Puerto Rico
by Rio Grande Games
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Category: Toy
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Product Summary
Manufacturer: Rio Grande GamesBrand: Rio Grande Games
Audio: English (Unknown)
Release Date: 2010-06-22
Model: 195RGG
Product features:
- 3 to 5 Player Game
- 90 Minutes to play
- High quality farming and economic themed board game
- Great for game nights
- Ticket To Ride - Marklin
- Inns and Cathedrals
- Rio Grande Games Carcassonne - The Castle
- Carcassonne Princess / Dragon Board Game
Toys and Games Reviews of Puerto Rico
Customer Review: Very Good Game; Could Use Some Minor Tweaks
Summary: 4 Stars
Puerto Rico is a terrific game and quite innovative... especially the whole 'role' system that breaks turns apart into separate actions and lets you play them in any order, according to what ppl want/need to play (or simply to hinder the leaders). This is fantastically clever, and really sets it apart.
Even better, Puerto Rico is deceptively deep and fairly well-balanced, so that many different strategies can yield victory. This gives the game very good replay value, something lacking in many other games. You don't start to see just how clever the game is 'til you've played it a few times. Additionally, it's not super-complicated by any means... the rulebook is all of twelve pages.
The thing that throws new people who are trying to learn Puerto Rico is that the turn/role system is very original and probably unlike anything you've played before. The best way to learn it is to simply PLAY it a couple of times, at which point it will become second nature. Just reading the rulebook over and over again without playing won't cut it, just like reading an auto repair manual, while highly recommended, will only help up to a certain point unless you actually start DOING something with the knowledge.
My main quibbles for now (maybe I'll add more later, when I have time) is that some of the 'Game Ends' conditions can cause the game to finish too quickly, at least for players who are new to the game.
Specifically, the game set-up specifies too few colonists for newbies: for example, in 3-player play, we'll go with 60 colonists in supply instead of the officially spec'd 55, and the game seems better for it (and yes, we always do remember the 3 additional colonists that start out on the ship).
HOWEVER, once you become a bit more advanced with the game, you'll find the above to be much less of a problem. In most of our recent games, it wasn't running out of colonists that ended the game, but rather running out of shipping victory points or someone building out their city 'til it was full, i.e. the other two 'End Game' conditions. That said, the game could probably still stand to spec a few more colonists.
Additionally, the building counters are extremely 'BLAH' and uninspiring... no picture of the building you're buying, just some text. C'mon guys, live a little. These should have some nice artwork. If you care about such things, there is some fan-created custom artwork for the counters over at the BoardGameGeek website (a great website in general for boardgamers, despite the unflattering name).
I'd also say that the rulebook could use an upgrade, as some of the rules explanations are too brief/vague/terse, and there aren't always enough examples to make things clear. And the rulebook, like the counters, could definitely stand to get hit with the 'high production values' stick and gain some nice artwork/graphics.
Perhaps in a '10th Anniversary Edition' re-release of the game in 2012? One hopes.
Finally, there is a minor issue with the building costs... the designer of the game himself has said that if he had to do it over again, the one change he'd make would be to swap the costs of the University and the Factory, i.e. have the University cost 7, and the Factory 8 (instead of Factory at 7 and University at 8). This is a change that works well in practice, and one we always play with. In fact, it's become a popular rules change among many who follow the game. =]
Other than that though... Puerto Rico is pretty darn close to golden. You owe it to yourself to give it a try, it has much to recommend it.
Description of Puerto Rico
Prospector, captain, mayor, trader, settler, craftsman, or builder' Which roles will you play in the new world' Will you own the most prosperous plantations' Will you build the most valuable buildings' You have but one goal: achieve the greatest prosperity and highest level of respect. Andreas Seyfarth is the author of Puerto Rico. It is for 3 to 5 players. Length of a typical game is 90-150 minutes.Board Games Toys
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