Comments/Ratings for a Single Item

'Puerto Rico' may be offensive for many players, but also Chess: it is a
war simulation in which you use your mind trying to surrender the other
player, and in which at least the Pawns die, they never return to the
game. If you are thinking that 'Puerto Rico' is an unknown game that
moves in the shadows, sit down: It is one of the top sellers in Europe and
it is perhaps the most awarded game in the history of board games:
Deutscher Spiele Preis 2002, Essen Feather 2002, Strategy game of the year
in USA 2003, International Gamers award 2003, actually ranked number 1 in
the Internet Top 100 list -everybody can vote- (GO is number 68 and Chess
is number 242), and PR is ranked number 1 in the independent BoardGameGeek
list, etc... The ideas behind some aspects of the game may be vomitive,
but, being absolutely objective, considering its abstract value as game, I
have to admit that it is really good.

Yes, Puerto Rico is an awesome game.  I've played it many, many times.

Hi, Roberto:  That Puerto Rico game sounds very interesting; is the
metaphor based upon a new land to be plundered/'developed,' and how do
the end-games tend to run? I mean, is it zero-sum, like winner-take-all,
or could it leave two players in balance? 
I wonder if it's in stores around here (NC/USA).

'Puerto Rico' is produced under license in USA by a company called 'Rio
Grande Games'. Many online stores sell the game (it is not very cheap,
around 50 US$), by example at Funagain games, but it appears it is not
easely found in some popular stores, the game does not seem to be
taylor-made for the American taste, surely by some reasons I have briefly
shown, between other reasons. It is a 3-5 players game, but there are
unofficial rules for 2 players. The game feels different whne you play it
with 3, 4 or 5 players, strategy must change according the number of
players. The rules in English can be downloaded at boardgamegeek.com, in
the section 'files' of the Puerto Rico page. At this site, you can also
download a very, very strong free PR program called 'Evolver', wrote in
EXCEL!, although with crude but decent interface, and with AI based on
genetic programming techniques, it learns in each game it plays, so it is
desiderable to keep the growing database of the excel program. To run it,
you must weaken the Excel controls over macros, the macros need to be
habilitated for proper run. This is the section where you can download the
amazing Evolver: http://www.bggfiles.com/viewfile.php3?fileid=8766

Hi, Roberto:  Thanks for all the info on 'Puerto Rico.' I can see why the
American market might be slow to pick it up-- but then that may be from
ignorance of it, not sensitivity. Maybe I'll see if Walmart's got it:-)
'Evolver' sounds a lot like 'REvolver,' and with such a powerful
program I'd want to know for sure which way it's pointed before hooking
into it; with my none-too-sophisticated user skills, maybe I'd better
google around on it some more.

Roberto, I went to the local Walmart store, which is the biggest department
store in this town and on earth, I'm told, and was advised that they do
not carry the Puerto Rico game, which is the #1 game on earth.  I find
that to be very odd, wonder why, and now am even more curious about it.
(This particular store brings in so much money that the city police
department put a branch office in the building; states are actually
altering their laws to accommodate the chain, I hear.)
Veritas semper vincit, doesn't it?

I don´t believe that Walmart has the game, perhaps ToysRus on line, but I
have my doubts, this does not seem to be a child´s game. The problem with
Evolver is: There is not a 'help text', so if you don´t know how to play
it, don´t try the program, or you are not going to be able to know what´s
going on, even with all the players managed by the AI. But the rules are
easely available in many sites. In boardgamegeek there are a few files for
download with detailed rules in English, butI consider it would be  better
learn with the board game in hand, there are several special buildings
(tiles, in the game), I´m not sure, but there are around 12-14 in the
game, and many actions depend on the buildings 'powers'. Once initiated,
 a typical game flows with naturality and actions are very intuitive, so
the main effort for learning it is in the first 20-30 minutes, enough for
assimilate the rules. Yesterday, I played the game my first time; today, I
tried Evolver. I was brutally demolished by the program the first times,
but I believe I have learned a bit more after 5 games: the gap is being
reduced after each game I play against it, playing moderately fast games
of around 30 minutes each. Draws?: very rare in this game.