How to Play

Puerto Rico

3-5 players 90-150 min 7.9 Board Game Geek Rating

Players are colonial governors growing crops on Puerto Rico to earn victory points through shipping goods or constructing buildings. Each turn, someone selects a role card that activates for everyone, but the selector receives a bonus. Buildings and plantations need colonist workers to function, while doubloons fund expansion and development.

Published 2002

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

Place supply board

Put the supply board in the center of the table with all buildings placed in their corresponding positions

Organize money

Sort doubloons by denomination and place them in the bank area on the supply board

Distribute player boards

Each player receives 1 game board placed face-up in front of them

Give starting money

In 3-player games give 2 doubloons, in 4-player games give 3 doubloons, in 5-player games give 4 doubloons (place on compass area of player board)

Determine first player

Randomly select the starting player who receives the Governor card

Distribute starting plantations

The Governor receives 1 indigo plantation; subsequent players receive plantations clockwise based on player count (3 players: indigo, corn; 4 players: indigo, corn, corn; 5 players: indigo, indigo, corn, corn)

Prepare victory point chips

Set out 75 points for 3 players, 100 points for 4 players, or all 122 points for 5 players in two stacks

Arrange quarry tiles

Place all 8 quarry tiles face-up in a stack

Prepare plantation supply

Shuffle remaining plantation tiles face-down, then reveal plantations equal to player count plus one

Select role cards

Use 6 cards for 3 players (remove both Prospectors), 7 cards for 4 players (remove 1 Prospector), or all 8 cards for 5 players

Choose cargo ships

Use ships with 4/5/6 spaces for 3 players, 5/6/7 spaces for 4 players, or 6/7/8 spaces for 5 players

Organize goods

Separate all goods tokens into 5 piles by type

Place trading house

Set the trading house near the supply board

Load colonist ship

Place colonists on the colonist ship equal to the number of players

Create colonist supply

Place 55 colonists for 3 players, 75 for 4 players, or 95 for 5 players in the general supply

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Governor selects first role

The player with the Governor card chooses a role card and places it face-up in front of them

Collect bonus doubloons

If the chosen role card has doubloons on it, the selecting player takes them

Execute role action

Starting with the selecting player, all players clockwise perform the role's action once

Use privilege

Only the player who selected the role receives that role's special privilege benefit

Continue role selection

After all players complete a role's action, the next player clockwise selects from remaining roles

Settler role action

Each player takes one face-up plantation tile and places it on any empty island space

Mayor role action

Distribute colonists from the colonist ship starting with the Mayor, one at a time clockwise until empty

Builder role action

Each player may build one building by paying its cost minus occupied quarry discounts

Craftsman role action

Each player produces goods based on occupied plantations and matching occupied production buildings

Trader role action

Each player may sell one good to the trading house for its listed price

Captain role action

Players must load goods onto cargo ships, taking turns clockwise repeatedly until no one can load

Prospector role action

No general action occurs

End round procedure

Place 1 doubloon on each of the 3 unchosen role cards

Pass Governor card

Give the Governor card to the player on the left; new Governor begins the next round

Winning

How to claim victory.

Trigger game end

The game ends at the conclusion of a round when any of these conditions occurs: insufficient colonists to fill the colonist ship during Mayor phase, a player fills their 12th city space during Builder phase, or all victory point chips are distributed during Captain phase

Calculate victory point chips

Each player totals all their earned victory point chips

Add building points

Each player adds the victory points shown on their buildings (upper right corner) regardless of occupation

Score large building bonuses

Only occupied large buildings provide their special bonus points

Determine winner

The player with the most total victory points wins

Break ties

If tied, the player with the most combined doubloons and goods (1 good equals 1 doubloon) wins