Introduction

I play games with a lot of different groups of people. In almost all groups, I'm the one responsible for supplying and explaining the games. Because of this I have to think carefully which games I bring to which groups. These considerations for, in this case, Puerto Rico will be the heart of this review. Hopefully this will give you some insight in whether Puerto Rico is suitable for your specific group.

Information

Some of you might have heard of this game called Puerto Rico (PR). For those of you new to this planet, welcome and read on! Made for 3-5 people, the players are plantation owner during the Age of Sail in Middle America. By building plantations players grow different crops, which can be sold for money or shipped to the old world for points. With money players can buy buildings to increase their effectiveness or just for points. The players are limited to choosing a role per game turn which permits all players to do a certain action, although the choosing player goes first and gets some sort of advantage. This goes on until there are no more workers left to populate the plantations, or until a player has a certain amount of buildings. An average game will take up to one hour, depending on the experience of the player.

The rules are, as most of Alea's games, very explicit and clear. The thing I like most are the numerous examples and the sidebar with a short summary of the rules. This makes it very easy to teach and re-learn after long play intervals. New players will need a couple of turns guessing what to do, but mechanic-wise this game is a breeze.

The components are ok, nothing spectacular. There's a central board for the bank and available buildings, and each player has his own board on which to build and keep track of things. Other central oversized tiles represents ships and the market. I like the pieces for goods, because hey used hexagonical cilinders instead of cubes. The one gripe I have are the money counters. They're made of thin cardboard and feel a bit cheap-ish to me. They are orange and have the value imprinted on it in a shield. Somehow the shield seems to be a bit off-center all the time, but it could be that my copy was a bad batch ...

The game has an expansion which I've never played, and has a mini-me version called San Juan, which in essence is PR slimmed down as a cardgame.

What will "they" think of Puerto Rico?
Note that the stars indicate preference/attitude and not quantity, i.e. 1 star for playing time for a eurogamer means a dislike for duration for this game (i.e. too long). More stars equals more positive on a given subject. Of course caveat emptor and YMMV, because this classification is highly subjective. This means that these ratings are based on my opinion and experiences and may not correspond with others. Please leave some constructive feedback and I'll adjust the ratings accordingly.

1) Euro-gamers
overall
learning curve
playing time
strategy & tactics
luck
participation & downtime
fun-factor
look & feel
chance to hit the table

2) War-gamers
overall
learning curve
playing time
strategy & tactics
luck
participation & downtime
fun-factor
look & feel
chance to hit the table

3) Ameritrashers
overall
learning curve
playing time
strategy & tactics
luck
participation & downtime
fun-factor
look & feel
chance to hit the table

4) Non-gamers
overall
learning curve
playing time
strategy & tactics
luck
participation & downtime
fun-factor
look & feel
chance to hit the table

My $0.02 on Puerto Rico

Undeniably, the game has a huge following and tops the rankings for quite some time now. The game is very easy to teach and play, widely available for a good price, and plays in a very short amount of time, with next to no downtime. In short, what's not to love?

Well, I for one, although having played the game a lot, find PR to be a bit too friendly for my tastes. I never quite get the feeling that I can execute a long term strategy and foil other player's plans. Sure, the buildings are limited, and you can execute certain actions or ship/sell some goods before others do, but in the end I don't feel as "satisfied", or "connected" if you will, with the outcome. I wouldn't call it multiplayer-solitaire as some do, but I miss the aspect of "meaningful play" (Salen & Zimmerman, 2003), meaning a clear relation between cause (actions) and effect (results).

PR is for everybody, but in my opinion the amount of enjoyment and willingness to play doesn't correlate with the rating people give it. For example, I rate the game a below-average 7, but I will avoid playing in favour of other similar games like Princes of Florence or El Grande. Still, I have to admit that if you like eurogames you need to have this game in your collection. If you're looking for a short friendly game to teach to non-gamers, or just a light game to play in between heavier games, PR is a sure way to go.

NB: Please note, that the apparent discrepancies between the overall ratings and subsequent smilies are due to the lack of correlation between ratings and willingness to play. I understand that this, as is the entire review, is highly subjective.