Quick Facts
Age range: 12 and up
Play time: 90 to 150 minutes
# of Players: 2-5
Price point: $49.99
Andreas Seyfarth’s Puerto Rico has been reprinted and expanded over the years and even given the deluxe anniversary treatment. But its newest incarnation as Puerto Rico 1897 updates the classic game with more historical context, a complete collection of the existing expansions, and improved new artwork everywhere you look.
Let’s explore the top five adventures that await us as we roll up our sleeves and go back in time to Puerto Rico 1897.
A Classic Updated#
Puerto Rico has been one of our family’s favorite games since it came out 20 years ago. I can’t count the number of times I played and taught it, but it still keeps me coming back. There’s something enticing about the game’s flow, analyzing the other players’ positions as you choose a role, and balancing the tension between money and victory points.
This new edition maintains all of the classic game play in the original with individual island boards, role selection, development choices, and goods sales and shipments. Island boards are now double-sided with unique character art representing each player.
The game also introduces new names with better historical context for many of the roles and buildings. For example, indigo becomes fruit and the Mayor is now the Recruiter.
Language-Independent Fields#
The estate tiles that represent fields for the crops you’ll produce received a clean and stylish graphics update. The new tiles show either a drawing of the plant grown in the field (sugar, tobacco, and coffee) or of the good produced (corn and fruit).
The tiles also sport a solid color bar on one side that matches an identical bar on the associated production buildings.
New Buildings, New Ways to Play#
Looking beyond the base game, Puerto Rico 1897 also includes building expansions that put interesting twists on the original game.
Expansion 1 (“New Buildings”) adds 12 small and 2 large buildings to the mix. It also starts the game with a drafting step where players select which buildings they want to use. This dramatically mixes up player strategies, making every game a completely new experience.
Expansion 2 (“The Citizens”) takes a different approach. It adds 7 commercial buildings and 1 production building, plus a new type of worker piece: red citizen pieces. When you fill the Work Register tile with worker pieces, you replace one worker with a red citizen. Citizens function just like workers but are worth victory points at the end of the game. Citizens can also produce money during the game thanks to the Tailor Shop.
A Chaotic Role and a Fun Celebration#
The other two expansions introduce a new role for players to choose and an interesting bonus opportunity based on the player’s development choices.
The Smuggler role adds a delightfully chaotic element to Puerto Rico. The player choosing that role can take goods from a cargo ship, plunder the trading house, poach workers from the Work register, or make any other role a bit less desirable.
The Festival expansion rewards players for taking specific actions, like selecting three of a particular estate tile, producing a certain selection of goods, or adding a specific building to their island board. The goals are randomized and the incentives for completing them are quite valuable, so this expansion influences players to try new approaches and see what happens.
Dealing with Printing Errors#
It’s always disappointing to open a new game and discover that something went wrong in the printing or assembly process.
In this case, our copy of Puerto Rico 1897 arrived with some small editing errors in the quick reference on the back page of the rule book and an incorrect number of estate tiles (four fruit tiles should have been coffee).
The good news is that Ravensburger is aware of the printing issue and is shipping free replacement tiles. Request yours by visiting the Contact Us page on www.ranvensburger.us.
We also followed the lead of an artistic Board Game Geek user who changed the color bars and artwork on their misprinted tiles with a black marker so it matched the coffee tiles. Our DIY replacements quickly became a beloved part of the new game.
Verdict#
As long-time Puerto Rico fans, we felt uncertain about the prospect of an updated edition. We’re happy to say that those doubts vanished the moment we started playing.
The gameplay we know and love is still there, augmented by a strong new graphic design. The four expansions add new facets to the game and will keep us entertained and challenged for years to come. In particular, the Smuggler role and the Festival bonuses won our hearts and will be hitting the table regularly.
A tip for new players: If you’re new to Puerto Rico, get comfortable with the basic version before adding any of the expansions. Seriously. You’ll thank us.
Whether you loved the original Puerto Rico or are new to the game and want to get a great version with plenty of bells and whistles, Puerto Rico 1897 delivers a phenomenal experience in a beautiful package.
It earns a solid “buy” recommendation from both of us.