Pirate Dodgeball
Pirate Dodgeball
Created:
Summer 2016
Materials:
PVC Pipes, Pool Noodles, Duct tape, Foam Balls, Paper hats
Places:
Governor’s Island (NYC) Schenley Plaza (Pittsburgh)
Role:
Game Designer
Featured in:
Come Out and Play 2016
Come Out and Play Pittsburgh 2016
Come Out and Play 2017
Summary
In Pirate Dodgeball, four pirate captains and their crews fight it out on the high seas to prove their naval superiority. Armed with cannons and swords, these pirate crews must work together to navigate through the sea, outmaneuver their opponents, and be the last crew standing.
Gameplay
Each crew has strikers, gunners, and a captain. They all hold onto a PVC pipe that represents their “Ship”. The crew has to hang onto the ship at all times, or they fall overboard, and are out of the game.
Gunners are the only ones in the crew that can interact with the cannonballs. Each gunner starts with a ball, and can pick up cannonballs on the ground.
The strikers are armed with swords that they can use to hit opposing crews to tag them out, or deflect incoming cannonballs.
The captain is in charge of navigating their crew to victory. While their crew is alive, they cannot use their sword to tag opposing pirates out. However, they cannot be tagged out. When a captain’s crew are all out, the captain is vulnerable, but they can use their sword for one last stand against their opponents!
Commentary
Inspired by cooperative multiplayer games such as Guns of Icarus and Team Fortress 2, I wanted to translate the specialized class team dynamics at the core of those games into a physical medium that would be easy for players to pick up right away. By simplifying these “Classes” and keeping players close enough together to communicate, Pirate Dodgeball achieves the robust cooperative experience of video games in an analog medium.
