Practically everybody has played a bit of Gin Rummy, the game where you draw a card and discard a card, trying to get all the cards in your hand matched up in runs and sets, with any cards left over counting against you. The play of Corsari is reminiscent of this with the drawing and discarding, but instead of runs and sets your main goal is to assemble a crew of pirates using just two colors out of the ten in the deck and with no two numbers matching.

Additionally, and very interestingly, there is a third color of card which will not count against you, the top card in the tavern. Well, what's the tavern? At the beginning of the hand, seven cards are dealt out face up, overlapping so that you can see them all. Whichever color of card is on top is a free color for everybody, besides the two colors each player chooses individually for his crew. But since the top card of the tavern can also be drawn by any player just like the top card of the discard pile, the free color can change on a moment's notice several times during the course of the hand!

Keeping up with this will have you arranging and re-arranging your cards in ways never before contemplated. And it's fun!

The cards, by the way, are thinner than what you're used to, but that's because there are 110 of them, and smaller hands cannot easily shuffle 110 cards of ordinary thickness. With their quality linen finish the cards are actually quite sturdy, attractive and practical.

I've played Corsari frequently since discovering it, sometimes complete games and sometimes just a hand or two while waiting for other games to finish. It's a good challenge and I highly recommend it.

This card game has some elements of gin rummy, but with enough little tweaks to make it a good game on its own. There are ten colors of pirates, numbered 1-11. The goal is to make the best crew of pirates, using only two colors and no duplicate numbers (which represent crew positions). The coolest part is the tavern, which shows what color of pirate can be taken prisoner. However, this can change at any moment, so you can't be too reliant on it! Eventually someone will set sail and points will be awarded based on the quality of your crew, along with any prisoners and stowaways.

Overall, there are some familiar elements, but Corsari is still a fun game to play. And you can change the length of the game yourself just by determining how many rounds you want to play (rounds are usually pretty quick). The biggest complaint about this game is that the cards are printed on very thin paper. They are very flimsy, so you'll have to be careful. But they don't really diminish the enjoyment of the game.