I've only played the game once so far, but I gotta say that I had a lot of fun! It's a true strategy game and I can't wait to play it again!!

Although, this game takes patience to learn. We played with three people, and it took us around 4 hours to get through the game. If one of us had played before, I think it would have gone a lot quicker. With the learning experience behind us, introducing it to friends will be a lot easier. If you really want to play this with a whole family, then take the time to learn the game on your own (aka: read the manual throughly!), and then introduce it to them.

I could easily see the games going MUCH faster now. The box states that it takes around 90 minutes to complete a game, and this seems very attainable.

Overall, it's truly some of the most fun I've had playing a board game! 5 stars!!

When my friends bought this new game to play and I saw all the pieces and directions, I was very skeptical. It took a long time to get through the directions (and punch out and sort the pieces!), but once we got into it, everyone was impressed. Others we've shared it with have also enjoyed playing.

ONE CAVEAT: I wouldn't suggest Puerto Rico to people looking for a quick, easy party game. Unlike an Apples to Apples or Pictionary (or most widely distrubuted games), you aren't going to explain the rules and have people playing in five minutes - and the game will last a couple of hours. It isn't hard to learn, but this is for people who enjoy strategy games and are willing to take a bit of time to learn the rules and to play.

We love to have game nights and when we do, this is always top on our list of games to play. We love it because it is always a different game depending on how many people are playing and how experienced they are. You really have to change your strategy depending on if there are 3 or 5 players. If you enjoy games like Saint Petersburg and Carcassonne, you will love this one as well.

I am relatively new to Euro board games, having only played 7 or 8 of them over the last 2 years. I started with Settlers of Catan and Carcasonne and moved my way up to Puerto Rico. While Catan is great for beginners and still fun to play for experts the overall depth is fairly limited to a few strategies and the wishful thinking that chance will go your way (via tile layout and dice rolls).

Puerto Rico is a significantly deeper strategy game and the player will be forced to evolve their strategy based on which opportunities are available, which avenues are closed off (limited resources), and whether they deem it more valuable at each turn to help their standing or hinder others. I also like the more secretive nature of the game so you are never really sure who is winning until the victory points are tallied at the end of the final round.

The only catch to this game is it has a steep learning curve and takes a good deal longer to play than Catan/Carcasonne. After buying PR two of us spent 2 hours just setting up the board and reading the rules before we could even play (hint: when you put the game away group and band the building tiles sequentially for quick future setup). On the second attempt we played a 4-person game and it took about 2 hours (and we got one of the management rules wrong - don't forget to ante up the unplayed roles!). After that initial 4 hour investment we can play with 3-4 players in about 90-100 minutes.

For medium-expert strategy players or those with patience I would highly recommend this game. If you are relatively new to Euro / German games or have little patience for learning something more complex I would recommend you first try the sister game, San Juan, which is a more portable 2-4 player card game that uses the same principles but simplifies the majority of the setup, management and accounting and can be played in 40-60 minutes. If you find that you like San Juan you should then definitely try out Puerto Rico and the learning curve will be simpler because you have already learned many of the basic concepts of revolving roles and the opportunity costs of the high level strategies.

There are also some free PC versions of both games on-line if you want to check them out and get a feel for the play but the rule explanation, interface and AI are fairly rudimentary.

We purchased this game because of a blogger's favorable review, and we weren't disappointed! An earlier reviewer on Amazon suggested that you read the instructions before sitting down to play, and we were much better off for having followed that advice. Don't expect to play the moment you receive the game. Open the box, pull out the instructions, let at least one player read them, THEN plan on setting up for ~10 min, and playing for at least 90 min (more if you have the full 5 players) the first time through due to stopping each time to check the rules for each round. Time invested -> pleasure rewarded. We were instantly mesmerized, even with the initial tediousness of constantly checking the rulebook. This game is appealing to all sorts of people, excepting those who don't like to think for themselves. I walked away from the game feeling like I'd learned something about my fellow players, myself, and strategy. The most fulfilling part of this game is the absence of dice. YOU control your own destiny. YOU decide how to build your plantation, and reap the rewards at end of the game. We can't wait to play this one again!