Piratocon: Dig, Restore & Collect

Ahoy!On a quiet island, an old galleon waits by the jetty with empty shelves on every deck. Her whole collection of model ships lies buried in one great dune on the beach. Dig them out, rebuild each ship on the shelf of her kind and bring back her true colours.

DIGAim your spade at the dune and shift the sand. Nothing marks where a section lies, so dig and watch until something shimmers free. Now and then the spade turns up something odd instead: a message in a bottle, a lost flip-flop, an old treasure map.

BUILDCarry your finds up the gangway and read the hall chart to see where they belong. Every ship has a shelf of her kind, from drakkars and classic sail to steamers, submarines and stranger vessels. Fit her sections into a cradle, bow to stern, and watch her come together.

RESTORESet a finished ship on the easel and scrub the sand away, part by part: hull, mast, sails and fittings. Turn her round, lean in close and keep going until her true colours shine again.

COLLECTEvery ship rebuilt on her right shelf and cleaned pays doubloons. Spend them at the quartermaster's table by the gangway on a sharper spade, a broader brush, quicker sea legs and handy skills that light the way to the pieces you are missing.