Pirates of the Caribbean DVD Treasure Hunt

I really wanted to love the Pirates of the Caribbean DVD Game, and I almost do. It's one of the strongest hybrids of a traditional board game and a DVD game that I've played to date, and it gives me encouragement that more can be done with this genre of games. As for the game itself, families who enjoy the Pirates of the Caribbean movies should find plenty to like here. The random elements are a bit too strong, but they're not unacceptable for a family game.

The goal of would-be pirates who play Pirates of the Caribbean DVD Treasure Hunt is to gather booty (gold, silver and rum) and head to the final port before another player can do the same.

Players start with a Treasure Hunt card, telling them how much of booty they need before they can win. They also start with one of each type of Booty card and one Fortune card. (Fortune cards help get players out of bad situations.)

On a turn, each player rolls a die to determine movement. This can be 1 to 5 spaces, or the player might get caught in trade winds. In that case, movement is determined by the DVD. At the end of each turn, players may enter their coordinates into the DVD to see if they find booty -- but this can backfire. At six island ports, DVD mini-games give players a chance to win booty. Players can also battle each other (trying to steal booty), get caught in fog, or get sent to jail. At all costs, they must avoid the Black Spot Curse card.

This family game integrates DVD elements into a board game as well as any strategy DVD game I've played. There's room for improvement, but using the DVD to control many random elements is an excellent choice, and the mini-games on the DVD are OK.

Pirates of the Caribbean DVD Treasure Hunt is a solid game, and it should be enjoyed by children and parents who are fans of the films starring Johnny Depp. I wish the game had fewer random elements -- but they aren't so overpowering as to make the game distasteful for me.