San Juan Game Rules

Hey there! Ready to dive into the world of San Juan? Well, strap in, because I’m about to walk you through the game rules. I’ll break it down nice and easy so you can hit the ground running.

In San Juan, the goal is to become the most successful builder in the city. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to construct various buildings and generate as much victory points as possible. The player with the most victory points at the end takes home the glory.

Now, let’s talk about the gameplay. Each player takes turns acting as the Governor, who starts by drawing cards equal to their role. These cards represent different buildings you can construct. You’ll also have production buildings that generate goods for you to use later.

After drawing cards, you’ll have the opportunity to play a building from your hand onto the tableau. Some buildings will require resources to construct, while others are free. Each building will offer you different benefits and advantages throughout the game.

But wait, there’s more! You can also use your cards as currency to purchase other buildings. If a card in your hand has a cost and you don’t want to build it, you can instead trade it in for a different building from the deck. This allows you to adapt your strategy and seize new opportunities as the game progresses.

Now, let’s not forget about those delicious victory points. Whenever you construct a building, it will have a certain number of victory points associated with it. As you accumulate these points, you’ll be one step closer to victory. Keep a watchful eye on your opponents though, as they may be building something that could tip the scales in their favor.

As the game unfolds, you’ll find yourself making tough decisions. Do you focus on producing goods, constructing powerful buildings, or maybe a bit of both? It’s up to you to strategize and adapt to the changing landscape of San Juan.

And that’s it! You’re now ready to embark on your journey in San Juan. So gather your cards, construct your buildings, and may the best builder win!

So, here’s how we get this game started. We need to decide who goes first, and there are no rules for how we do that. It’s totally up to us! The person who gets to go first gets this cool thing called the governor placard. It’s like a special badge that gives them some extra power.

Now, we’ve got these five role placards that we need to get ready. We’re going to put them all in a line right in the middle of the table. They’re like little signs that tell us what roles we can play in the game.

Next up, we’ve got these trading house tiles. They’re a mystery right now because we’re going to shuffle them up and put them face down in a pile next to the trader placard. So, we’ll have to wait and see what’s on the other side!

Finally, each one of us gets to pick some cool stuff to start with. It’s like our own special toolbox for the game. We all get to choose carefully from the available options so we can have a good strategy from the very beginning.

I’m gonna tell you how to play a game called Indigo. It’s really fun, so let’s get started!

First, you need to set up the game. Take one Indigo plant card and put it face up in front of you as your first building. Then, shuffle the rest of the cards and take four of them, keeping them secret from everyone else.

Next, place the remaining cards as a face down card supply next to the role cards. Across from those cards, put the discard stack. Don’t forget to leave some space for the scoring pad and pencil, which you’ll use later to keep track of points.

Now, it’s time to start playing! In Indigo, the goal is to collect gems by creating paths with your buildings. Each player will take turns, and on your turn, you have two options: you can either place a card from your hand and add it to one of your existing paths, or you can start a new path by placing a card next to one of your buildings.

As you add cards to your paths, you may intersect with other players’ paths. When this happens, both players will receive gems based on the length of the path and the color of the gems connected to it. The longer the path, the more gems you’ll get!

At the end of the game, you’ll count up your gems and record your victory points on the scoring pad. The player with the most points wins!

So, now that you know the basic rules of Indigo, gather some friends and start playing. Trust me, it’s a game you’ll love! Have fun and may the best path-builder win!

Let’s talk about how the game is played. We usually play over several rounds, which usually add up to around 11 to 14 rounds. It’s pretty exciting! The starting player, who we call the governor, kicks things off. They pick one of the role placards from the table, put it face up in front of them, and then do the action that goes with that role.

After that, it’s the turn of the player on the governor’s left. They also do the action that goes with the role they chose. And this keeps going in a clockwise direction around the table, with each player taking their turn and doing their chosen role’s action.

It’s now my turn to make a move. I look at the roles left in the middle of the table and choose one. I place the role placard face up in front of me and take the action that comes with it. Then, the person to my left takes the action associated with this role, and it goes on, clockwise around the table, until everyone has taken their turn. Once all players have chosen a role and taken its action, the round comes to an end.

We put the used role placards back in the middle of the table, and the person to the left of the previous governor becomes the new starting player. The next round begins with the new governor selecting a role, and the process continues as before.

When playing with just two players, there’s a small variation in the game dynamics. Here’s how it works: after the opponent selects a role and both players take the associated actions, the governor gets to choose a second role. Both players then take the actions associated with that role. This concludes the round, and the governorship passes to the other player. So, in a two-player game, three out of the five roles are chosen: governor, opponent, and governor again.

The roles

Each role in the game has two parts: an action that all players take in clockwise order and a special privilege that only the player who selected the role gets to enjoy (except for the prospector role).

• The player who chooses the role takes its associated action first. Then, the other players follow in clockwise order. Sometimes, certain actions can be taken simultaneously for the sake of speed.

When I play this game, I have to pick a role during my turn. I can choose not to take the action that comes with the role. The other players can then decide if they want to take the same action or not.

Once I’ve chosen a role, I keep the role card in front of me until the round is over. No one else can choose that role for the rest of the round.

Now let’s talk about the Builder role. During the builder phase, everyone gets to build a building. This is an important part of the game because it helps us all progress and improve our chances of winning.

So, if you’re playing as the builder in this game, you have a special role. You get to choose and build any building you want by taking a card from your hand and showing it face up in your play area. That card stays there for the whole game. But building comes with a cost, and you have to pay it by discarding cards from your hand. The cost is shown on the card in the upper left and right corners. You have to discard cards equal in number to the building cost, but not based on their value.

Now, here’s the interesting part. The builder has a special privilege that allows you to reduce the building cost by 1 card. However, you can’t reduce it below 0. That’s something you need to keep in mind as you choose and build your buildings.

After the builder has done their thing, it’s time for the other players to build. Each player gets a turn, going clockwise. They can also build a building, just like the builder, but without the privilege to reduce the building cost. They can build as many production buildings of the same kind as they want, but only one of each violet building.

When I play the game, there are certain buildings that have special abilities. These buildings can change the rules if I have them in my play area when I build. Some of these buildings include the smithy, the crane, the poor house, the black market, the carpenter, the quarry, and the library.

One important rule is that I cannot reduce my building cost below 0. This means that if I have enough special abilities to reduce the cost to a negative number, I can’t take cards instead of discarding them. Instead, I have to pay at least 0.

Let me give you an example to make it clearer. Say I’m the builder and I have the smithy (which reduces building cost by 1) and the library (which doubles its effect, so another -1 to the cost) in my play area. The normal cost of building a sugar mill is 2, but because of my special abilities, I don’t have to pay anything. However, I can’t reduce the cost below 0, so I only get a reduction of 2, not 3.

In the producer phase, all players produce goods.

So, you’ve chosen to be the producer in this game. It’s my turn to start the production by picking a card from the supply. I place it facedown on one of my empty production buildings without peeking at its face. Oh, and I can also use my privilege to add another card from the supply to a different empty production building.

Now it’s your turn and the turns of the other players. Each player, going clockwise, selects a card from the supply and places it on one of their empty production buildings. If someone doesn’t have any empty buildings, they won’t produce any goods this round.

These cards represent the goods we’ve produced, which we can sell later in the trader phase. Don’t forget to place the cards facedown, overlapping the production buildings.

Hey there! Let me break down some important information for you about the game rules and how certain buildings can affect your production. Keep in mind that these rules may change if you have specific buildings in your play area.

First up, we have the special buildings:

• The well
• The aqueduct
• The library

If you have any of these buildings, they can actually modify the production rules for you. Pretty cool, huh?

Now, let’s talk about the players’ actions. Instead of taking turns, you have the option to perform your actions simultaneously. This means there’s no need to wait for everyone to go in a specific order. You can all sell your goods together during the trader phase.

So, remember, if you have those special buildings, they can totally change the game. And don’t forget, when it’s your turn to trade, you and your fellow players can all do it at the same time. Happy gaming!

As a trader, I get to make an exciting move. I flip over a trading house tile to see the price I’ll get for my goods. Then, I get to decide which goods I want to sell. I have the privilege of selling two goods, one as my basic action and another as my special advantage.

Once I’ve made my decision, I collect the goods from the production buildings and place them face down on the discard stack without peeking at the other side. After that, I draw cards from the supply equal to the prices of the goods I sold and add them to my hand.

Now, it’s time for the other players to join in on the action. Starting with the player to my left and continuing clockwise, each player has the option to sell one of their goods for the price listed on the trading house tile.

So, here’s what happens: as my final move, I flip over the face-up trading house tile and slip it under the stack of tiles. This means that the order of the five trading house tiles stays the same throughout the whole game. If you’ve got a good memory, you might be able to guess which tile is coming up next.

But hang on a second: some buildings have special powers that can mess with these rules. If you’ve got one of these special buildings in your play area when you sell, you might be able to change things up. Keep an eye out for the market stand, trading post, market hall, and library.

Oh, and about taking turns – we don’t have to go one-by-one in a circle. We can all make our moves at the same time. It’s like a free-for-all!

Hey there! Let me tell you a little story. So, I’m this trader named Alfonzo, and I’ve got this cool market stand and trading post in my play area. It’s pretty neat! Anyway, I start my turn by flipping over the top trading house tile.

Here’s the plan: I’m gonna sell three of my goods. One for the trading action, one using my trader privilege, and one for the trading post. So, I take a good from my indigo plant, my tobacco storage, and my silver smelter, and I place them face down on the discard stack. I’m not even gonna look at what they are!

Now, I get to draw some cards from the card supply. I draw as many cards as the total prices of the three goods I just sold. Let’s see… 1 card for the indigo, 2 cards for the tobacco, and 3 cards for the silver. Oh, and I almost forgot! I also get 1 card for the market stand. All these cards go straight into my hand. Awesome, right?

Well, that’s not the end of it. The other players also get a chance to sell their goods. Everyone’s gotta take their turn!

Now, let’s talk about the Councillor phase.

When I chose the role of councillor, I got to take 5 cards from the card supply. Out of those 5 cards, I looked at them and decided to add 1 to my hand. The other 4 cards, I had to discard face down on the discard stack.

After that, it was the other players’ turn. Each of them got to take 2 cards from the card supply. Just like me, they looked at the cards and chose 1 to add to their hand. The other card, they had to discard face down on the discard stack.

Now, it’s important to note that some buildings in the game might change these rules. If a player has the archive, prefecture, or library building in their play area, they might have different options for their actions. Also, the players can choose to take their actions at the same time. There’s no need to go in a clockwise order.

The Prospector (Prospector Phase -> No Action)

Hey, it’s me, your friendly prospector! As the one who picked this role, I get to draw a card and add it to my hand. Pretty cool, right? You all just sit back and relax, because there’s no action for you when it comes to this role.

Just a heads up, some special buildings might change things up a bit. If someone has a gold mine or a library in their play area, they might have different rules for the prospector role. So keep an eye out for that!

A New Round

Once everyone has chosen their roles and taken their actions, it’s time to wrap things up for this round. We all return our used role placards to the table’s center.

Now, here’s where things get interesting. The governor’s left neighbor grabs the governor placard, becoming the new governor. Exciting, right? The power is shifting!

Hey there! I want to chat with you about something important. So, the new governor, right? They’ve got a rule for all you chapel owners. Get this: you can put one card face down under your chapel. Interesting, huh?

Now, what happens next is pretty cool. The governor checks how many cards each player has in their hand, including themselves. If someone has more than 7 cards, well, they gotta put the extras face down on the discard pile. But get this, they get to choose which ones to toss. Freedom!

Oh, there’s an exception, of course. If you own a tower, you can have up to 12 cards in your hand. Bit of a bonus for you.

Then it’s on to the next round, and the governor gets to pick a role card. The round goes on just like before. Simple, right?

Now, just to make things clear, during a round, you can have more than 7 cards in your hand (12 if you’ve got a tower). The card limit only applies when a new round starts. Don’t want any confusion!

Now, let’s talk about the end of the game.

When the builder phase ends, if any player has twelve buildings in their play area, the game ends right away. We don’t need to finish the whole round.

Now it’s time to write down your victory points on the scoring pad. Take your pencil and do the math. Each player should:

• The number at the bottom of my buildings tells how many victory points they give me.
• I also get victory points from the cards underneath my chapel.
• Triumphal arch, guild hall, and city hall give me even more victory points.
• And don’t forget about the palace! It gives victory points too, but only at the end.

If I have the most victory points, I win the game. But if there’s a tie, the winner is the one with the most cards in their hand and on their production buildings.