Puerto Rico (Board Game)

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Puerto Rico the game routinely appears quite high on people's lists of all-time favorite games, and with good cause. Though it takes some time to learn, once you know the rules of Puerto Rico you'll find it is a pleasurable game to play over and over again as each game feels unique.

Players are Conquistadors competing to extract resources from the island of Puerto Rico to send back as tribute to Spain. There are a wide variety of special buildings players can build on their island to enhance their abilities, and there a great many paths to victory. One of the most interesting aspects of the game by designer Andreas Seyfarth is that each turn players select from a number of different roles such as the Builder or Mayor. Each role defines the actions the players will take that round, and the player who initially selects the role gains a special advantage. To our knowledge this was the first game to use this technique.

Puerto Rico takes longer to setup than many other games, so players should have a good hour or more to spend on a game. It is highly recommended that new players read the entire rule book and play though their first couple of games slowly to really learn the ins and outs of this wonderful game. If you like games that really make you think, you should buy Puerto Rico.

For other civil engineering games, look no further than Caylus, Princes of Florence, San Juan, Carcassonne, Maharaja: Palace Building in India.

If you enjoy Andreas Seyfarth games, you will probably like San Juan, Thurn and Taxis, Manhattan.

We'll be posting additional information about Puerto Rico, such as new strategies, clearer rules, in-depth reviews and more. If you can think of something we should include, or there's anything you'd like to tell us about board games, boardgames, a board game or a boardgame feel free to drop us a line at borgamo@gmail.com.