Word Pirates

Fun! This was the main goal for inventing this game.

Word Pirates is an adaptation of the classic game, Battleship, beloved by kids, young and old… Instead of the usual letter-number coordinates, students will combine and read word parts to form whole words. The chore of reading will be forgotten. Students will be motivated and rewarded for their efforts by silly pirate voices and the firing of cannons. Older students will enjoy using a bit of strategy to locate hidden ships. Students should play this game only with the guidance of their tutor, never alone.

Please read through the tabs for more information.

Each edition of Word Pirates targets a range of skills and levels using single and multi-syllabic words for reading practice. This way, students can enjoy the game while a tutor helps to  reinforce relevant early skills as well as more advanced ones. See here for the list of skills included in each edition/program alignment.

Note: This game is not intended to be played independently by a student.

1. Choose your program/skill target in the dropdown menu under the game.
2. Click “Randomize” if you want to change up the word content.
3. Choose 3 or 6 ships (game defaults to 6).
4. Select the number of sunken ships needed to win the game (defaults to one ship).
5. Student chooses a character for player 1.
6. Choose level of opponent difficulty under player 2 (defaults to easy). This changes the computer’s “intelligence” for locating the student’s ships. It doesn’t change the difficulty of the words,
7. Click the music button to hear music on the intro and concluding screens. Keep it off if you want.

1. Click Play
2. Drag and drop the pirate ships onto the grid. Be sure it snaps to the grid. Spin the wheel to rotate the ships. Avoid islands and characters in the water.
3. Player 1 (student) starts by deciding which of the  coordinates (question mark) to fire on that might have the opponent’s hiding ship. The student clicks on the first part of the word along the left column (y axis) and it will turn green. The student reads this aloud. Then, the student clicks on the second portion of the word along the horizontal (x axis) and reads it.
4. The combined word will form in a scroll above the grids. The student should read again/check the word.
5. Alternatively, the student may just click the word parts without reading them and build a whole word first . Then, it can just be read from the scroll.
6. Clicking both word parts will set up the coordinates with a target.
7. Word parts that form “illegal” words are blocked and cannot be selected.
8. Click the lit-up target image on the grid to fire a cannon. There will be no cannon fire or splash sounds if the audio was disabled.
9. The winner will be the player who is first to sink the predetermined number of ships needed to win.

1. Ships can be repositioned after its’s dropped on the grid by dragging it back under the grid and turning the wheel.
2. Students may make selection changes on the vertical axis before selecting a horizontal one.
3. Be sure the sound button is on when setting up the game. Click the sound icon off/on as desired throughout the game.
4. Playing with 6 ships can be a quicker game than 3 if the number of sunken ships to win is kept low.
5. Choose full-screen mode in your browser to increase the game size. Zoom more if needed.
6. Click the white surrender flag in the upper left of the screen to stop/restart the game or click the refresh button in the browser bar.

A student should play this game with the guidance of a teacher/tutor. Monitoring and error-handling are necessary in order to maximize the student’s learning experience. We don’t want to set them up for guessing and they need verification of reading accuracy.

All of the skill sets use words that are divided into two segments, making decoding easier. Each segment, one from the vertical and one from the horizontal, forms a word and coordinates on the grid.  Students can say these separately and then should always blend the segments into a whole word.  Note: The two word parts are presented as onset-rime or as open and closed syllables.

The game format also builds skills in plotting coordinates on a graph. This skill might have to be taught to younger students.

TIPS:

1. Word Pirates focuses mostly on nonsense words which is great for kids who have a lot of words memorized. This makes them rely on reading strategies. It’s also fun to point out the recognition of real words.
2. If students are making decoding errors, ask them to just point on their selections and read more slowly, then click only once they read correctly. Have students verify their accuracy when the word forms in the scroll. This is an excellent strategy to stop impulsive guessing and learn to self-correct.
3. If students continue to guess incorrectly at words, mouse control may need to be taken away for a time so the instructor can do the pointing and guiding.
4. Instructors can guide students to verbally synthesize (blend) the two parts of the words before or after clicking on the second part of the word, depending on the student.
5. The completed word will remain displayed on the scroll until the target is clicked. This is an opportunity to have the student read the word back to check for accuracy.
6. More advanced or older students may notice combinations of words that have been blocked or might bring up alternate spellings. Discuss different spelling rules/expectancies, homophones and homographs and meanings. (And of course, there are words that would just be misspelled or inappropriate, so they are blocked)

Scottish Pirate Music: Hoist up the Sails, by Derek & Brandon Fiechter, dbfiechter.bandcamp.com

Female Pirate Voice Overs: Heather Woods of Pistoleros Wild West, wildweststuntshow.com

Audio and Tech Assistance: Tristan Young, Tristan Bay on YouTube

Programming and Support:  Stephen Peters, Tiki:Mojo Creative Services

Concept, Content and Design: Laura de la Houssaye, Literacy Matters, LLC

My goal is to create games with content that align with the scope and sequence of a variety of evidence-based literacy programs. Teachers, tutors, interventionists…can just select the needed program and level to have a skill-targeted, engaging and motivating game at the ready.

This is my first attempt at game development, so I would love feedback on functionality, content, teaching tips….I plan to have more games with new themes and target skills. Several of my students have already requested that Word Pirates be made into a two (person) player game. Maybe…Ideas abound!