After the retirement of captain "White Beard", the crew of a pirate ship decides do rotate positions. Each round, a new player becomes captain and pick roles for everybody else. In order, the pirates take a treasure (pearls, diamonds, rubys, emeralds or rum barrels) from a hand of cards. Precious stones translate into victory points and rum barrels confer "special powers" to the players who hold them. But not all treasures will be banked safely - Spanish, French and English pirate-hunters will force the crew to discard some cards along the game.