| Game
Overview
Puerto Rico turns the clock back to the
great days of exploration when explorers
from Spain discovered the 'New World'. Each
player must create a thriving colony and
by creating wealth and sending goods back
to the homeland your fame can be earned
and victory ensured. Each player is given
their own colony template, which depicts
their available land to grow crops and space
for a city. Each turn will have a new starting
player and they must choose a role from
those available. Each role has a privilege
and a general ability. The player who takes
the role can use the privilege whilst the
other players can only use the general ability.
Once all players have used the ability for
that role, the next player will choose a
role from those remaining. The same process
is followed until all players have taken
a role for the round. Any unused roles will
have 1 doubloon placed on them. The new
round begins by returning all roles and
the sequence is replayed. Taking 1 of the
roles with a doubloon will not only grant
the usual benefits but also earns that player
the extra gold. Hence they are more enticing.
I don't have room to outline all the roles
but taking the Builder for example allows
the player to build a building at 1 less
than the usual cost, whilst the other players
pay the standard. There are 2 types of buildings
- goods production and special ability.
The goods production buildings allow the
production of goods if there is a matching
field (both must contain a colonist, which
are acquired by taking the Mayor role).
However the goods can only then be created
by someone taking the Craftsman role. The
special ability buildings all have different
functions and allow the players to break
the standard rules in one way or another.
The Trader role allows players to sell goods
to the trading house but they will only
accept 1 of each good type until the house
is full and subsequently cleared. The Settler
allows players to select new field types,
which include corn, sugar, indigo, tobacco,
coffee and quarry. The Captain allows players
to load goods onto several ships, which
set sail for the homeland once full. Each
barrel loaded in such a way earns a player
1 victory point. The game ends when any
one player completely fills their city with
buildings or the colonist ship cannot be
refilled with colonists. At this point all
players reveal the number of victory points
they have gained and add the victory point
value of their buildings (all of which differ).
The highest score is declared the winner.
|
