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The aim of the game is to amass victory points, mainly by shipping goods to the Old World, or by constructing buildings. Puerto Rico can be played by 3-5 players, although variants have been published for two.
The game is played on a separate board for each player, with spaces for city building and island (plantation) building. The plantations produce agricultural products ( Corn, Indigo, Sugar, Tobacco and Coffee), which are then processed in the city before being sold for cash (used for building), or shipped to the Old World for Victory Chips.
The game uses a novel turn mechanism, in which players pass clockwise round the table a Governor card, allowing them first pick of action cards. Players, going clockwise, pick these action cards and then everyone, going clockwise, performs the action if they so choose.
The player who picked the action-card gets some advantage, e.g. he gets one extra man, or he can sell one piece more than the other players in that round.
In February, 2004, Andreas Seyfarth released a separate card-game named San Juan based on Puerto Rico and published under the same companies.
Generally, there are two main lines of strategy in Puerto Rico: the "shipping" strategy and the "building" strategy, although most good players will try to take the best advantage of both.
A player performing the shipping strategy will amass the majority of their victory points through production and shipping of goods. Players will generally build production buildings to help produce the goods. During the early game, shippers will gravitate towards corn plantations, because corn in the game is the most efficient to produce. Corn does not require extra manpower or production plants that the other goods do, and thus will give a shipper an early edge against other strategies.
In the mid-game, the shipper will want to work towards some of the higher priced buildings to augment their shipping ability. The Harbor provides an extra victory point for each shipment. The Large Wharf gives the player their own ship. The large building, Customs House, gives a player a bonus victory point for every four points acquired through shipping. These buildings, combined with several Corn plantations can prove to be a deadly combination.
A shipping strategy, however, is hard to conceal. Players will immediately notice when a player focuses solely on shipping to win the game, and can work against the shipper to block him, by blocking ships with goods he doesn't produce.
A builder's primary strategy will be acquiring enough money to buy buildings, ideally filling all of his building spaces on his card before opponants can react. To do this, however, will require an influx of money or a quarry or two to offset the costs of building. Early builder strategy would consist of acquiring quarries, markets, and other money sources to produce money quickly.
As mid-game progresses, the builder will need a solid source of income. Many builders opt to buy the Factory which can provide passive income whenever any player produces. This can sometimes vault a player to a quick monetary victory, acquiring two of the five precious large buildings before the end of the game.
The builder will have his share of tribulations, however. Money is difficult to come by, especially in the early game. Going for quick money can draw attention away from better options. Since some of the larger buildings can be scarce, crafty opponents of the builder strategy can lock out the builder from choice buildings.
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