Board game review: Puerto Rico

[jgorham]

Not really sure if anyone is really into strategy board games in this forum, but thought I would post a review to see how much interest there is in this sort of thing. Feel free to respond with either strategy posts or questions if you have played before, as I would love to discuss this game in depth.

Puerto Rico is a 3-5 player strategy game where players compete for points by building and producing crops which can be shipped back to the mother country.


In each turn every player gets the opportunity to select one of the six available island roles: builder, settler, mayor, trader, craftsman and captain. Each role initiates a phase that affects every player and forwards the game in some way. Each role, however, carries a unique privilege to the player who selects it, which is where the strategy comes in. When a player selects a role, it will generally benefit other players positively – the strategy lies in choosing the role whose privilege gives you the best reward.

The two main elements in the game are crops and money, which are the means to acquire points throughout the game. Each time a crop is shipped to the mother country, it is worth a point. Money allows a player to buy buildings which offer a boon to your island as well as being worth points in themselves. So to play effectively each player has to effectively manage strategies allowing for both routes simultaneously.

The game generally lasts fifteen or so turns, and every person gets to choose one role per turn (no role can be chosen again until a following turn). In this way the game is fairly easy to learn, as players can think about their future choice during the other players’ turns. And no actions are simultaneous so there isn’t really a rush unless you have annoying friends. Furthermore, almost always more than one role will offer any player a benefit, so even if a player is new to the game (and not playing optimally) they can have a working strategy and enjoy themselves.

At the same time the strategy is very deep. Because each role offers a positive benefit, it is difficult to evaluate each privilege and determine which grants the largest expected value. And the idea of expected value in this game is also interesting: in poker each decision is measured in money, but in Puerto Rico since there are different ways to score points it is difficult to accurately compare choices.

As far as learning the game goes, there are a lot of rules if no one in the group has played before. The learning curve isn’t steep though, so if there is a player who can help the group or if a group doesn’t mind looking back at the rules a lot as they go, the game is fun even before players really know what they are doing. Setup and breakdown are a little time consuming, as there are many different types of pieces, but with 3 people helping setup it only takes about 5 minutes.

One hilarious quirk (or classless feature) of the game is that for crops to grow or buildings to operate each player requires “colonists.” Colonists come to your island in the “colonist ship,” you don’t have to pay them, and they look like this:


Summary: If you can get past the blatant slavery, Puerto Rico is a great board game that appeals to beginners and veterans alike. I have played probably fifty times, and still find the decisions to be very interesting. The decision making process is similar to poker, and should appeal to anyone who has put serious effort into poker. While the strategy isn’t as deep as in a game like Chess or Go, it is probably my favorite board game. Each game takes 45 minutes to an hour (so long as everyone knows the rules) and I highly recommend it. On a highly arbitrary scale, especially since this is my first board game review, I give it a 9.2/10! So if you like board games and have never played Puerto Rico, do yourself a favor and order it.

[NickMPK]

Well, I don't think the reference to slavery is "blatant". It's only been inferred because of the color of the wood used for colonists.

In any case, this is probably my favorite board game also, although I did get a little burned out on it a couple years back when it was all my group wanted to play.

It is completely unique in its basic turn mechanic, and leaves a lot of room for strategy. The only luck is the starting turn order and the order in which the plantation tiles become available. Yes, it isn't as deep as many perfect-information two-player games, but that is the nature of multiplayer games.

I don't find the decision process very similar to poker though. Because basically all the information is open, there is little capacity for bluffing. It's more about optimizing your return from limited options and resources, much like other German-style games like Princes of Florence.