the different levels. So, if you have a pirate loving child like mine, they may get frustrated how quickly they get through the easier levels. Especially the ones where the Pirates are supposed to win.

The game comes with 1 gameboard, 6 ship puzzle pieces, 2 Island puzzle pieces, and a booklet that includes 80 challenges with their solutions as well as some simple instructions. Everything fits perfectly inside the box, so it is easy to take out and put away even for your smaller children. While it is a single player game there are opportunities to create multiple people challenges. You could time yourselves to see who could complete a challenge the fastest. Or you could set a timer and see how many challenges you could complete in set amount of time. There is no limit to what you can do to enhance and already fun game.

Setting up to play the levels is pretty simple, figuring out the challenges not as much. I did feel that the wizard levels for this game were a bit easier to solve than some of the other smart games we have played. I love the fact that it does have 5 levels of difficulty. It allows for children of different ability capabilities to enjoy the same game. All you have to do is open the included booklet to a mode of play and pick your level of challenge. The different modes really add to the challenge. In mode one peace reigns supreme and no ships should be able to "fire" at another. In mode two the Pirates win. The Pirates should be shooting the Navy ships, but no Navy ships should shoot at a Pirate ship. In mode three the Navy wins. The Navy ships should be shooting the Pirate ships but, no Pirate ships should be shooting at a Navy ship. Mode four is all out war. every ship should have at least one ship shooting at them.

Critical thinking is such an important life skill that will prepare kids for adulthood. Homeschooling has afforded us the opportunity to add critical thinking to our learning in a major way. Pirates Crossfire was a great way for me to sneak in those opportunities for higher level thinking. It doesn't hurt that it is incredibly fun as well. If you love critical thinking and outside the box thinking, then this is the game for your family. We often use it for brain breaks or boredom busters when one kid finishes faster than the other. Pirates Crossfire is a great opportunity to learn through play.

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