Welcome to Santiago, the second largest city in Cuba, home of legendary rum and birthplace of the revolution! The chaotic streets hum with the sounds of bustling crowds and busy commerce. Cargo ships constantly arrive and depart from the port. Demand is continuous, if unpredictable, for a supply of local products such as exotic fruits, sugar, rum, tobacco, and cigars.
In Santiago de Cuba, your business card says broker, but in reality you're a shady wheeler dealer who arranges deals with the locals and with corruptible officials to move goods and meet the demand of those ever present cargo ships and your ability to procure these goods is only as reliable as your connections.
At the start of the game, nine locals, the Cubans are randomly arranged on a path around Santiago, with the port being the tenth location on the circuit. Each Cuban has a different ability e.g., give a player two tobacco, give a player a good of his choice, force opponents to give you something, give money or victory points, and seize a building or allow a player to use a previously seized building. What are these buildings? At the start of the game, twelve buildings are randomly placed on the game board in four color coded groups of three. As with the Cubans, these buildings give players a special ability when used: convert tobacco to cigars, change VPs to money or vica versa, increase the value of goods delivered to the ship, render a Cuban inactive for the next round, and so on.