I know there is already a link to this within the Variant Forum for Puerto Rico, but I didn't see the body of these rules posted anywhere in this forum, and I wanted to both have easy access to them for future reference and preserve them in case www.morethangames.com ever goes down. I know there are legitimate debates over how many player boards to use and how many roles to select each turn, but here are the rules to the official Alea variant, whether you care to modify them or not.

Available at:
http://www.morethangames.com/article.php?story=2003061610483...
( http://tinyurl.com/ly8y6)

Has anyone played this varient much? How was it?

My wife and I have played this variant quite a bit and really enjoy it. When I first read the rules, I wasn't so sure and thought I'd probably like managing two separate boards each better instead. But this variant actually works VERY well, to the point where I almost prefer a 2-player game over any other number. With almost every role picked each round there's a lot of action, but timing is everything, and the decisions are every bit as hard as with more players. Definitely give this a shot - the people at Alea who came up with these rules knew what they were doing!

It's hidden in the files section. I say hidden because it is one of the oldest files for Puerto Rico, having been there over four years now and is way down the end, so you have to page through the more recent additions.

Here's the link straight to it http://www.boardgamegeek.com/fileinfo.php?fileid=1583

Thanks for the link Fraser

My wife and I really like it too.

When I read the rules of this variant I was turned off that every other round you'd get to pick 2 roles in a row (just as you became governor). This seemed completely antithetical to how Puerto Rico was supposed to work!
You could craftsman and then immediately trade or captain -- craftsman fear would be gone. I didn't play it for a long time because of this.

One day I saw somebody saying how much they liked the 2 player version, so we gave it a shot. It does work very well. I just had to embrace the 2-roles-in-a-row instead of being turned off by them.

Recently I've been thinking to try to remove this feature by dropping the prospector. There would be 6 roles instead of 7, and 5 would be chosen every time. Nobody would get 2 choices in a row. I haven't tried this out yet, though.

Another here. My wife and I play this quite often and really enjoy it.

I like how many men and their wives play this two player.

That isn't standard PR. That is 2 player San Juan.


No, both players choose 3 roles out of the 7 available.
Then the governor changes, and the new governor - the player who just picked the last role - gets to choose first in the new round.

Yes, as Werner was explaining, the mechanics cause one person to have 2 picks in a row every round. Say player A is governor. 6 of the 7 roles are picked in alternating turns: A B A B A B. Then the governor changes and all the roles are put back. Now they're picked: B A B A B A. Notice how at the start of the round B got to choose 2 roles in a row (and just when there was a full complement of 7 to choose from!)? A is about to get his 2 in a row at the start of the next round, when he becomes governor.

The game works even with this mechanic, but since it basically removes craftsman-fear (which I consider central to the PR experience) I wish they'd done it a different way. I haven't had a chance to play 2-player PR in a while, but next time I do I'm going to try my idea (dropping the prospector, choosing 5 out of 6 roles every round).

great variant!!!!

I play this 2-player version with some slight changes.
I prefer to take out one prospector (so there are 7 roles) and let each player pick two roles each round. I prefer this more than 3 for each with 7 roles because almost every role gets picked each round, so things like mayor get picked far more often then they should simply because there are few alternatives at the end of a round. This results in having more colonists than you really need and I feel sort of trivializes that element of the game...

"...but since it basically removes craftsman-fear..."

I'm not very experienced, but it seems to me that it is not always easy to take Craftsman, even when you know you must, when the other player has the Wharf, and/or if they have a strong trading position (Office, Markets)

I have played PR many times and with two players I set up the game as advised by the "offical alea variant" with the following exceptions:
A. 3-5-7 number ships (use 4 space ship with extra colony chit)
B. 3 space trading post (again use extra colony chit to block space)
C. All small violet buildings 12 from regular set and 12 from expansion set are placed in a bag and 12 are drawn and placed in spaces on board in order by cost value. Forest/Hacienda & Trading Post/Office cannot be combined on same board only one can be used from each combo. The seven large buildings are shuffled and the first 5 dealt are used. If you don't have the expansion set place all 24 small violet buildings in bag and draw 12. Some may double and some may not even come into play.
D. Starting player gets a sugar plantation and second player gets an indigo.
E. Turns are taken as usual with the Governor drawing three and the second drawing two per round. The left over two have 1 coin added after each round.

Play and winning is as the rules state. We have found that using these extra variants provide a greater balance to the game with two players.

My wife and I play it often as well. I really enjoy it, but I do prefer the multi version.

MY wife didn't fare so well in the multi version after cutting her teeth on the 2 player variant.

Some more changes we recently made with playing with the expansion set was not to combine Factory and Specialized Factory on the same board and to raise the Library cost points to ten. See my post in the PR Expansion forum under "Variants" for reasons why.

Here are the following rules that my gaming group has finalized for a two player mode. We play elimination tournaments to a final two for a championship round. This has been play-tested over 100 times.

A. 3-5-7 number ships (use a 4 space ship with an extra colony chit)
B. 3 space trading post (again use extra colony chit to block space)
C. All small violet buildings 12 from regular set and 12 from expansion set are placed in a bag and 12 are drawn and placed in spaces on board in order by cost value. Forest/Hacienda & Trading Post/Office & Factory/Specialized Factory cannot be combined on same board only one can be used from each combo if picked. The seven large buildings are shuffled and the first 5 dealt are used. If you don't have the expansion set place all 24 small violet buildings in bag and draw 12. Some may double and some may not even come into play.
D. Library cost the same but can only be used once per round.
E. Starting player gets an indigo plantation and 2nd player gets a corn.
F. Turns are taken as usual with the Governor drawing three and the second drawing two per round. The left over two have 1 coin added after each round.
G. 70 V.P. Points.
H. 40 colonists with extra two on ship = 42 total.

Play and winning is as the rules state.

ENJOY!

I haven't played the "official" version yet, but the other day my friend and I tried a 2p game and we made up rules - which turned out to be almost exactly like the official ones.

I suspect I'll agree with you, I really liked taking 2 roles each (which is what we did) and taking 3 is sorta lame. We tried to mirror a 4p game as much as we could, while reducing the VPs and Colonists (we used 50 and 35+2 respectively).

I'll try the official variant and see how it goes.

Played this with the wife as our first game of PR. The end result was some tense decisions in the last two rounds and and a 2-point margin of victory- just brilliant.

Afterwards it was plainly visible that PR veterans might want less than 3 role selections per round for their 2up variants. For my first 100 games, however, 3 will suit me just fine.

I originally posted this in the 2-player "Fernori Variant" thread (also detailed a few posts up), but it actually pertains more to my problems with the official 2-player variant, so I'll re-post here.

My wife and I play this a lot, and we've noticed two problem areas: 1) The dubloon crunch, and 2) The wharf.

1) Dubloon crunch:
The Trading House is almost useless. Since there are only two players, the game can go half the game or more before there is enough diversity in occupied plantations to clear the trading house. This is especially dependent on which plantation tiles are turned over. A side effect is that the offices are not useful buildings, and the trading bonus of the library is often wasted.

Compounding this issue is this cycle: Less diversity in goods produced (due to player number) --> less trading --> less cash --> fewer production buildings purchased --> less diversity in goods produced.

Furthermore, at the end of each round, only one card gets a dubloon. So money is only "created" at 1 dubloon/round (2 if the prospector is picked).


2) Wharf: The Wharf (even the Small Wharf that we use) is way too powerful. The player only needs to block both ships as often as possible, and ease into victory as the only one with a working, unblockable ship. The fact that the Small Wharf only gives 0.5 VP/barrel doesn't matter when four times as many barrels are being shipped by the SW owner. You can still win without the wharf, but it's dependent on your opponent screwing something up.

Now, you should be able to counter the wharf strategy by using a building strategy, and get VPs that way. However, the above-mentioned dubloon crunch makes it extremely difficult to afford enough buildings to beat the wharf that way.

So, we're going to be trying the Fernori variant and see how that plays out, since it allows for more rapid clearing of the trading house.

You don't find it useful to diversify so you can sell again?

To me this sounds like a self fulfilling prophecy. So why not buy another production building, then produce another good and sell it (or ship it, locking up a boat!)?


This is the complaint I have, but not for the money reason (though that IS a good point). Someone else mentioned that you'll often not really need to do the third role based on what's left, so there will end up being 'extra' settle or mayor phases, which shouldn't really happen - it's artificial. In all other player counts there are 3 unused roles, there should be three in 2p as well... right?


Again, self fulfilling prophecy.

I'll check out your other thread and see what that other variant is about...

Thanks for responding, Seth. Since this is our favorite game right now (when I can get her to play a board game), I'd like to see what other player's comments are regarding what we feel are weak spots.



Well, that's kind of my point. I feel like it is too difficult (too expensive) to diversify quickly enough. The players start with corn or indigo, so that means that at least one person must buy a tobacco storage or coffee roaster, which are quite pricey at the start of the game.

If someone does start producing sugar, tobacco, or coffee, why would the other person help them move those high-priced goods through the trading house by producing and trading the other goods? They wouldn't, so the player who is using the trading house ends up having to buy 3 or 4 production buildings and relying on the right plantation tiles to come up (in our last game, sugar didn't come up until the end of the game).

EDIT: After reading over this last part, it's important to point out that since the other player knows an active trading house will be more beneficial to you, they aren't trading either (if they can). That means that no one has very much money, which is my biggest complaint...a universal lack of buying power. It leads to heavy reliance on shipping (and hence, the wharf).




Well, you have to buy multiple production building types in order to clear out all four trading house spaces. By the time you can accomplish this goal, the game is usually just about over.

It's also true that you and your opponent have equal ability of locking up boats, but for the money you spent on production buildings, your opponent has purchased the small wharf, and maybe another building. If they play it right they can prevent you from putting goods on a ship (probably by filling it), but you can never block them, because the small wharf is unlimited in its capacity.

The key to my argument is that it's all about timing. A diversified goods strategy is simply too slow. It can't generate the money it needs to fast enough....and that is 100% because the trading house can't be cleared fast enough by one person.

We play with two offices to get around the trading house clearing issue, a bit rule breaking, but it at least ensures that we are not caught for $