Friday 10 May 2013

Juan To Look Out For

Friday night, and Andrew and I convened for a little writing session. However, little was all it turned out to be, as a series of computer and weather-related circumstances meant we were without the script we had scheduled to polish into a gleaming diamond.

Instead we played San Juan, the card-based version of Puerto Rico. I haven't played the latter in some time so I can't be equivocal about what's different here, but suffice to say it's a much simpler game and very easy to pick up and play. On each turn the starting player (or 'Governor') chooses a role and actions it - his opponent has the option of the same, only without the privilege that the card gives you. Then the opponent chooses an action and the same thing happens.


That's pretty much it - everything else is the movement of cards, which either represent - when front side up - buildings, or - when face-down - goods, to be shipped and turned into... more cards.

It's extremely basic then, in essence, but it's possible to 'chain' your buildings and make particular moves extremely productive. And thus it's quite more-ish. We played one game and I won narrowly, by 35 to Andrew's 32 points, but we realised I'd been mis-using the Library Card somewhat; apportioning it power it didn't have. If I'd played it correctly I think Andrew may well have won, so we disregarded this game and began again.


This time we were much faster moving. Andrew quickly established a fruitful trade route and a black market (allowing him to manipulate the cards) whilst I focussed building the violet 'bonus' buildings. The game, albeit played with two, only took about 25 minutes, and this time I ran out a verified winner:

Sam 42
Andrew 24

Perhaps not as deep as Puerto Rico then, but to some that's not necessarily a criticism. It's definitely deserving of a place in the cupboard and perhaps a not-too-distant visit to a group play is in order...?

4 comments:

  1. I liked this much more than Puerto Rico. If Hab & Gut packs a lot of game into a small amount of time, then Puerto Rico does the opposite. This game, though, keeps a flavour of the PR mechanic in a much faster moving game. At least, it is with two players. It'd be interesting to see how it scales up.

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  2. Interesting - I've just played two games of this on my phone (and lost both). I think it's probably excellent with three.

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  3. Puerto Rico certainly isn't for everyone and it suffers from a few problems as I see it. Unfamiliarity with the roles and buildings can cause phenomenal amounts of AP with players playing it say twice a year. If you sit down with players of different experience levels you're going to have an unsatisfactory game. After you've played it a bit you can work out the good combos, which of the five special buildings to obtain to match your strategy.

    I always enjoy it as I like a game with substance, however it can seem like hard work.

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  4. If I'd played San Juan before Puerto Rico, I think I'd have enjoyed it more. Maybe next time, I will.

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