History
I bought plunder after struggling with my own pirate-game design. After browsing through BGG for ideas, I found Plunder and while it didn't help much with my own game, I was fascinated with it and decided to buy.

The game
The mechanics of the game have been explained in previous reviews so I just emphasize the parts that I like or don't like especially.

Multi-use cards
This is really nice as it reduces the amounts of components required for play. It also creates nice strategic element in choosing which cards to keep and which to use. This wasn't as pronounced as I thought because there are quite a lot of "cheap" cards that can be ditched without remorse. But there are nailbiting moments when you have just enough good cards for you plan and you wait if you have to waste some of them to add 3 to something..

Packaging/components
This is just cool. Nice pouches for the components and great box. Only niggle are the ships. Small wooden ships would have rounded up otherwise excellent game. I did create new cards with stands as the existing ones were just not quite good enough.

True test - playability
We have now played Plunder in almost every game session which tells something about this game. Not that there are downsides as well. There is strong element of luck involved, but hey, that's life of a pirate. Some games can be awfully short when someone picks right cards and brings in three full loads of spice with full price when others have barely started. But then, setting up is fast so you can always play another game.

The actual gameplay isn't very deep, but as a filler or light game when anything heavier would just be too much for tired mind, Plunder hits just the spot. Be aware of the mutiny though when playing tired..