For teachers, homeschoolers & librarians

Teach the Atlantic world by trading through it

Silver & Sails is a browser game set in 1715 across 79 real ports. Students run a merchant ship, and along the way they learn geography, economics and colonial history because they need it to win.

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No accounts · No student data · No ads · Works on Chromebooks

What students learn

Four subjects in one voyage

History

Real pirates, real wars and real laws of 1715–1730: Nassau's pirate republic, the War of the Quadruple Alliance, the 1721 treaty with Morocco, maroon communities and Fort Mose.

Economics

Supply and demand, buying low and selling high, risk and insurance, opportunity cost, and what a hurricane or a war does to prices.

Geography

Trade winds, currents, the doldrums and hurricane season. Why ships sailed the routes they did, and where Boston, Barbados and the Barbary Coast actually are.

Decisions

Planning a voyage, budgeting for crew and supplies, and living with the cost of a bad call. Every choice has a trade-off.

A one-period lesson

Supply, demand and a sloop full of sugar

About 45 minutes. Works for grades 4–8, solo or in pairs.

Hook (5 min)Show the trailer or the chart. Ask: in 1715, why would sugar cost more in Boston than in Barbados?
Set sail (5 min)Students open the game, start a new captain on Easy, and name their ship. Pairs share one device.
Trade run (20 min)Goal: make the most profit in three voyages. Students write down what they bought, where, and for how much, and what they sold it for.
Compare (10 min)Who earned most? Which goods and routes worked? What went wrong: pirates, storms, a crowded market?
Exit ticket (5 min)In one sentence: why do prices differ from port to port? Bonus: name one real event that changed prices in the game.

Discussion questions

Talk it over

Why did each port make some goods and need others? What does that tell you about its climate and people?
When you sold a lot of one good in one port, what happened to its price? Why?
Was it worth paying for a bigger crew or cannon? How did you decide?
Why did some people become pirates? Why did governments work so hard to stop them?
Which ports were ruled by Britain, Spain, France or the Netherlands? How did that change your trading?
Who isn't the hero in a pirate story? Whose stories does the almanac tell that movies usually leave out?

Before you teach

A note on hard history

The Atlantic world of 1715 included the slave trade, and the game doesn't hide it. It appears as it was, legal and openly offered, but it is never the best way to win. The game also tells stories of resistance, uprisings and escape, and players can choose to free captives at real places of refuge, such as Spanish Florida and the Windward Maroons of Jamaica.

It's pitched at an age-appropriate level, but we recommend playing for 15 minutes yourself before teaching with it, so you can decide how to frame it for your students.

Devices & privacy

Runs in any browser: Chromebooks, iPads, laptops and phones. Nothing to install.
No student accounts: no email, no login, no personal information.
No ads or trackers inside the game.
Optional class code: save progress across devices with a shared code. Ask students to use nicknames, not real names.
Short sessions: progress saves automatically, so a 20-minute block works.

Free for classrooms

Request classroom access

Teachers, homeschool co-ops and librarians get the full game free. Tell us a little about your group and we'll email you within a few days. If you have ideas for teacher notes or features you'd need, put them in the last box; we read every one.