rules
Avast me Hearties and welcome to The Old Cross Pirate Day 2026.
What is sure to be a memorable day will require you to have your wits and sense of humour on high alert!!
Pirate Day 2026 will be managed using our Pirate Day app. This is available to download from the iOS App Store and the Android Play Store.
This can be found by searching for ‘Pirate Day’ in each store.
Once downloaded, there is a ‘Demo mode’ for you to take a look and familiarise yourself with the different pages. The pages within the app are explained below, however the system is very much user friendly and will not take long to get used to.
Your Captain will also have a WhatsApp team group set up along with a Pirate Day Captains WhatsApp group which will be used to communicate vital information throughout the day.
Please make sure that your Captain has his/her mobile phone on and charged at all times!!
Do not feel the need to follow other teams throughout the day. Your route & tasks may be different to your competitors.
It is also worth being secretive when taking the pictures of your tasks. You do not want your competitors to copy your efforts!!
Please be considerate to the general public throughout the day.
All of the establishments we are sailing to are aware of our visit.
Above all, enjoy your day and have a great time!!
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The Day
Your day will start at The Old Cross.
Your team will be given a ‘Captain code’ to enter into the app. A cryptic clue sending you to your first destination will be present on the ‘Home’ page.
Upon arrival at that destination, you will shout 'Prepare to be boarded' and then order a drink of your choice. You will then be given a QR code which you will need to scan into your app.
This will confirm if you are at the correct destination. If you are, you will be awarded 10 gold coins.
The app will then give you ‘Hints’ to take pictures at each destination. You must scan these pictures and if they are correct, you will then be awarded 10 gold coins for each correct picture.
Upon completion of all the ‘Hints’, you will then be given a clue to the next destination.
This will continue until you are guided back to The Old Cross at the end of the day.
A feast of Pirate entertainment along with a presentation of your winners will be arranged for the end of The Old Cross Pirate Day.
The day is not a race!! The aim of the day is to collect as much treasure as possible and to keep it.
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THE PIRATE DAY APP
The Pirate Day App consists of 5 different pages. Home, Chest, Rules, Battle and Settings.
As soon as you receive your ‘Captain Code’, input this into the app where it will take you to the Home page.
Each of the pages are explained below. If you have any issues with your app throughout the day, please get in touch through your Pirate Day WhatsApp group.
Please ensure that notifications for the App are switched on (in settings) as you will receive information notifications throughout the day.
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HOME PAGE
The first thing you see will be a cryptic clue, guiding you to your first destination. You need to work out that destination and make your way there. Make sure you read the clue as a whole as there may be several elements to get you to the correct destination.
Once you arrive, you will need to purchase a drink where the bar person will give you a QR code.
Click on the clue text. This will allow you to scan the QR code.
If you are at the correct destination, you will then be awarded 10 gold coins which you must select a chest to put it in. There are 3 chests to choose from…..1, 2 and 3.
If you are at the wrong location, the QR code will not scan correctly.
If you cannot get a QR code, get in touch with your pirate mate.
The first ‘hint’ will then pop up. This is a clue for a photograph.
Click the ‘hint’ text and then take a photograph of what you think that hint is indicating.
If your photograph is correct, the app will award 10 gold coins which you put into a chest of your choice.
The next hint then appears and you do the same.
If you cannot successfully solve the hint, you can skip.
Please note, once skipped, you CANNOT go backwards.
Once you have completed all ‘hints’ (about 7 or 8), the next destination clue appears. You will then make your way to your next destination and go through the process again.
You will be awarded 20 coins for reaching destination 2, 30 coins for reaching destination 3 and so on.
Each photo hint will be worth 10 gold coins all day.
Keep your eye on the ‘Challenge’ section (and your notifications, which is why it is important to make sure they are enabled).
There will be ad hoc challenges throughout the day. They will appear here.
Take the photo and post it. If correct, you get more coins.
Your total treasure score is also shown on the home page.
Finally, your Captains contact details are shown at the bottom of the home page.
Chest page
Clicking on the ‘Chest’ page will show you where your treasure has been placed. Split into Treasure Chests 1, 2 and 3.
At any time of the day, you can bury your treasure chests. Chests must be buried in full and cannot be moved again.
This is done by clicking ‘Bury Yar Booty’ and selecting which chest you would like to bury.
Buried treasure will only be worth 50% of its value that was in chests 1, 2 and 3, however this cannot be stolen in any battles that you encounter.
At the beginning of the day, a number of teams will be handed a curse in the form of a ‘Black Spot’.
If you have been given the curse of The Black Spot, one of your chests will show as ‘cursed’. You will not be able to put treasure into this chest and you will only be able to lose this in a battle.
All treasure in a cursed chest loses its value….forever!!
RULES PAGE
The rules page will detail these rules so you can refer to them throughout the day.
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BATTLE PAGE
The Battle page is the most complex page (but is easy to understand after playing it once).
If you wish to ‘Battle’ an opposing team, you need to click ‘Fly the Colours’.
The App will then request you to scan the QR code of the opposing team.
It will ask you if you are battling your opposing team. Select Yar (yes).
You will then play a ‘best of 3’ game of Rock, Paper, Scissors.
Whichever team wins 2 rounds of Rock, Paper, Scissors will win the battle.
After playing, the winner selects ‘Yar’ to say they have won, the loser selects ‘Nay’.
You cannot cheat. If both of you select Yar or both select Nay, it will not work.
The winner will select the chest you want to steal. IF there are coins in the stolen chest, it will ask where you want to put them. The treasure will then be deposited into your chosen chest.
If there are no coins, it will not ask you to put them anywhere.
Each team will have 5 battles per day, which you can play at any time.
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SETTINGS PAGE
This page will show your ‘Crew’ details and will also remind you to enable notifications.
The circle with the 3 vertical dots in the top right-hand corner will allow you to log out. If this is done accidentally, you will be able to log in at any time using the code given to you at the beginning of the day.
The 2026 Pirate Day champions will be the team that has accumulated the most treasure.
Good Luck me Hearties!!