Are you just browsing through different reviews to find out which game you want to purchase? Then this short review might come in handy, including only the most important things you need to know.

Concept
It's all about getting the most victory points until the sixth and last round. You play cards that allows you to take actions. You have a resource field in front of you where you also can place buildings you buy throughout the game. You can buy, sell, produce and ship different products and resources to get money or victory points... To mention the basics.

Caylus + Puerto Rico = ?
You can often hear that Cuba is described as the boardgames Caylus and Puerto Rico combined. However, I totally disagree. Even though you recognise features from those two games, the whole concept becomes unique, as the experience.
Personally I like Cuba better than both Caylus and Puerto Rico.

Gamers vs. Non-gamers
So how does this game work with non-gamers? Well, I wouldn't recommend it. Yes, they are capable of learning the rules, since they're not too hard, but the non-gamers will likely get bored during the waiting time between the players. Gamers might get used to plan their turn so they are prepared when they must play, but non-gamers wait until their turn.

There isn't anything worse than people who want to quit in the middle of a game, and that will probably happen with non-gamers.

2 player game
Yes, this game is still fun with 2 players, even though I prefer more. If you know that you never will play with more than 2 players, don't buy this game.

Conclusion
This game is amazing, one of my favourites. Although it's a bit hard to get some of my friends to play it. If you are choosing between Pillars of the Earth and Cuba, I would recommend Cuba. Also the design and quality is brilliant. The only negative thing is that it takes 1,5 - 2h to play due to thinking, so non-gamers find that irritating, and very impatient people hate the game.

The game works well with 2 - 5 players, and there is a lot of things to do and options to choose between during the whole game. So every time you can go for a new strategy.

Rating

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Other short reviews of games I recommend:

Factory Manager | Yspahan | Maharaja