In Puerto Rico players assume the roles of colonial governors on the island of Puerto Rico. The aim of the game is to amass victory points by shipping goods to Europe or by constructing buildings.
Each player uses a separate small board with spaces for city buildings, plantations, and resources. Shared between the players are three ships, a trading house, and a supply of resources and doubloons.
The resource cycle of the game is that players grow crops which they exchange for points or doubloons. Doubloons can then be used to buy buildings, which allow players to produce more crops or give them other abilities. Buildings and plantations do not work unless they are manned by colonists.
During each round, players take turns selecting a role card from those on the table (such as "Trader" or "Builder"). When a role is chosen, every player gets to take the action appropriate to that role. The player that selected the role also receives a small privilege for doing so - for example, choosing the "Builder" role allows all players to construct a building, but the player who chose the role may do so at a discount on that turn. Unused roles gain a doubloon bonus at the end of each turn, so the next player who chooses that role gets to keep any doubloon bonus associated with it. This encourages players to make use of all the roles throughout a typical course of a game.
- 2008 Gra Roku Game of the Year
- 2007 Juego del A�o Finalist
- 2003 Nederlandse Spellenprijs Winner
- 2003 International Gamers Awards - General Strategy; Multi-player Winner
- 2002 Spiel der Spiele Hit f�r Experten Recommended
- 2002 Meeples' Choice Award
- 2002 Japan Boardgame Prize Best Advanced Game Winner
- 2002 Deutscher Spiele Preis Best Family/Adult Game Winner