San Juan

San Juan is based on the very popular board game Puerto Rico and uses the same basic concepts of building construction, producing goods and selling them to acquire victory points.
In this game however the mechanism is entirely based on cards.
Each card represents a building or structure and has an inherent cost associated with building it. That cost is met by discarding cards from your hand.
However, as in Puerto Rico, the turn is broken up into actions based on a number of roles.
In each turn the players choose to activate a particular role;
Builder,
Prospector (Miner)
Producer
Councillor
Trader
Once activated the person who chose that role gets a bonus or advantage within that role and everyone else also gets to do the action.
For Example the person who chose to activate the Builder gets to pay 1 less card for a building, everyone else still gets to build but pays full price.

As you can see there are five roles and normally 3 or 4 players so not every action is available each round.
The person who chooses first rotates every turn too so everyone gets a chance to pick first.

The game ends when someone builds their 12th structure, at which point victory points are tallied.
The victory points are printed on the card and most buildings have a set value however certain buildings depend on other factors and contribute to different strategic options (for example the City Hall card is worth the 1 point for every pink building that the player has built).
Most cards alsohave some effect on the game. Many are production buildings (ie capable of producing goods such as sugar) which allow cards to be gained during the trading phase.
Other cards are pink and represent different buildings and again the characteristics of these buildings will help the player to shape their strategy. If for example they have the Prefecture card in play they gain extra cards in the Councillor phase etc etc.

Given the variety of options, the depth of play can be very rewarding and although luck plays a part (you have to get the right combination of cards sometimes) there are no dice, so that the game feels very fair and is generally won by the player who makes the best use of the cards they get.

The game is playable by 2 to 4 players, but I would recommend it primarily as a 3-player game. With 2 players the Governor (ie the person who chose their action first) gets to activate two roles (1st and 3rd) and this can unbalance the game. In the 4-player game the play is balanced but you have far less chance of picking your moment, are constantly on the back foot and frequently can't get the cards you want into play.
In the 3-player version there is much more scope to develop a strategy and use the full diversity of cards rather than simply rushing to get the first 12 cars built before someone else does.

'Hand management' is the key skill required to play well at San Juan. This means the ability to throw away a really good card because it doesn't fit in with the rest of the cards in your hand. In that way it is reminiscent of games like Mah Jongg, where knowing what combinations of cards work well together is more important than simply drawing that one 'killer' card.

I've played this game tens of times now and still haven't tired of it, which says a great deal for its replayability. It's also pretty well priced and doesn't take up much storage space so is an easy one to take on holiday. Overall it is a real winner and right up there with Carcassonne as one of the kings of the light-weight European (non-combat) strategy games.

Most of the reviews I've read in the past covering board/card games usually set out a synopsis of the rules and then go on to comment about the game generally. It's unavoidable, but I will minimise my explanation of the rules and get straight to the review.

San Juan pits up to 4 players against one other in a race to score as many points as possible by combining the advantages conferred by the building of different buildings. I say "build"; there are no physical buildings or other components save for a deck of cards and tokens representing skill sets; builder, trader, prospector, governor and counsellor. A building is built by laying the relevant card in front of you and paying it's building cost by throwing away an equivalent number of cards.

The games allure lies in the game's balance; The designer has successfully created a game in which every decision is important because resources are extremely scarce, so the decision to build a particular building must really 'count', and because nearly every building available to be built carries a desirable benefit, this decision is hard. "Do I build the (cheap) Prefecture to get an extra card per turn? If so, I must throw away the (expensive) Quarry and forfeit the right to reduce the cost of buildings by one card".

There are a number of strategies that are available to use, and skill is needed to determine which strategy to use, based on the cards you possess. (There is no point shoehorning into your gameplan when you don't have the cards for it.) More skill is needed to know whether to abandon your strategy mid-game when another player undermines it, or you don't get the card you were hoping for.

The game plays extremely well as a 2 player. (I have played it for 3 - 4 years and am not bored by it yet.) It also plays extremely well as a 3 and 4 player game too. The game's duration is about 15 - 30m depending on how familiar players are with the game, cards and strategy.

It is easily learnt - either from the rule book, or (and this is best) from someone familiar with the game.

The downsides to this game? Some comment that there is little interaction between players choices. To the beginner, this is correct. Upon repeated play, subtle interactions are discernible which can throw the game one way or the other.

All in all, I would highly recommend this game to everyone. It is a family game. It is a game fro Christmas, for a games night, for the spare 1/2 hour whilst waiting for friends to arrive.

If you get one game and you decide to buck the trend of buying monopoly or other games that you might pick off the shelf in Argos or Sainsburys, then this is the game for you. It's really good value.

This game is very similar to Puerto Rico in nature but instead of coming in lots of small pieces and board it is just a card game.

It is a very fun game, easy to pick up and usually takes around 30-40 minutes to play. Unlike Puerto Rico the cards in your hand can be used for money to buy new cards or place them down in front of you(build). The first to play 12 building cards causes the game to end. Then the vicotry points are tallied up and the person with the most wins.(each card played down receives an equivalent amount of victory points).

All in all a great play. If you like it I suggest buying puerto rico as well as it is a similar concept but without the cards. Also it may be worth buying card protectors for this game as this will help keep the cards in an excellent mint condition.