Sid Meier's Pirates!

Sid Meier's Pirates! is one of those games that refuses to fit comfortably into a single genre. Originally released in 1987, it lets players become a pirate captain, sail the Caribbean, raid ships, trade goods, duel enemies, rescue relatives, court governors' daughters, and generally make the seventeenth century considerably more complicated. The freedom is the real attraction. You can pursue wealth, fame, revenge, exploration, or simply spend your career causing trouble at sea. Sword fights and naval battles provide action, while trading and diplomacy add strategic depth. The game also has a wonderfully playful attitude toward history, treating piracy as a giant adventure playground rather than a particularly sensible profession. Pirates! remains memorable because it gives players room to create their own stories. Few games can turn a perfectly respectable afternoon into a tale involving treasure, mutiny, a stolen ship, and an unexpectedly successful dance at a governor's ball.