Efrain Rivera Jr. 2007-07-11
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Winner of an International Gamers Award in the General Strategy category for 2003.
Chosen Best Strategy game in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Netherlands and USA
Winner of the Golden Feather for the best game rules.
Still Ranked Best Game Ever at [...]
I am a game collector and have played them all. Honestly this game is by far the best game I have ever played. My friends and I are literally addicted to it. Having NO DICE at all means 100% strategy and ZERO LUCK. You have to make the right decisions or you WILL lose. The best part is that you will not find a winning pattern on this game. The strategy used to win in one game will be useless once your friends catch up on it. This means each time you play it will be different.
Here is a raw description of this great game.
Each player has a small board with city and land spaces to build on. You start with one plantation and a small amount of money. Each player in turns will chose a role according to their strategy. These roles will allow you to create more plantations, build structures in your city that will help you according to your strategy (e.g. warehouse, office, factory, harbor, etc), bring in workers for your crops and buildings, produce goods, and sell or export those goods in exchange for money or victory points. You have to choose these roles carefully since they will also make or break your opponents.
Each building you chose to purchase will give you an advantage and will cost differently. The most expensive building will give bonuses at game end. So you must choose how to spend your hard earned money wisely. The crops you chose to build also work differently. Corn can be produced quickly and in larger amounts and have little to no value in the market but gives you an edge while exporting. On the other hand coffee is slow and hard to produce but will sell nicely in the market giving you a large amount of money. Of course you can produce a little of everything if you wish, though it takes more time.
It will take you a couple of rounds before you get a hang of this game but once you do there is no turning back. You will get hooked, guaranteed. The game is at its best with five players so include as many as you can. It can be a bit pricey but have in mind that every single piece of this game is made of high quality material. I'm saying no plastic but wood pieces, and the tiles and boards are made to last a lifetime of total abuse. You will not find this quality in any Hasbro game. This game looks like a Special Collector's Edition kind of thing. It is very educational and will stimulate your thinking cells to the max. Game play will last about 1½ to 2 hours.
An EXPANSION PACK is available which you can buy or download for FREE at [...]. This expansion pack is awesome and a must for experienced players.
If you call yourself a game player and have not played Puerto Rico you have missed on one of the best experiences in your life. This is a no brainer. Buy this game and thank me latter. BRAVO Amazon! I never thought you will listen to my pleads to include this awesome game in your site.
EXPERTS: To make this game even better we use all the victory points and invented a large building bonus card called World Bank - It will allow it's owner to count all the doubloons he has in hand as victory points at game end (cost 10 doubloons/value 4 vp's). Try it; it will broaden your strategy options.
Have fun!!
