Skull & Crossbones was released in 1989 by Atari to arcades around the country, teaching kids how to get booty at an early age. In the game you can choose to be one of two aptly named pirates, Red Dog or One Eye. The goal of the game was to rescue your stolen booty from the clutches of the Evil Wizard. (Wow, they must have taken 30 seconds to come up with that one) Along the way you must fight terrible enemy pirates, foot soldiers, Medusa and yes, you guessed it, evil ninjas! This could well have been the game that started the whole Pirates vs. Ninjas debate.

If enemies prove too much for you, health can be regained by picking up food and rum, the official drink of pirates. Of course, it wouldn't be a pirate game without plenty of treasure. Gold doubloons, gems, pieces of eight and other stereotypical valuables can be found everywhere throughout the game with some levels containing saucy wenches that can be rescued for extra points. The game is over when you kill the Evil Wizard and recover your precious loot.

I really love the look of this particular flyer. It has a great olde tyme painted portrait look that we don't see very often in these pieces. It reminds me a lot of the old promotional materials for Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean ride back in the sixties when the pirates were still allowed to chase women and Johnny Depp was just a babe in arms. We also get some screen shots of the game in action accompanied by some crappy rhymes meant to evoke salty sea shanties. You just have to love any game that actively promotes boozing, revenge and ladies of questionable morals. Flynn De Marco