San Juan

by Rio Grande Games

• The cleverest player will build well and win
• For 2-4 players
• Great strategy game
• Tons of replay value

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 8 x 6 x 1.5 inches ; 15.2 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0006HCA82
• Item model number: 238
• Manufacturer recommended age: 10 - 15 years
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,157 in Toys & Games (See Top 100 in Toys & Games)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

"Puerto Rico's golden age returns. Through you! Players travel now to the capital city of this beautiful island. Who will build the most important buildings? Players build palaces, poor houses, silver smelters, gold mines, and many others - each with its own special features. The cleverest player will build well and win! As with the board game, players choose roles which can help all players, but the choosing player gets a special privilege with the role chosen. Players build buildings, produce and sell goods, and so on. The game is based on Puerto Rico, but different enough to give players new challenges and opportunities for fun and enjoyment. Fun.

Product Description

Puerto Rico's golden age returns. Through you! Players travel now to the capital city of this beautiful island. Who will build the most important buildings? Players build palaces, poor houses, silver smelters, gold mines, and many others - each with its own special features. The cleverest player will build well and win! As with the board game, players choose roles which can help all players, but the choosing player gets a special privilege with the role chosen. Players build buildings, produce and sell goods, and so on. The game is based on Puerto Rico, but different enough to give players new challenges and opportunities for fun and enjoyment.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

79 of 80 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars San Juan renewed my interest in games! January 3, 2007

By Atomicwasteland VINE™ VOICE

I am an ex-computer games junkie and was always playing city building games like Civilization. I don't have the time I once did, and I am not spending the hours on the computer like I used to. Well, this Christmas I received this game and was pleasantly surprised. After the first game I knew we had a winner. We proceeded to play it four more times over the next few days.

Why do I like this game?

It can be played with TWO people. Yes, it may not be quite as exciting with two people (as it is with three or four), but it is still fun. I will say, however, that it is nice to vary the number of people you play with. Four people is fun in a way that three is not. Three is fun in a way two is not. There are cards that get played a lot more often in larger games, and the strategy changes based on the number of people you have. For example, with four people you are almost always trading your goods each round, so it is important to build a strong economy. (This is not as important with two or three players, where building might be your priority).

This game doesn't require any special equipment -like a board- and it is very portable. (You might even be able to play it on a plane.)

The games last about 45 minutes (at the longest) so you really can get a quick play in before moving on to something else. There are no worries that the game is going to go on forever. Basically, the game ends when ANYONE has built 12 buildings, so no matter how complex a strategy you have, if you don't hurry it up and time it to coincide with the quickest builder in your gaming party, you might lose.

Another thing that makes it fun: You DON'T keep score during the game (like with Scrabble or Hearts), so you don't really know how you are doing during the game. It is only at the very end when you tally up all your points that you know if you won or lost. (Sure you can look at players' hands, but some key "multiplier" cards are only played in the last rounds, so you never really know...)

And finally, unlike with games such as Monopoly, or Chess, or Risk, one person does not "crush" or "destroy" the other. You are not going to have a complete winner with all the money and all the armies (leaving the others broke, or with no armies). This means you can really have an enjoyable time, playing your best, and not feeling like you can never win, or that you are much worse than the others. Everybody has the same access to all the cards and their likelihood of winning does not go up or down just because someone else is playing really well, or really poorly.

This game is highly recommended and I am starting to research other Rio Grande games as well because I enjoyed this one so much! It is well worth buying from another vendor if Amazon does not stock it.

44 of 44 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Our favorite game of all time! February 6, 2006

By LMarie

Durability: 5.0 out of 5 stars    Educational: 3.0 out of 5 stars    Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

San Juan has quickly become our favorite game, and we are an avid game-playing family.

San Juan is the card game version of "Puerto Rico" by Rio Grande Games. We purchased "San Juan" because it can be played with 2-4 players, and we often only have two people available to play.

The concept is loosely based on the idea that you are in San Juan, Puerto Rico. You are building manufacturing facilities to produce goods such as indigo, sugar, tobacco, coffee, and silver. Also, you may build other privileges or benefits as an owner - for example, you might choose to build a Quarry, which allows you to build certain types of buildings for a lower price. As your manufacturing facilities produce goods, you trade them on the market, make more "money", and build more buildings.

It's difficult to explain the basic concept without being able to show you the cards, but it is a very easy game to learn. We have taught several people the game within about 10 minutes, and after we've played one round, they understand it well.

This game is surprisingly different every time we play. Strategy is important, but luck does affect the success of whatever strategy you use. Generally speaking, the games are generally very close in score.

A few things we love about this game are:

- once you've played it a couple of times, you can play a game in 20-30 minutes.

- the game seems drastically different whether you play with 2, 3, or 4 players.

- easy setup & cleanup. You need very little table space to play the game.

- it's a very accessible game. People ages 10 and up learn it quickly and enjoy it!

We learned this game first, then we tried "Puerto Rico". You do not need to know one game to understand the other. In fact, it seemed that Puerto Rico seemed a bit more confusing to us (this may be due to the fact that San Juan came later, and the directions are much more clear in the later game).

I highly recommend this game to those who are looking for a fun, quick game that never gets old!

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great game June 20, 2006

By bethanne carr

Durability: 5.0 out of 5 stars    Educational: 4.0 out of 5 stars    Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

Our daughter introduced us to this game and we were hooked by the second game. It seemed a little complicated at first, but by the time we finished one or two rounds we got the hang of it and loved it. It's actually easy to learn and our children were playing it with us and planning strategies after just a few games. I highly recommend it!