When I first started to play Pirates, I couldn’t dance at all and I didn’t like it. Nevertheless it’s quite an important part of the game as you can get special items or valuable information from the governors’ daughters. Even a nice cleavage shot when you manage to dance well. Though you may not be a Don Juan at the moment, we’re going to try to change that. So you too will be able to sweep the ladies of their feet and waltz through the ballroom.

Calfskin boots and dancing slippers, they do make a difference.

These items come in very handy at all levels of play. Even the best dancer makes some mistakes from time to time and these two items will cover them up. Get them when the opportunity occurs.

Difference between the difficulty levels

The songs will last longer and the combinations your partner uses will get more complicated. Also the speed of dancing increases with each level. Especially on swashbuckler this can be tricky.

Looking at her hands:

It’s very important that you start on the right foot. Forget the highlighted hands in the bottom right corner of the screen on the lower levels, and look at her hands instead. You’ll notice she has several gestures to indicate the direction she wants to go to. These signals are actually indicators of which keys you should press on the keyboard.

From top-left: move left (4), move right (6), move left backwards (1), move right backwards (3), move forwards (8 ), move backwards (2)

Using one or two hands on the keyboard?

I learned it with one hand only and this seems more effective in the long term as some of my friends use both hands, but they still make some serious mistakes. It has something to do with the human brain. But I’m going to spare you the details. One hand is just harder in the beginning but it will pay off in the end.

Suggestions:

• Middle finger on 8
• Point finger on 4
• Ring finger on 6
• Little finger on 3
• Thumb: the hardest one cause you use it both to push number 1 and 2 key when needed.

Exercises:

The above-mentioned instructions can be trained in the following exercises. They come in .zip files that you can extract to your chosen folder and when you click on them, they will load up in Pirates!

• Apprentice level exercises (use this one to warm up)
• Journeyman level exercises

Now that you look at her hands and have a good feeling of the keyboard, it’s time to get used to the different patterns and combinations she uses. These get more difficult at higher levels of play. Once you get them though, it’s not that hard to recognise them. She uses sequences of 2 and 4 repeating patterns before she starts another combination. I could give you a theoretical summary of the possible movements, but that won’t help you much, because it’s you who has to recognise them while dancing with her.

Exercises:

The above-mentioned instructions can be trained in the following exercises. They come in .zip files that you can extract to your chosen folder and when you click on them, they will load up in Pirates!

• Adventurer level exercises

Getting used to the different songs:

It’s important that you know the different songs after a while. You won’t have time to listen to them in the beginning when you’re still struggling with the patterns and all, but after that you should start listening to the songs. Why? Because you need to if you want to get the little hearts.

Getting the little hearts:

When you recognise the songs and where the beats are, you can get those hearts by pushing the right button (direction she goes in) at the corresponding beat of the song. The result will be a ‘pirouette’ after which she falls more and more in love with you. A good tip here is singing the song in your head while you dance and place stress on the beat.

This is an example of what I hear while the song is playing: Pom... popo pom pom...pom popo pom pom...etc. Seems funny but it really helps.

Exercises:

The above-mentioned instructions can be trained in the following exercises. They come in .zip files that you can extract to your chosen folder and when you click on them, they will load up in Pirates!

• Rogue level exercises

This is the real thing ladies and gentlemen, especially meant for people who play on the swashbuckler level. The main difference with rogue is that she will dance faster and the patterns can confuse you due to the increased speed. However, once you get used to the rhythm it's quite pleasant to swing and pirouette around. Remember that she uses recognisable patterns. It's always good to count them in your head so you know when she's going to switch to another set of combinations.

Exercises:

The above-mentioned instructions can be trained in the following exercises. They come in .zip files that you can extract to your chosen folder and when you click on them, they will load up in Pirates!

• Swashbuckler level exercises

I can’t say a lot about this one, except that when you want to be good at something you need to practice. The same goes for dancing in Pirates! Load the game again after you completed the dance, over and over again till you finally make some progress. After you have got the hang of it, the dancing is really fun and nothing to be afraid of. Indeed, you might get addicted to stealing the ladies’ hearts.