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Japan’s Pop-up Pirate game turns 50 and changes up the rules

Master Blaster Apr 21, 2025
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That little guy’s still popping like a teen though.

Every once in a while, I come across something that I’ve known all my life but never realized came from Japan. Pearl brand drums and rock-paper-scissors are but a few, and now I’m going to have to add the game Pop-up Pirate to that list.

This is the game where you have a plastic pirate hiding in a plastic barrel and each player sticks plastic swords into the slots on the side of the barrel. If a sword goes into a certain spot it causes the pirate to pop out and that player to lose the game. It was originally created by Japanese toy giant Takara Tomy under the name Kurohige Kiki Ippatsu (literally, “Blackbeard’s One-shot Crisis”) in 1975. Because it required no speaking or reading, the universal appeal of the game made it a hit in 47 countries around the world, regrettably but wisely under the name of “Pop-up Pirate” rather than a literal translation of the Japanese title.

Now in its 50th year, over 20 million games have been sold, and if we assume each one was played at least once that little pirate’s 10-centimeter take-off would amount to 2,000 kilometers (1,243 miles), or enough for five trips to the International Space Station.

▼ “Ken-chan! Look at the pirate, not the cam… Oh, well.”

In honor of this, Takara Tomy will release the seventh edition of Pop-up Pirate and will revert it to the original rules set in 1975. As surprising as it may sound, this simple game has undergone a few rule changes throughout its history. When the game was originally designed 50 years ago, the concept was that all the players were pirates trying to free their boss, Blackbeard, who was trapped inside the barrel. This meant, that whoever made him pop out was the one who saved him and thus won the game.

▼ The original Kurohige Kiki Ippatsu design from 1975

In 1979, that rule was loosened so that popping out Blackbeard would cause the player to either win or lose the game, as long as it was clearly defined prior to playing. However, around the ’80s there was a television game show in which players lost points or prizes either for making the pirate appear or failing to catch him when he did appear. This strengthened the association of bringing out Blackbeard with losing such that in 1995 it became the game’s official rule.

But with this newest edition of Pop-up Pirate, the official rule will once again be that making Blackbeard emerge is a victory. This is because Takara Tomy wants the game to be about the joy of winning rather than the fear of losing.

▼ The 2025 Edition of Pop-up Pirate

The new version will come with a booklet that gives the history of the game and some related trivia. It also will have a redesigned pirate, which is actually more in line with the overseas version of the pirate and probably won’t look redesigned at all outside of Japan.

▼ Left: The old Japanese Blackbeard, Right: The new Japanese Blackbeard

Also in honor of Blackbeard’s 50 years of crises, a series of Line messaging app stamps have been released to communicate those complex emotions that can only be expressed in Pop-up Pirate terms.

▼ “I’ll fly over!”

So, whether it’s buying the new Pop-up Pirate when it hits Japanese stores and e-commerce sites on 5 July, downloading some pirate stamps, or just dusting off your old game and hoping you haven’t lost too many swords, be sure to take a moment to honor this long-running game for its half a century in existence.

Source, images: PR Wire
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