Potato Pirates 3: Battlechips
A SPUD-TECH-ULAR CODING CARD GAME
As computer programming continues to become the first language of the 21st century, many are eager to pick up the fundamentals. The first step is always the hardest and this board game offers the perfect starting point; no computers required.
Transposing common computing concepts into a table top game, Potato Pirates 3: Battlechips is a strategic board game where ships represent blocks of code to be run.
Featuring adorably punny names such as “carbo-nize” and “the Great White Spud”, the game cleverly encapsulates the depth of learning through its enchanting world-building utilising illustrations, card concepts, and fluffy, brown potato crew components.
Using cards to represent lines of code whilst ships act as functions which hold the code, each round brings the player through the iterative process of writing and running code, where the aim of the game is to be the last potato pirate standing.
Promising a comprehensive coverage of all concepts covered in an introductory computer science course, the game is ideal for ages 9 and up and clocks in at 45 minutes per game on average.
With each block of code having failure conditions, players think critically to build the optimal strategy. This real-world emulation ensures players walk away with a deep level of familiarity with even more complex concepts like Recursion and Try-Catch.
Even for those who are not interested in picking up programming, computational thinking in itself has been rising in prominence, with parents seeing the benefits of teaching it to their children at a young age and many adults taking online courses to grasp the fundamentals.
"Even if your children won't take a programming class per se, you can still teach them the principles of coding logic, with our new family favourite, the card game Potato Pirates," said Alexandra Samuel, The Wall Street Journal of the first Potato Pirates game launched in 2017.
Amidst the pandemic, board games have seen a resurgence, providing a safe pastime in the confines of homes. This game offers the perfect fun-filled opportunity for families to have fun, learn, and spend their time together meaningfully.
Potato Pirates 3: Battlechips will also be available as a mobile app that can be played in a multiplayer mode or single player story mode. This timely digital expansion allows the game to be played both leisurely among friends and within schools as a teaching tool.
Its predecessors, Potato Pirates and Potato Pirates: Enter The Spudnet, have collectively garnered half a million dollars (SGD) pledged on crowdfunding platform, Kickstarter, and are used within schools globally as a starting point for teaching computational thinking.
Codomo’s games have received global recognition, having been featured on platforms such as The New York Times, Forbes, USA Today, and Purdue University. Potato Pirates 3: Battlechips is available for purchase on Kickstarter.
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Games