Those mysterious members of the Smuggler's Guild, purveyors of prohibited property and paraphernalia, have toiled in the shadows to create a new class of vessel meant to haul bulk shipments of black market goods across the trade lanes. For clandestine reasons that cannot be uttered, they've made the plans to these new ships available to loyal shipwrights everywhere. Visit your local shipyard and see if they have the new Smuggler Class War Brig in stock!

Like its smaller sister ships, the Smuggler Class War Brig variant also bears the revered Lady of Secrets as its figurehead. She serves as a reminder that revealing secrets can have dreadful consequences.

These sturdy cranes speedily lift cargo to and from secret compartments, leaving the deck clear of any contraband or other goods that may bring an invasive search by Imperial watchdogs.

Hanging a gibbet on the deck signifies that you obey time-honored maritime law and follow a strict code of ethics that would never, ever allow the smuggling of criminal items on your ship.

This humble and thoroughly lawful captain's cabin is a strategic place to invite local or Imperial customs officers for a drink of your best rum before you happily submit to a surprise search.

Though the central cabin would pass most general inspections, a closer look will reveal telltale marks of the vessel's shadowy intent! There are two doors visible to the naked eye, but the shipwrights have seen the original blueprints, and those show a third egress attached to the nearby lantern through an elaborate system of pulleys!

That passage leads to an ample crawlspace for storing barrels, bags, and boxes of everything you don't want unwelcome guests getting their hands on. A hatch in the corner leads further into the hidden innards of the ship.

Behold the main smuggling hold! This is the decisive space for carrying your hoard of black-market goods past Johnny Imperial and his agent overseers! Tongues have been wagging about the impregnable nature of this hiding space; it is said no true Imperial officer has so much as set his or her eyes on this shadowy sanctuary!

And as fast as you can knock three times on the seal of the Smuggler's Guild, yet another hidden door leads to the main galley, with stairs back up to the top deck. It's a little dusty in here, but spotlessly clean in the eyes of the law.

The Smuggler's Guild has placed just two stipulations on the sales of these new War Brigs:
First, that no Imperial or lawful agent should be allowed to know of its secrets.
Second, that these ships shall be sold with a 20% discount on delivery fees.

The Smuggler Class War Brig will be available throughout the month of April with a delivery fee of only 80 Doubloons on Doubloon oceans! That means a 20% discount over standard delivery fees for Limited Edition War Brigs, or a savings of 20 doubloons for each of these ships sold. So, make sure you aren't being followed and stop in at a local shipyard to acquire one of these beauties today!

Avast! A new puzzle has washed ashore: Sail Patching! Patching allows pirates to repair damage done to their ship by stitching up tears in the sails. Stitch as much as you can for a high score, but watch out for wind gusts! You can read more about this exciting new addition over here, and when you're ready, Patching is accessible from the Carpentry box aboard any ship, so go check it out!

If you're looking for a good way to celebrate Patching's release, what better way than with a new portrait? We just released a slew of new player-created backgrounds to choose from, as well as a bunch of new eyes and mouths to pose with! Feeling sly, or scared, or a little embarrassed? Now there's a portrait for that!

We also slipped a few more little things into this release, such as a cool new mask inside the Black Box. You can read the full details over here.

We'll see you on the high seas!

Barnabas and the Haunted Seas await!

First, there were riddles. Then, a trip to the Ice Ocean. Now, it's finally here: the Haunted Seas have arrived in Puzzle Pirates' August Update!

The newest Sea Monster Lair to make its appearance in Puzzle Pirates, the Haunted Seas are the dire domain of the much-feared Brigand King Barnabas the Pale. Featuring ghostly opponents, a new twist on the Swordfighting puzzle and plenty of opportunities to Treasure Haul, the Haunted Seas hold all kinds of excitement and treasure for an adventurous pirate: if you can best Barnabas's minions, that is!

The rewards, however, are certainly worth the trouble. If your vessel can survive the onslaught of ghostly ships long enough to reach and defeat the protectors of one of the Haunted Seas' eerie ship graveyards, a number of juicy shipwrecks filled with haunted chests will be yours for the taking!

For more information, you can take a look at the official documentation about the Haunted Seas, but we really recommend just heading in-game, stealing a Haunted Seas map from some brigands and checking it out first hand!

The Best of the Rest

In addition to consuming vast quantities of rum, we at Puzzle Pirates HQ enjoy sneaking little changes and additions into the game with every major release. Some of the major such additions this patch include...

• Renamed treasure chests in Atlantis! The development team will now be able to sleep at night, as the names for the Atlantean chests will now match up with those of the rest of the game (box, locker, chest).
• Changes to the Dadao and Blackjack drop patterns! A picture is worth a thousand words.*
• A new, darkened background on some of the areas on the swordfighting and rumble screens! This is intended to improve visibility of things like # of pirates left in the fray. Remember what I just said about pictures?
• A change to the ordering of the Voyages table! Now, when you sort job offers by jobber cut, it'll take into account both the distribution (Jobber's Delight v. Even) AND the jobber cut so that Jobber's Delight no longer always gets sorted to the top! Huzzah!

The full release notes can be found over here. We'll see you on the high seas!

* Especially if some of those words are "the piece in the bottom row, second from the left, is a different color now... yeah, it's... no, your other left... no... yeah, the bottom row, that one".

The Puzzle Pirates June update is awash with treasures from the Eastern Seas! First and foremost, there's a new vessel type: the Junk!

The Junk comes complete with 12 large dragon cannons, a reinforced hull and room for you and 17 of your best mates. It's available now from your local Shipyard, so head on over and place your order!

While you're wandering around doing some shopping, you might be interested in the wide variety of new furniture items available...

There's lanterns, wall hangings, lacquered chests and tables, folding screens... Everything you need to bring a little piece of the Eastern Mainland to your private pirate hideaway or ship!

Rounding out this Eastern bounty are two new swords!

That's the dadao on the left, and the katana on the right. Both are now available for production from any Ironmonger. We look forward to seeing them in the hands of pirates everywhere!

The Best of the Rest

We managed to sneak a few more goodies in along with the June release. Some of the more major additions are...

• Gunning swabbies! Swabbies can now be ordered to gun, and will gladly man your ship's cannons for you with aplomb and derring-do.
• The scale for Battle Navigation standing has been adjusted! Have you and countless others been stuck at Legendary, with nary an Ultimate in sight? No longer! For additional info on this change, check out this thread on our forums!
• A longstanding swabbie labor dispute has finally been resolved, and Cutters now get four swabbies instead of just three! They're still free, though: their union isn't nearly as good as they think it is.

The full release notes can be found over here. We'll see you on the high seas!

The Puzzle Pirates May update has arrived! There's something for everyone in this month's patch, so let's take a peek inside...

Crew and Flag Housing!

Crew and flag hideouts are now available for Monarchs and Captains to purchase at their local Pirate Hall! Crew and flag members can always enter their respective halls, making them the perfect spots for meetings or crew/flag parties. Additionally, all Senior Officers or Royalty have roommate privileges within their crew/flag hall, meaning that leaders can share and exchange items and PoE with each other using storage furniture!

Available in three varieties, there's a Pirate Hall for every crew and flag. Check 'em out in-game today!

Brigand King Hunts!

The brigands and barbarians have recently picked up all kinds of info on the movements of the legendary Brigand Kings. If you're the sort that likes to beat up on brigands, they'll be obliged to share this wealth of knowledge with you in the form of new Expeditions to track and defeat a Brigand King!

Not only that, but the Brigand Kings have also picked up some new trinkets, so there are even more prizes available to pirates canny enough to earn one of their ransoms! Don't be fooled, however: despite all this, the Brigand Kings are still the same mighty challenge they always were, so stay sharp!

The Best of the Rest

As always, there are a few other miscellaneous bits and fixes in this release. Some of the more major additions are...

• Players on subscriber oceans now get 36 hours of labor per account! Roll up your sleeves and play even more of the new Weaving puzzle, or just help your local shipyard churn out some Verdant Class Cutters!
• Portrait items for the Foraging and Rigging puzzles!
• Hammocks are now available for manufacture at the furnisher!

The full release notes can be found over here. We'll see you on the high seas!