Pirate Party Games

Treasure, ship, target and crew games for ages 3 to 9, with no blindfolds and no sword fights.

Pirate Party Games

  1. How Many Oranges Does the Chest Weigh?1. Guess the weight, measured in oranges. Fill a shoebox chest with stones or books and tape it shut. 2. Each pirate lifts the chest with two hands, then lifts a bag of five oranges. 3. They say how many oranges would weigh the same as the chest. A helper writes each guess down. 4. Put the chest on a kitchen scale, then pile oranges on until they match. Closest guess opens the chest. Ages 5 and up. Players: 3 to 20. Time: 10 min. Props: a taped shoebox of stones or books, a bag of oranges and a kitchen scale.
  2. Gold Coin on a Spoon, Past the Sharks1. The egg-and-spoon race, with a gold coin for the egg. Cut coins as big as a jar lid from yellow cardboard. 2. Lay paper sharks on the grass as a winding course. 3. Each pirate carries a coin on a wooden spoon around the sharks to the chest and drops it in. 4. A dropped coin is picked up where it fell. Count the coins in the chest at the end as one crew. Ages 4 and up. Players: 3 to 16. Time: 10 min. Props: wooden spoons, cardboard coins, paper sharks and a box.
  3. The Captain Says1. Simon Says with a ship's orders. The captain gives orders: scrub the deck, climb the rigging, hoist the sail, row. 2. The crew obeys only when the order starts with the words, the captain says. 3. A pirate who moves on a bare order does three scrubs of the deck and plays on. Nobody is out. 4. After five orders, the captain hands the hat to a new captain. Ages 3 and up. Players: 3 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: a captain's hat.

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How it works

These pirate party games are classics that children already know, each with a pirate prop or rule added. Every game gives the youngest age it suits, and none needs a blindfold or a toy sword.

Read the full guide

A party in four parts

1. As guests arrive, play Barnacle Boots: Draw Your Pirate Name from Crew games. 2. Run two Ship games while everyone has energy. 3. Set up Cannon and target games as stations and let the crews move around them. 4. End with Treasure games, so that the last thing found is the chest.

What to make beforehand

Cardboard coins as big as a jar lid, a spyglass from a cardboard tube, paper sharks, beanbags and a box painted as a ship cover most of the list.

Tips
  • Give every pirate the same small treasure at the end, whoever found the chest.
  • Tape the plank line before guests arrive: it gets used all afternoon.

Questions and answers

Which pirate games suit three and four year olds?

Musical Islands, Coin Underneath, Pass the Parrot, The Captain Says and Beanbag Cannonballs Into the Ship are written for age 3 and up. Nobody is out in any of them, so no small pirate has to sit and watch.

How do you play walk the plank at a party?

Tape a line on the floor or lay a board flat on the grass, with paper sharks either side. Children walk it heel to toe, then again looking through a cardboard-tube spyglass. Nobody is pushed or blindfolded.

Can pirate party games be played indoors?

Most of them. Only three need a yard: Lob Over the Rigging, Catch the Cannonball in the Sail and Roll the Cannonball Down the Deck. The rest fit a living room with the furniture pushed back.

What do you put in the treasure chest?

That is the host's choice. The games only need the chest to hold one small treasure for each child, so that Torn Map Hunt ends with something for everyone.

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All 32 games

Treasure games 8

  • Count the Coins by Feel 1. A feely bag game. Put between three and nine cardboard coins, each as big as a jar lid, in a cloth bag. 2. A pirate puts one hand in the bag, eyes on the ceiling, and counts the coins by touch. 3. They whisper the number to the quartermaster, who writes it down. 4. Tip the bag out and count together. Change the number of coins for each pirate. Ages 4 and up. Players: 2 to 12. Time: 10 min. Props: a cloth bag and nine large cardboard coins.
  • Gold Coin on a Spoon, Past the Sharks 1. The egg-and-spoon race, with a gold coin for the egg. Cut coins as big as a jar lid from yellow cardboard. 2. Lay paper sharks on the grass as a winding course. 3. Each pirate carries a coin on a wooden spoon around the sharks to the chest and drops it in. 4. A dropped coin is picked up where it fell. Count the coins in the chest at the end as one crew. Ages 4 and up. Players: 3 to 16. Time: 10 min. Props: wooden spoons, cardboard coins, paper sharks and a box.
  • Gold, Silver and Rubies to the Right Chest 1. A sorting relay. Tip a pile of yellow, gray and red blocks, the gold, silver and rubies, at one end of the room. 2. Stand three boxes at the other end, one marked for each color. 3. Pirates take turns running one block to the right chest and running back to tag the next. 4. When the pile is gone, check the chests together. A block in the wrong chest is run back by the whole crew. Ages 3 and up. Players: 4 to 16. Time: 10 min. Props: blocks in three colors and three boxes.
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Treasure games, continued

  • How Many Oranges Does the Chest Weigh? 1. Guess the weight, measured in oranges. Fill a shoebox chest with stones or books and tape it shut. 2. Each pirate lifts the chest with two hands, then lifts a bag of five oranges. 3. They say how many oranges would weigh the same as the chest. A helper writes each guess down. 4. Put the chest on a kitchen scale, then pile oranges on until they match. Closest guess opens the chest. Ages 5 and up. Players: 3 to 20. Time: 10 min. Props: a taped shoebox of stones or books, a bag of oranges and a kitchen scale.
  • Musical Islands, Coin Underneath 1. Musical chairs with nobody out. Lay a paper island on the floor for each pirate, and draw a coin on the underside of three of them. 2. While the music plays, pirates sail around the islands. 3. When it stops, each stands on the nearest island and turns it over. 4. Whoever finds a coin takes a sticker from the chest. Shuffle the islands and sail again. Ages 3 and up. Players: 4 to 20. Time: 10 min. Props: a paper island for each pirate, music and stickers.
  • Torn Map Hunt 1. A treasure hunt, with a map in place of clues. Draw a map of the yard with an X, cut it into six pieces and hide them. 2. The crew hunts for the pieces. Each finder brings their piece to the map table. 3. When all six are found, the crew fits the map together. 4. Everyone walks to the X, where the chest holds a small treasure for each pirate. Ages 4 and up; a grown-up reads the map with younger pirates. Players: 3 to 12. Time: 15 min. Props: a hand-drawn map cut into six pieces, and a box of small treasures.
  • What Did the Thief Take? 1. The memory tray game with pirate loot. Lay eight things on a tray: a key, a shell, a ring, a spoon, a bandana, a map, a compass, a bell. 2. The crew looks for one minute. Then everyone turns to face the wall. 3. The host takes one thing away and hides it in a pocket. 4. The crew turns back and calls out what the thief took. Use five things for the youngest crews. Ages 4 and up. Players: 2 to 12. Time: 10 min. Props: a tray and eight pirate things, none smaller than a child's fist for under-fives.
  • X Marks the Spot on the Floor Map 1. Pin the tail, turned into a toss so that nobody is blindfolded. Draw an island on a bedsheet and lay it on the floor. 2. Before the game, the host hides a sticker under the sheet and tells nobody where. 3. Each pirate tosses a beanbag with their name on it onto the island. 4. Lift the sheet. The beanbag nearest the sticker found the treasure. Ages 3 and up. Players: 3 to 20. Time: 10 min. Props: an old bedsheet, a marker, a sticker and a beanbag each.

Ship games 8

  • Clip the Flags to the Rigging 1. A clothespin relay. String a line between two chairs at chest height: the rigging. 2. Each crew has a pile of paper flags and a bowl of clothespins at the start line. 3. Pirates take turns running one flag to the rigging, clipping it on and running back. 4. The first crew with every flag flying gives three cheers. Use big clothespins that small hands can open. Ages 4 and up. Players: 4 to 16. Time: 10 min. Props: a line, two chairs, paper flags and clothespins.
  • Crow's Nest Lookout 1. I spy, played from a lookout. Stand a sturdy step stool in the middle of the room as the crow's nest, with a grown-up beside it. 2. The lookout stands on the bottom step with a cardboard-tube spyglass and says: I spy from the crow's nest something that is blue. 3. The crew points and guesses. 4. Whoever guesses climbs up next. Give a color, not a letter, so that non-readers can play. Ages 3 and up, with a grown-up holding the stool. Players: 3 to 12. Time: 10 min. Props: a low step stool and a cardboard tube.
  • Lifeboats for Three 1. The game of getting into groups, with hoops for lifeboats. Scatter hoops on the grass. 2. Pirates swim about between them. The captain shouts a number: lifeboats for three! 3. Everyone crowds into hoops in groups of exactly that many. 4. Pirates left over become lookouts for one round and help call the next number. Nobody is out for good. Ages 4 and up. Players: 8 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: six or more hoops or rope circles.
  • Load the Cargo 1. A carrying relay that gets harder. Pile empty boxes of different sizes on the dock, at one end of the yard. 2. The first pirate carries one box to the ship, a blanket at the other end, and runs back. 3. The second carries two at once, the third three, and so on down the crew. 4. Dropped cargo is restacked where it fell. The crew wins when every box is aboard. Ages 5 and up. Players: 4 to 16. Time: 10 min. Props: a dozen empty boxes and a blanket.
  • Spyglass on the Plank 1. Walk the plank, made harder by a spyglass. Tape a line on the floor, or lay a board flat on the grass, with paper sharks either side. 2. Each pirate walks the plank heel to toe. 3. Second time, they walk it looking only through a cardboard-tube spyglass at a flag on the far wall. 4. A foot in the sea means starting that walk again. Nobody is pushed, hurried or blindfolded. Ages 4 and up; a grown-up walks beside the youngest. Players: 2 to 16. Time: 10 min. Props: tape or a flat board, paper sharks, a cardboard tube and a flag.
  • Sweep the Bilge Rats Home 1. A broom relay: swab the deck. Crumple ten sheets of gray paper into bilge rats for each crew. 2. The first pirate sweeps one rat with a broom from the start line, around a bucket and into the crew's hoop. 3. They run the broom back to the next pirate. 4. The first crew with all ten rats in the hoop wins. Use child-sized brooms or dustpan brushes for small pirates. Ages 4 and up. Players: 4 to 16. Time: 10 min. Props: two brooms, crumpled paper, two buckets and two hoops.
  • Three Planks to Cross the Sea 1. The stepping-stones team game. The floor between two ropes is the sea. 2. Give the crew three pieces of cardboard as planks. Everyone must cross with feet only on planks. 3. The crew lays planks, steps along, and passes the back plank forward. 4. A foot in the sea sends that pirate back to the start. The crew wins when the last pirate is across. Ages 6 and up. Players: 3 to 8. Time: 15 min. Props: three pieces of strong cardboard and two ropes.
  • Towel Rowboat Race 1. A scooting race. Each pair sits on a bath towel, one behind the other, as their rowboat. 2. On the signal, they row across a smooth floor by pushing with hands and heels. Both must stay on the towel. 3. Around the lighthouse, which is a chair, and row home. 4. Race two boats at a time and cheer for every boat that keeps its crew aboard. Ages 4 and up, on a smooth floor clear of furniture. Players: 4 to 16. Time: 10 min. Props: a bath towel for each pair and a chair.

Cannon and target games 8

  • Beanbag Cannonballs Into the Ship 1. A beanbag toss. Paint a big box as a ship and cut three portholes in its side: large, medium and small. 2. Each pirate throws three black beanbags from the line. 3. The large porthole scores 1, the medium 2 and the small 3. 4. Move the line one step closer for pirates under five. Everyone throws twice and keeps their better turn. Ages 3 and up. Players: 2 to 20. Time: 10 min. Props: a large box with three holes and three beanbags.
  • Catch the Cannonball in the Sail 1. A catching game for pairs. Two pirates hold a towel between them by its corners: the sail. 2. A third pirate lobs a soft ball high from five steps away. 3. The pair moves together to catch it in the towel. 4. Five lobs, then swap jobs. Two pairs can launch the ball to each other from sail to sail. Ages 5 and up. Players: 3 to 12. Time: 10 min. Props: a towel for each pair and a soft ball.
  • Fish the Bangles Out of the Lagoon 1. A fishing game with a hook. Bend a pipe cleaner into a hook and tie it to a string on a stick. 2. Scatter rope rings or bangles on the floor inside a hoop, the lagoon. 3. Pirates stand outside the hoop and lift out as many rings as they can in one minute. 4. Count the catch and put the rings back for the next pirate. Ages 4 and up. Players: 2 to 12. Time: 10 min. Props: a stick, string, a pipe cleaner, a hoop and ten rope rings or bangles.
  • Lob Over the Rigging 1. A toss over a line. String a rope between two trees at the height of a grown-up's head, and lay a hoop on the grass beyond it. 2. Pirates stand three steps back and lob a beanbag over the rope. 3. Over the rope scores 1. Over the rope and inside the hoop scores 3. 4. Three lobs each. The crew adds its scores together and tries to beat the total next round. Ages 4 and up. Players: 2 to 16. Time: 10 min. Props: a rope, a hoop and three beanbags.
  • Parrot Lands on the Perch 1. A landing toss. Stand a stool three steps from the line as the perch. 2. Each pirate lobs a beanbag parrot underarm and tries to make it stay on the seat. 3. A parrot that lands and stays scores. One that slides off does not. 4. Three throws each. For older pirates, swap the stool for an upturned bucket. Ages 4 and up. Players: 2 to 16. Time: 10 min. Props: a stool and three beanbags.
  • Roll the Cannonball Down the Deck 1. A rolling target game. Lean a plank or a flattened box against a low step to make a ramp. 2. Lay three paper rings on the grass beyond it: near, middle and far. 3. Each pirate lets a ball go from the top of the ramp, with no push. 4. A ball that stops in a ring scores 1, 2 or 3. Pirates choose where on the ramp to let go. Ages 3 and up. Players: 2 to 12. Time: 10 min. Props: a plank or a flattened box, a ball and three paper rings.
  • Rope Rings Onto the Hook 1. Ring toss, with a hook for the peg. Tape a plastic coat hanger hook-up to the back of a chair, so that the hook stands clear. 2. Pirates throw three rope rings each from two steps back. 3. A ring that hangs on the hook scores. 4. After each round, everyone who scored takes one step back. See who gets farthest from the chair. Ages 5 and up. Players: 2 to 12. Time: 10 min. Props: a plastic coat hanger, tape, a chair and three rope rings.
  • Sink the Fleet of Cup Ships 1. A knock-down game. Stand ten paper cups along a table edge and tape a paper sail to each: the fleet. 2. Pirates take turns throwing three rolled-up socks from the line. 3. Each cup knocked off the table is a ship sunk. 4. Set the fleet up again for the next pirate. The crew adds up its ships and tries to beat the total in round two. Ages 4 and up. Players: 2 to 16. Time: 10 min. Props: ten paper cups, paper sails, tape and three rolled socks.

Crew games 8

  • Act a Pirate's Day 1. Charades with a pirate's day. Draw or write one job on each slip: rowing, digging, looking through a spyglass, hauling a rope, mopping, steering. 2. A pirate draws a slip and acts it with no words. 3. The crew shouts guesses. 4. The pirate who guesses goes next. Pictures on the slips let non-readers draw their own. Ages 4 and up. Players: 3 to 20. Time: 10 min. Props: slips with a pirate job on each, and a hat.
  • Barnacle Boots: Draw Your Pirate Name 1. A name draw. Fill one hat with slips of first words: Barnacle, One-Sock, Salty, Captain Sneezy. 2. Fill a second hat with last words: Beard, Boots, the Brave, of the Seven Puddles. 3. Each pirate draws one slip from each hat as they arrive. A helper reads the slips for non-readers and writes the name on a badge. 4. Everyone answers only to their pirate name until the cake is cut. Ages 3 and up. Players: 3 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: two hats, name slips and sticky badges.
  • The Captain Says 1. Simon Says with a ship's orders. The captain gives orders: scrub the deck, climb the rigging, hoist the sail, row. 2. The crew obeys only when the order starts with the words, the captain says. 3. A pirate who moves on a bare order does three scrubs of the deck and plays on. Nobody is out. 4. After five orders, the captain hands the hat to a new captain. Ages 3 and up. Players: 3 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: a captain's hat.
  • Line Up Using Only Arr 1. The silent line-up, with one word allowed. The captain asks the crew to line up by height, shortest at the bow. 2. Nobody may say anything except arr. 3. The crew sorts itself out with pointing, nodding and arr. 4. Check the line together. Then try shoe size or birthday month. Ages 5 and up. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 5 min. Props: none.
  • Pass the Parrot 1. Hot potato with a toy parrot and nobody out. The crew sits in a circle and passes the parrot while the music plays. 2. When the music stops, whoever holds the parrot squawks one thing a parrot might say. 3. The crew repeats it in their best parrot voices. 4. Start the music again. The person on the music faces away from the circle. Ages 3 and up. Players: 4 to 20. Time: 10 min. Props: a soft toy parrot and music.
  • The Quietest Stowaway 1. Sleeping lions below decks. Every pirate but one lies down in the hold, eyes closed, as still as a sack of flour. 2. The captain walks among them and tries to make them move with jokes and silly voices, never by touching. 3. A stowaway who wriggles or giggles gets up and joins the captain. 4. The last one lying still is the quietest stowaway and the next captain. Ages 3 and up. Players: 4 to 20. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • Ship's Bell Statues 1. Musical statues with a bell in place of the music stopping. The crew dances a sailor's jig while the music plays. 2. When the host rings the bell, everyone freezes like a figurehead. 3. The host walks past the statues. Anyone who wobbles takes one lap of the deck and rejoins. 4. Ring the bell sooner each time. Ages 3 and up. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: a bell and music.
  • Who Has the Captain's Key? 1. The quiet stealing game. The captain sits on a chair with their back to the crew, eyes closed, a big key on the floor behind the chair. 2. The host points at one pirate, who creeps up, takes the key and hides it in their lap. 3. The whole crew says, captain, your key is gone. 4. The captain turns around and has three guesses. The key holder is the next captain. Ages 4 and up. Players: 5 to 20. Time: 10 min. Props: a chair and a large key or a bunch of keys.

How this list was compiled: Our suggestions for a child's pirate party at home or in a yard, for ages 3 to 9. The wording is ours, and the player counts, times and ages are our estimates. Each game is a classic with a pirate prop or rule, and its first step names the classic. Nobody is blindfolded, no game is a sword fight and none uses water. Rules of the classics were checked against Wikipedia (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) on 2026-10-03, after the stem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/: Simon Says, Sleeping lions, Hot potato, Musical statues, Musical chairs, Kim's Game, Ring toss, Egg-and-spoon race, Charades. Licence: own work