This is a review of San Juan

San Juan review summary is as follows

Materials - 6

Rules Presentation - 8

Gameplay - 8

Personal Tilt - 7

Replayability - 10

Useability - 9

Final Score = 8


I got San Juan amongst other games as a portable game that I could carry around with me. Now normally, I will go to the internet and find free wargames to print out which are easily transportable. I also carry a pack of cards with me. These didn't catch the feel of a Euro however, and as I still couldn't get Race for the Galaxy I went with a few other games. San Juan was one of those. It's rather odd in some ways to be reviewing San Juan on BGG, as San Juan isn't really a board game at all, but a card game. Of course they have all sorts of other card games on BGG, so I suppose it's acceptable. It does mean I have to adjust a few of my ratings a little to accomadate it due to the fact that it is a card game.

Now, because it's so portable, whilst I've visited friends and others, I bring it along with other portable games. I took it out of it's box, and put it in a quarter gallon ziplock bag (at which I can see some of you all of sudden going in convulsions). I gave the box to my wife to do with as she will (hopefully no one is going into convulsive shock at this point).

In between games, we've played this, and one other card game, so much over the past week we have San Juan running out through our ears. It's an interesting change, where we played and played to where eventually we had played so much and so many times in a row, we started to actually finally get bored, but then kept on playing and renewed with a new found intensity. It's quite the game...and perhaps the game that I own now that has been played the most. It's amazing how a portable game can get played more in between game sessions and otherwise.

So on to the review.

Materials - Well, as I already stated, this is not a board game. It's a card game. It comes with some high quality cardboard elements, such as placards for governor and strategies, as well as trade, but overall, it's just cards. I had to change my direction, to rate it as a card game instead of a board game, otherwise this would probably rate a 3. Instead I grabbed my pack of cards, and rubbed them between my fingers, tested the San Juan deck, then bent the cards slightly, did the same to San Juan, and finally a shuffle.

I did not tear or bend (aka, bend it more then slightly, don't like creases in my cards or anything else like that) the cards in any manner so no telling how durable they are in that light.

The cards didn't seem to be all that much above the quality of other cards. Add to that the expense (I got several packs of poker cards for a dollar a pack, it cost me twenty something dollars for San Juan) and it almost makes the game not that well rated. However, the way the cards are implemented, as resources and playing cards, really is a good use of the cards. It also is a specialized game, so not a generic pack, which makes good use of it's various cards in the game itself.

Hence, overall, I'd rate the game as average as far as materials go in a card game.

It rates a 6.

Rules Presentation - This was one area where I waivered between a really high score, and a really low score. This game has very easy and very short and succinct rules. You don't really need to read the specialized card descriptions (though it can help for clarifications at first). Should I rate it as average. However, I realized that everyone in the group was able to read the rules rapidly, and pick up easily on the game which heavily inspired my rating of this.

It rates an 8.

Gameplay - There have been a ton of reviews already on this aspect, but I'll go over it again in brief. Each player begins the game with an Indigo farm and four cards. Indigo is worth 1 victory point and supplies 1 card.

The game begins much as Puerto Rico with a rotating starter, decided upon by who is governor. Governor is decided upon who starts with the governor placard, and then it is passed to a player to their side after One round is completed.

During that round players get to decide whether they want to do one of the five following tasks.

Produce which means they look at whatever farms/production cards they have (Indigo, tobacco, sugar, coffee, and Silver) and put a card upon it. This is only to show that their is produce, and is placed face down.

Trade where you turn in the cards on top of your production/farms cards onto the discard deck. You then look at the trade value (for Indigo it's always 1, for Sugar it varies between 1 and 2, for tobacco it's almost always 2 though occasionally 1, coffee is usually 2, and Silver is almost always 3 though occasionally 2) and take that many cards out of the supply deck and put them in your hand.

Counciller which a player draws two cards (or 5 if they are the one choosing this) and can keep one of those cards, returning the other one to the pile.

Builder which means you spend cards from your hand, in order to build a building from your hand. Each card has a production building, or a special building on it, and to play it, or put it down on the table, you have to spend cards in your hand. Hence cards are useable as both currency and as items you want to use to build with.

Prospector which is merely a way to try to shaft the other players whilst getting one free card from supply to put in your hand.

Each Building and Production building is worth a number of Victory Points. For example whilst Indigo is worth 1, Silver Smelting is worth 3 Victory points. On the other hand, with buildings you might build a Statue which has no special abilities but worth 3 victory points, or go build an Aquaduct which has a special ability, costs less, but only worth 2 victory points.

The only thing that aggravated me a little at one point was the same thing that happens in any cardgame. It's where you want a specific card, but never draw it. In this instance it was a tower, but I never drew one.

The game finally ends when someone has built 12 buildings. They then total the victory points and who ever has the highest total...wins.

Play goes very smoothly, and the card mechanics of using them as produce, currency, and buildings works very well. In fact the game moves so smoothly I was impressed, and the usage of the cards is so unique and yet smart, so intuitive one has to think there will be other games that try to copy this in the future, or should.

This game has an excellent gameplay.

It scores 8.

Personal Tilt - I've played, and played and played some more. At first the entire joy of building got me caught up in the game. It's like Puerto Rico in some ways, or other builder games that one can enjoy. It's exactly the type of Eurogame experience I was looking for. Then started the boredom of been there, done that, and then finally excitement again as I saw more and more the beauty of the game. I've lost count of how many times we've played now (I suppose if I were like some and logged how many times I play a game it wouldn't be a problem, but that means I'd have to take time from playing to log them, or record throughout the day how much I play so when I come here I can record it...which I don't). I highly enjoy this game, but I can't say it's the awesome game I first thought it was the first ten or so plays. On the otherhand, it is still an exceptional game.

It rates above average at a 7.

Replayability - What can I say. I think with our group, and at least for our group, we've shown that this game seems to have almost unlimited replayability. I think this is because of how many different options you have in what you build, and how you build. In addition, we've seen wins with many different strategies. We had people win with a building strategy where they just build special (violet) buildings. People who win with a super specialized building strategy where they just build buildings (which would be large buildings in PR, or buildings that cost 6 cards to build and have special VP items to them). we've seen them win with a production strategy (I love that one, lots of cards and yet, many VPs) which is where the Silver San Juan term comes in. I like to build lots of farms/production and hence Silver. Silver costs the most to build, as it costs 5 cards to build, but at the same time each one is worth 3 Victory points, and silver is the most valuable commodity to sell. Hence you always have a good supply of cards, and if you build a guild Hall your VP's can increase even more. I don't always win with that strategy, but it's one of my favorites. You can use a hybrid combination, or multiple other strategies. This makes replayability very good in this game.

It scores a 10

Useability - Well, one big plus for this game is that it is easily portable. Another plus is that it has rules for two players and you can play up to five players. In fact, with a bit of adjustment, you can hybrid it into a solo game (if you really have to/want to). This game is very useable, not just for a typical game night, but for times where a board game might not fit. It still takes a little room however, to lay down cards, so it's not a perfect fit, but it's nigh near perfect.

It scores a 9.


This game, despite being a card game, and not a board game, is a great game for travel, or for a typical game night. At 25 USD (I think however it might go up to 29 USD) some may even consider it a better option than Puerto Rico, the game upon which it copies the play style or at least feel (and of which there is an advertisement for on the back of the rulebook even). It is a fun game, and highly advisable. It's not as cheap as a pack of cards, but it is cheaper than a lot of other games on BGG.

Overall this is a superb game which is reflected upon in it's score.

It's final score is an 8.


Great game, and we will continue to enjoy it. So far this is probably my favorite of the travel games that I've picked up, and though it can't replace a good wargame, I find more people are at least willing to try San Juan as opposed to a wargame. It also scratches that Euro itch, which is a good thing. I would highly advise this game to those who also have a Euro itch, or those who like Puerto Rico, but want something a little easier to transport.



(Edit: For reference, link to explanation of my game ratings http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/2426690#2426690 )