San Juan

Overview

San Juan (Second Edition) is a card game adaptation of Puerto Rico, designed by Andreas Seyfarth and published by alea/Ravensburger. Players compete to become the most prosperous citizen of San Juan by building structures and developing a thriving economy. Cards serve triple duty: as buildings when played face-up, as money when discarded from hand, and as goods when placed face-down on production buildings. The game is played over approximately 11-14 rounds until a player builds their twelfth building, at which point the player with the most victory points wins.

Components

110 Cards:
- 42 Production buildings (Indigo Plant, Sugar Mill, Tobacco Storage, Coffee Roaster, Silver Smelter)
- 68 Violet buildings (various special-ability buildings)
1 Governor placard
5 Role placards (Builder, Producer, Trader, Councillor, Prospector)
5 Trading house tiles (showing prices)
Scoring pad and pencil

Setup

Select a starting player who receives the Governor placard. Each player starts with one Indigo Plant placed face-up in their building area. Shuffle the card deck and deal 4 cards to each player as their starting hand. Place the 5 role placards face-up in the center. Shuffle the trading house tiles face-down.

Turn Structure

The game is played in rounds. Each round:

The Governor (starting player) chooses one role placard, places it in front of them, and all players perform that role’s action. The Governor gets a privilege (bonus) for the chosen role.
Clockwise, each subsequent player selects an unchosen role and all players perform that action, with the selecting player gaining the privilege.
After all players have chosen a role, return all role placards to the center. Pass the Governor placard left. Begin a new round.

Note: In a 2-player game, each player selects 2 roles per round. In a 3-player game, each selects 1 (2 roles remain unused). In a 4-player game, each selects 1 (1 role remains unused).

Actions

Builder (Role)

All players may build one building by paying its cost. Cost is paid by discarding cards from hand equal to the building’s cost.
Privilege: The Builder pays 1 fewer card.
Buildings are placed face-up in the player’s building area. Each building provides VP and may have a special ability.

Producer (Role)

All players may produce one good on an empty production building by placing 1 card face-down on it from the supply deck.
Privilege: The Producer may produce on a second production building.
Each production building can hold only 1 good at a time.

Trader (Role)

All players may sell one good from a production building. Reveal a random trading house tile to determine the price (number of cards drawn from the supply deck).
Privilege: The Trader may sell a second good.
After selling, remove the good card and the trading house tile. If all tiles have been used, reshuffle them.

Councillor (Role)

All players draw 2 cards from the supply deck, look at them, keep 1, and discard the other.
Privilege: The Councillor draws 5 cards, keeps 1, discards the other 4.

Prospector (Role)

Only the player who chose Prospector draws 1 card. No privilege (the action itself is the benefit).
Other players do nothing.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

The game ends immediately after the Builder phase if at least one player has 12 or more buildings in their play area.

Scoring

Each building has a victory point value printed on it.
Some buildings provide bonus victory points based on conditions (e.g., Chapel: +1 VP per card placed under it during the game; City Hall: +1 VP per violet building).
Total VP = sum of all building VPs + any bonus VP.

The player with the most victory points wins. Ties are broken by cards remaining in hand.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

Hand Limit: Maximum hand size is 7 cards (12 with the Tower building). Excess cards must be discarded.
Cards as Currency: Cards in hand serve as money. Building a 4-cost building means discarding 4 cards.
Production Building Goods: Goods are represented by face-down cards on production buildings. They have no value until sold via the Trader role.
Chapel: During the Builder phase, you may place one card from your hand under your Chapel (scores +1 VP each at game end).
Library: The Library doubles the privilege of any role you select. Extremely powerful.
Guild Hall: Scores +2 VP per production building at game end.
City Hall: Scores +1 VP per violet building at game end.
Palace: Scores +1 VP per 4 VP from other buildings at game end.
Crane: Allows building over an existing building (pay only the difference in cost).

Player Reference

Role	All Players Do	Privilege (Chooser)
Builder	Build 1 building	Pay 1 less card
Producer	Produce 1 good	Produce 2nd good
Trader	Sell 1 good	Sell 2nd good
Councillor	Draw 2, keep 1	Draw 5, keep 1
Prospector	Nothing	Draw 1 card

End Game: After Builder phase if any player has 12+ buildings. Most VP wins.