Why play when you can COLLECT?? Or, a Pirate sure does love her booty...

WAY back in the good old days (this would be high school) I got into Magic: the Gathering. Collected as many cards as I could, played all the time in the cafeteria at school. Never competed, but I did casually play.

These days? It appears that I, at least, have forsaken the actual game play for the simple pleasure of collecting the games, buying packs just to see what cards I get.

My most recent obsession is Pirates of the Spanish Main and it's assorted expansions. I've played the game once, but it's just so FUN to get new packs and see what kind of ships, monsters, crew and treasure await inside.

The point of the game is pretty much to be a pirate - get the most treasure or sink all of you opponent's ships. There are currently 7 expansions to go with the game, with an 8th coming out this month. This is in a very similar vein to Magic: the Gathering's continuing expansions, and is a common theme among collectible card games.

In another similar vein there is also an overlaying fiction story that accompanies the cards, based on the many pirates within the games. Each character and ship card comes with a little blurb about the character, and it's a fun element added to the game.

One of the most unique aspects of Pirates is that it's a CONSTRUCTABLE collectable card game. The ships, forts and sea monsters come in pieces that pop out of their backings and can be assembled into 3 dimentional playing pieces. That's actually part of the game play - when a ship takes damage, you remove a mast. Islands, crew and treasure pop out as well, but remain 2D among the 3D aspects.

Gameplay's not too hard, though remember that I've only played once. It's pretty neat that the homepage (http://www.wizkidsgames.com/pirates/default.asp) has animated rules to get you playing right away.

All in all Pirates is a fun and unique game. It has elements from the games that come before it, but it also has some very unique qualities that are pretty fun.

But the best part for me? Collecting! The next best part's building . Check it out sometime, and you might find yourself crowing about your latest loot too.