Materials:
Starter Sheet
Markers or Colored Pencils (crayons are too waxy, sadly)
Scissors
Glue (a glue stick is best, though paste works fine)
a Paper Clip (this is critical)

STEP ONE: Pick a ship.

Frigate
The Frigate is a well-armed ship designed to defend smaller trade boats from rival nations and pirates. In Go Pirate, a Frigate is a ship that starts with two cannons instead of one.

Galleon
A Galleon is a wide-bottomed ship with a lot of space for cargo underneath the deck. In Go Pirate, the Galleon can carry more Trade Goods, thus earning more money.

Schooner
In Go Pirate, a Schooner is a light ship with triangular sails. It is easy to turn, allowing you to spend more of your inches every turn getting from port to port (or escaping pirates).

STEP TWO: Personalize your ship.

In order to tell your ship apart from others, it helps to add a bit of color to the piece before you cut it out and start gluing. Above, you see one half of a colored piece. You can do it however you would like; the more unique it is, the more fun it will be to play with!

STEP THREE: Cut along large dotted lines.

Cut out each of the following pieces and put them in a safe place (away from elbows, the floor, and other being-assembled ships).

Ship Chart – This large chart fills up most of the page. Once you have cut it out, you might want to take a moment to fill in your Name, the name of your Ship, and your Grade (if this is applicable).

Name Badge – This square (which has no dotted lines, funny enough) will be glued to the back of your Ship Chart once everything has been chopped out, folded and glued.

Ship Piece – You should cut out the rectangle AROUND the ship. You will eventually cut away the white spaces, but not until after you have glued it together and given it a chance to dry.

Cannon – These are very easy to lose. It can be helpful to cut around it, but leave some paper intact to make this little guy easier to find later. You will eventually attach it to your ship, but this comes later (Step Five).

Ruler – Chop this out and save it for later.

STEP FOUR – Fold your Ship Piece and Ship Chart.

The Ship Piece (if cut out perfectly, or at least very well) should fold into quarters with great ease. First, fold it in half so that only one ship is on each side. Then, fold each half again, this time in the other direction. The half circles should form little feet. When folded correctly, the half-circles should form a full circle, and the ship pictures should mirror each other. See the diagram above for an example of folding, and for gluing instructions.

A note on glue – I like to use glue sticks, because they are very dry. Regular (paste) glue will do a fine job (strictly speaking, a better job) but you need to allow for 20-30 minutes for it to completely dry. Otherwise, you risk making your markers run.

Glue sticks aren’t perfect either, though. If you get glue on the bottom of the piece (the flip side of the half-circle feet), it will never fully dry. It will continually stick to paper, your table, or cat hair. I find it useful to keep some cardboard (i.e., a cereal box) around in case this happens. You can easily add more glue to the bottom, and attach it to some cardboard. This solves the stray glue problem, while also adding weight to your ship piece (a good thing).

Folding the Ship Chart – By folding the Ship Chart in half, you hide/protect its contents from the harsh environment. You should fold it so that the blank/empty side is facing outward.

STEP FIVE – Attach the cannon/s.

The Second big decision you need to make, is where on your base to glue your cannon/s. Below, I have drawn out some common locations, and have given my personal opinion on their strategic value.

After testing the game, and toying with cannon arrangement, I have some pretty strong opinions as to what works and what doesn’t. With the above diagram, I am assuming that I am right. Feel free to debate with me on the Forums (I’d LOVE to). The short version is that you want to be able to hit and move away from return fire. Ideally, you want to hit twice (if you have two cannons). To this end, putting the cannons perpendicular (ask mom to define that one, or grab a dictionary, kids) to your ship allows you to drive past while blasting those evil pirates.

STEP SIX – Sealing everything up.

First, sign and glue the Name Badge to the back of you Ship Chart (you did fold that in half, right?). Second, fold your ruler in half. It should fold neatly and perfectly on the 3” marking. Finally, after all of the glue has dried, fold the ship so that the feet are flush against the tall part, making it (also) flat. Take the Ship Piece and the Ruler and put them INTO your folded Ship Chart.

Then hold them in place with a large paper clip. You’re done.