Puzzles

Puzzles are at the heart of Puzzle Pirates. Multiplayer puzzles between two or more pirates allow wagers. Duty puzzles aboard a ship keep it running smoothly and affect performance, as does sea battle. Crafting puzzles at a shoppe help produce goods and earn PoE directly.

Multiplayer Puzzles
Interactive puzzles which pit one pirate against another, in direct competion!
 * Swordfighting and Brawls (more than two fighters) use swords.
 * Rumble: You score points by knocking them with Bludgeons or hands.
 * Drinking can put you or yer opponent under the table.
 * Spades, a trump based card game with a partner.
 * Hearts, a trick-avoiding card game without a partner.
 * Poker, two to ten players playing Texas Hold 'Em.
 * Treasure Drop, scoring points by outwitting your opponent in Pirate-Plinko.

Duty Puzzles
The puzzles involved in sailing a ship are often referred to as Duty Puzzles.
 * Sailing and Rigging increases ship speed and generates tokens during sea battle.
 * Bilge pumping keeps water out o' the ship, and sailing effective.
 * Carpentry and Patching repairs normal wear and tear, as well as sea battle damage, and keeps water from rushing into the bilge.
 * Gunnery loads cannons for the commanding officer to fire during sea battle.
 * Navigation increases the effectiveness of the sailing puzzlers and allows memorization.
 * Treasure Haul transfers PoE onto the ship from sunken wreckage in blockades, flotillas and atlantis.

Sea Battle
Sea battle happens when ships engage each other on the open sea. Sea battle puzzles are not quite a duty puzzle, but related, as it is only allowed on ships, and is affected directly by the duty puzzles. Sea battles occur during the ship to ship engagment of a pillage, and as an integral part of blockades.

During a pillage, the commanding officer controls ship movement and the firing of guns to damage the enemy. This damage gives an advantage in the second half of engagement, a swordfighting brawl between the pirates of the opposing ships. Indestructable black blocks are found at the bottom of the swordfighting puzzle. Up to half the puzzle screen may be filled with these blocks, relative to the amount of damage done to the ship each pirate was on.

During a blockade, a variant of the sea battle occurs with two safe zones on either side of the board, from which any number of ships may enter. All ships compete (generally in teams) for control of flags, ultimately to win control of an island.

Crafting Puzzles
Crafting Puzzles are used to provide labor to a shoppe or stall. Currently, there are only three crafting puzzles, although all shoppes will have one eventually. Until then, shops which have no crafting puzzle use a different mechanism for labor.
 * Alchemistry makes dyes, paints and other concoctions for an apothecary.
 * Blacksmithing makes swords and cannon balls.
 * Construction not yet implemented.
 * Distilling makes rum, hemp oil and mugs for a distillery.
 * Furnishing not yet implemented.
 * Foraging gathers fruit, gems, and gold nuggets.
 * Shipwrightery builds ships and bludgeons for a shipyard.
 * Tailoring not yet implemented.
 * Weaving makes cloth for a Weavery.

You can perform these puzzles in shoppes to produce work for that shoppe or stall. How well you do in the puzzle determines the level of labor you provide and how much you get paid. If there are no orders outstanding or if the shop has used its available labor for that hour, then you are just practising the puzzle for no pay.

You must be a subscriber to hold a job on a subscription ocean. On a doubloon ocean, you need a labor badge instead; work on the fly can be achieved by any pirate on any ocean- they must puzzle to use each hour up.

If you hold a job in one of these types of shoppes/stalls, you will need to play your Crafting puzzle at least once every ten days to maintain your ability to perform that work while offline. Check your "Ye" tab and the "Info" button and the "Skills" sub-tab for what level or work you can perform and if it is active or dormant.

On a subscriber ocean, for each paid account (up to three alts) you can use 48 hours of labor per day. Each of these  alts may use a maximum of   hours. Thus if you have three, each will be allowed to use a maximum of eight hours labor per day. If you have only one, it may use all twenty-four. However, during foraging, a player may use up all 24 hours of labour on his one account via one pirate.

Freeplay days
To play the Crafting Puzzles (and provide labor) and Multiplayer Puzzles at any time, you need to be a subscriber on a subscription ocean or hold the appropriate badge on a doubloon ocean. These puzzles are otherwise free to play on the following days:

Freeplay exceptions

 * One on one swordfights and rumbles initiated by clicking on a player or NPP's avatar are always Free Play.
 * Swordfights or Rumbles that take place as part of a Sea battle are always Free Play.
 * Foraging that takes place during an expedition is always Free Play.
 * A bravery badge allows one to play all puzzles in Atlantis or on the Cursed Isles, including any swordfights, rumbles or foraging puzzles on such trips.