It might well speed up the learning process for you parents to consider all of the mechanics in Settlers of Catan and see how they translate to Catan: Junior. Obviously, not all mechanics are the same, but most of them have rough approximations useful for learning quickly.
Objective to build 7 lairs: Objective to get 10 points
Pirates' Lair: Settlement
Ship: Road
Coco Tiles: Development Cards
Wood (Forest): Lumber (Forest)
Goat (Pastures): Brick (Hills)
Molasses (Sugar Cane): Sheep/Wool (Pasture)
Cutlass (Treasure Caves): Wheat/Grain (Fields)
Gold (River): Ore (Mountains)
Ghost Captain: Robber
Spooky Island: Desert
Rolling a six: Rolling a seven
Take two resources from stockpile for moving Ghost Captain: Take one resource from an opponent for moving Robber
"Move the Ghost Captain" tile: Soldier Card
"Build a pirates' lair or ship for free" tile: Road Building
"Receive four resources from the stockpile": Year of Plenty
Trading 2-for-1 with stockpile: Trading 4-for-1 with resource pile
Trading 1-for-1 with marketplace: Trading 3-for-1 or 2-for-1 with harbor
So, a few notes.
First, "Build a pirates' lair or ship for free" is obviously far more powerful than Road Building (if used wisely).
Second, Goats don't have the same function as Wool; Goats are used in place of Brick (lairs and ships), while Molasses is used in place of Wool (lairs and Coco cards).
Third, there is no proxy for City, and there are no proxies for Monopoly or Victory Points Development Cards.
Fourth, Gold plays a much less significant role than Ore because there are no Cities.
Fifth, Coco Tiles have such powerful functions (and the added bonus of allowing one to build a Pirates' Lair to the person with the most) that they can be very important.
Hope its useful to new players! My children, my wife, and I have had great fun with this game so far, and I hope you do, too!
Objective to build 7 lairs: Objective to get 10 points
Pirates' Lair: Settlement
Ship: Road
Coco Tiles: Development Cards
Wood (Forest): Lumber (Forest)
Goat (Pastures): Brick (Hills)
Molasses (Sugar Cane): Sheep/Wool (Pasture)
Cutlass (Treasure Caves): Wheat/Grain (Fields)
Gold (River): Ore (Mountains)
Ghost Captain: Robber
Spooky Island: Desert
Rolling a six: Rolling a seven
Take two resources from stockpile for moving Ghost Captain: Take one resource from an opponent for moving Robber
"Move the Ghost Captain" tile: Soldier Card
"Build a pirates' lair or ship for free" tile: Road Building
"Receive four resources from the stockpile": Year of Plenty
Trading 2-for-1 with stockpile: Trading 4-for-1 with resource pile
Trading 1-for-1 with marketplace: Trading 3-for-1 or 2-for-1 with harbor
So, a few notes.
First, "Build a pirates' lair or ship for free" is obviously far more powerful than Road Building (if used wisely).
Second, Goats don't have the same function as Wool; Goats are used in place of Brick (lairs and ships), while Molasses is used in place of Wool (lairs and Coco cards).
Third, there is no proxy for City, and there are no proxies for Monopoly or Victory Points Development Cards.
Fourth, Gold plays a much less significant role than Ore because there are no Cities.
Fifth, Coco Tiles have such powerful functions (and the added bonus of allowing one to build a Pirates' Lair to the person with the most) that they can be very important.
Hope its useful to new players! My children, my wife, and I have had great fun with this game so far, and I hope you do, too!