Aye. We had of course always wanted to ship out Puzzle Pirates to stores, as most MMORPG’s have done very well by going that route. It took us a whiles to find a good partner in Ubisoft, who understand the game.

There’s really no change for existing players, although many of them have bought the box in order to get the included, unique hat or sword, along with the included month with the box.

Puzzle Pirates is a very simple game to get started with; your introduced to the game when your pirate is rescued from a desert island, and shown one of the first and simplest Puzzles; the Bilge Pumps. After the introduction you’re taken to an island and encouraged to do Missions for the Navy, which pay you some gold and show off the different ship Puzzles. You can also practice Swordfighting, or just head to the tavern to enjoy a game of Hearts.

The major ‘graduation’ for new players (greenies, as we call ‘em in the game, because their names be green) is when they take a job with a player crew out Pillaging. This is the fun at the heart of the game, working together with your mates to tackle other ships and bring in the Booty. Once a player finds a good crew they join up and then more aspects of the game open up.