Wager
A wager is a friendly bet between players on the outcome of a puzzle or parlor game. Players may challenge each other or Non-Player Pirates (also called NPPs or bots) to a puzzle, with Pieces of Eight and items divided up equally among the winners. Wagers can also be placed at games tables, and players can enter tournaments for the chance to win PoE and/or items.
Some NPPs will accept wagers up to 26 PoE.
There is no way to wager with doubloons. Items can only be wagered in direct one-on-one challenges made through the radial menu. If an item is untradeable (i.e., the savvy hat), it may not be wagered.
Wager bans
- Main article: wager ban
A player who wishes not to place wagers can ask an Ocean Master to put a wager ban in place. This permanently prevents the player in question from participating in wagers. However, wager-banned pirates may still join frays against skellies, werewolves and zombies. They may also join tournaments with prizes on offer, provided there is no entry fee.
Wager limits
Wager limits prevent pirates with low experience in a puzzle from wagering large amounts. The limits apply to parlor games and challenges, but not tournaments. Pirates with an experience level of Solid or higher are not affected. The lower levels are limited as follows:
- Novice: 100
- Neophyte: 250
- Apprentice: 500
- Narrow: 1000
- Broad: 5000
For Drinking and Treasure drop puzzles, experience rises much slower, and so the cutoffs are reduced by one level of experience; for example, a Novice player can wager 250, and Broad has no limit.
A player's own wager limit is displayed in the challenge interface. Additionally, if a player attempts to join a game table without the requisite experience, that player will see the following message:
- Ye must have at least X experience to sit at a table with these stakes!
Historical notes
- Wagers were added to Spades with release 2005-04-06.
- With release 2005-04-26, players' wagers no longer auto-match after a challenge has been agreed. Additionally, this release changed the way PoE won was reported in-game. Previously, the total PoE gained would appear in the chat window. As of this release, the total sum of PoE won appears instead.
- With release 2008-02-05, alts belonging to the same player could no longer wager against each other.
- Wager limits were introduced with release 2012-04-30. Prior to their introduction, greenie alts with low experience and standing were often used to wager moderate amounts of PoE in challenges and on games tables. This made it difficult to gauge the opponent's ability, an important factor when deciding whether or not to place a wager. These tactics are now less commonly seen due to the number of games that must be played to overcome the limit.
