Puerto Rico
194 questions players ask about Puerto Rico. Pick one for the answer. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-11-01.
Setup and components
- Are the colonists on the ship at setup in addition to the colonist supply?
- Do players start with a plantation tile or with goods?
- How many plantation tiles are turned face up at the start?
- Do the plantation tiles have to be split into five face-down stacks?
- Are all buildings put out at the start of a 3-5 player game?
- Can two players buy the same building in the same Builder phase?
- Is the doubloon supply limited?
- How many goods tokens of each kind are in the game?
- What is the windrose on the player board?
- Can players trade goods, colonists or buildings with each other?
- Do the rules differ between editions of Puerto Rico?
- Are the Factory/University price swap and the reduced starting money for corn players official rules?
Roles and rounds
- Can a player decline the action or privilege of the role they chose?
- Is the Captain the only role whose action is compulsory?
- When do I take the doubloons that are on a role placard?
- How many doubloons go on unused role placards at the end of a round?
- Does the Governor receive any extra doubloons?
- Can I choose a role I cannot use, just for its doubloons or to deny others?
- Is each role finished by everyone before the next role is chosen?
- If nobody chooses the Captain, do goods spoil at the end of the round?
- Is there a separate harvest step before goods are produced?
Settler and plantations
- Must the Settler take a plantation or quarry?
- Can I take a plantation or quarry when all 12 island spaces are filled?
- Who can take a quarry in the Settler phase?
- What happens to the face-up plantations nobody takes?
- Do the face-up plantations refresh when nobody chooses Settler?
- Can the Settler take plantations from the discard pile?
- Can the plantation tiles run out during the game?
- Is there a limit on how many plantations of one type a player may own?
- Can quarry and plantation tiles be removed once placed?
- When do I use the Hacienda in the Settler phase, and must I keep the tile?
- With a Hacienda, can I draw the random tile and then take no face-up tile?
- Can I take two quarries with a Hacienda and a Construction Hut in one Settler phase?
- Does a Construction Hut let me take a quarry whenever Settler is played?
- Where does the Hospice colonist go, and does it work for the Hacienda tile?
- If the colonist supply is empty, can a Hospice or University still give a colonist?
Mayor and colonists
- Can a player decline colonists in the Mayor phase?
- What happens to colonists left on the ship if every player declines in the Mayor phase?
- If I decline the Mayor action, can I still take the Mayor's privilege colonist?
- Does the Mayor take a colonist from the supply in addition to the colonists from the ship?
- How are the colonists on the ship divided up?
- How many colonists are put on the ship at the end of the Mayor phase?
- Does the refill count depend on colonists still on the ship?
- What happens if the Mayor forgets to refill the colonist ship?
- If nobody notices the ship was not refilled, can it be corrected later?
- When can colonists be moved between buildings and plantations?
- Can I leave colonists in San Juan while I have empty circles?
- Can spare colonists on my windrose staff a newly built building or plantation?
- If the colonist supply is empty during the Mayor phase, can players still take colonists from the ship?
- If nobody chooses the Mayor, does the ship get new colonists?
- Is the minimum of colonists on the ship the number of players?
- In what order do players place their colonists in the Mayor phase?
Builder and quarries
- Can I build more than one building per Builder phase?
- Does the Builder get the discount if they do not build?
- Does the Builder discount stack with quarry discounts?
- How many doubloons can quarries save on a building?
- Do quarries need a colonist to give their discount?
- Can a building cost zero doubloons, and do I get paid if the discount exceeds the cost?
- Can I build with no empty city spaces?
- Can I move buildings within my city?
- Can a player own two copies of the same building?
- Can a player build more than one large building?
- Does a building work when it has no colonist?
- Where does the University colonist go, and how many do I get?
- Does the University give a colonist for every building I build?
Craftsman and production
- Can I produce only some of my goods in the Craftsman phase?
- How does the Craftsman's extra good work?
- Can the Craftsman's extra good be a kind I cannot produce?
- What if there are not enough goods left for everyone to produce?
- What do I need to produce goods other than corn?
- If the Craftsman chooses not to produce, do the other players still produce?
- Can a good become permanently unavailable?
Trader and the trading house
- Can I sell more than one good in the Trader phase?
- Can I sell a good the Trading House already holds?
- When is the Trading House emptied?
- Can I sell corn, and do the Trader and market bonuses apply?
- Does the Trader privilege stack with the Small and Large Market?
- Does a good sold through the Office take a space in the Trading House?
- Do I get the Trader's extra doubloon if I do not sell?
- In what order are goods sold in the Trader phase?
Captain and shipping
- When several empty cargo ships could take my goods, which one must I use?
- Can I hold back barrels I am able to load, to sell or keep for later?
- Must I ship the good I have the most of?
- Can I load more than one kind of good, or use two ships, on one shipping turn?
- Can two cargo ships carry the same kind of good?
- Must I load goods on my turn if I can?
- Do the other players have to ship the same good the Captain shipped?
- How many bonus victory points does the Captain get?
- How many victory points does shipping give?
- When do full cargo ships empty?
- Can I move colonists during the Captain phase?
- What if every cargo ship is full or closed to my goods?
Goods storage and victory points
- How many goods can I keep after the Captain phase?
- When does the goods storage limit apply?
- In what order do players discard excess goods?
- Can a warehouse protect the same kind as the barrel I keep on my windrose?
- Do VP chips have to be kept secret?
- Can I exchange VP chips for change?
- What happens when the VP chips run out?
- Are the victory points printed on buildings paid out from the VP chips when I buy them?
Buildings: Wharf, Harbor and warehouses
- Do I have to use my Wharf?
- How often can the Wharf be used, and with how many kinds of good?
- Can the Wharf take a kind of good that is already on a cargo ship?
- When I use the Wharf, must I ship all my goods of that kind?
- Do goods wait on the Wharf until it is full, and what is the 11-barrel limit?
- Can I use a cargo ship and my Wharf in the same Captain phase?
- Can I put one barrel on a cargo ship and send the rest of the kind to the Wharf?
- Does the Wharf store goods like a Warehouse?
- How many VP does the Harbor give?
- Does the Harbor score again when I use the Wharf?
- Does my Harbor score when an opponent loads goods?
- How many goods can the Small and Large Warehouse store?
- Does a warehouse protect me from having to load goods on a ship?
Buildings: other small and large buildings
- Do plantations and quarries need colonists to count for the Residence?
- How many VP does the Residence give?
- Which colonists count for the Fortress?
- Which buildings does the Guild Hall count?
- What does the Customs House count?
- Does an unoccupied large building still score?
- Does the Factory pay for goods I could produce but cannot because the supply ran out?
- Do the markets pay for each good I sell?
- Does the Hacienda work only in the Settler phase, and do I have to choose Settler?
- Are the functions of beige buildings mandatory?
- With a Hacienda and a Construction Hut, can I take a quarry instead of the Hacienda's face-down tile?
Game end and scoring
- What ends the game?
- When a game-end condition is met, does the round still finish?
- When does running out of colonists end the game?
- Does the game end immediately when a player fills their last city space?
- Does the game end when the VP chips run out?
- Do unoccupied buildings score at game end?
- How is a tie for the most victory points broken?
- What if players are still tied after counting doubloons and goods?
The game for two
- Are there official two-player rules?
- How are roles chosen in the two-player game?
- Which starting plantations do the players get in the two-player game?
- What changes in setup for the two-player game?
- Do both players take the action of the chosen role in the two-player game?
- How does the two-player game end?
Puerto Rico: Expansion I – New BuildingsExpansion
- Can the Forest House be combined with the Hacienda?
- What happens when a Forest House owner also has a Library or Hospice?
- What do I use as a forest tile, and how many forests are there?
- How does the Forest House reduce building costs?
- What does the Library double?
- How does the Library work with a Hospice or Construction Hut?
- What can I return to the supply with the Black Market?
- Which colonists can I return to the Black Market, and can that cancel a Church or Quarry bonus?
- If a Black Market return takes the last colonist or VP chip, is the game end cancelled?
- Does the Church give VP for building the Church itself?
- Where do the Guest House colonists come from, and when can they move?
- Can a Guest House colonist be used on the final round?
- How does the Small Wharf work?
- Does using the Small Wharf let me skip normal shipping?
- What does the Lighthouse give, and does the Captain get a bonus?
- When does the Union Hall score, and does it depend on shipping?
- How does the Cloister score?
- How does the Trading Post work?
- When does the Aqueduct pay, and for which buildings?
- Does the game end when the last VP chip is taken outside the Captain phase, for example with the Church?
- Can the New Buildings expansion be used in a two-player game?
- Do I change the colonist and VP chip counts when adding the New Buildings?
Puerto Rico: Expansion II – The NoblesExpansion
- Does the Jeweler count as a large production building for the Guild Hall?
- Do nobles work like colonists?
- Do nobles score VP, and do they count for the Fortress?
- Does running out of colonists or nobles end the game with the Nobles?
- How are nobles put on the colonist ship?
- Can the Mayor's privilege colonist be a noble?
- How does the Villa work? Is the noble in addition to my normal colonists?
- Does the Jeweler pay for every noble I own or only nobles on my island?
- Do nobles on buildings count for the Royal Supplier and the Royal Garden?
- Does the Royal Supplier count as shipping for the Harbor or Captain bonus?
- In what order are colonists and nobles taken with the University or Hospice?
- How does the Land Office work, and does the Trader bonus apply?
- Can the Land Office be used more than once per Trader phase?
- Does the Hospice give a colonist to a plantation bought with the Land Office?
- What can a noble-occupied Land Office discard?
- Can the Royal Supplier and the Union Hall be used in either order on the first shipment?
- Must I use all the Nobles buildings, and where do they go?
- What if the Villa owner finds no nobles in the supply?
- Does filling all your plantation spaces end the game?
Puerto Rico: Expansions 1&2 – The New Buildings & The NoblesExpansion
Puerto Rico: BuccaneerExpansion
Treasure ChestExpansion
- What does the Gold Mine do in Witch's Brew?
- Why does the San Juan Treasure Chest expansion add one extra copy of each production building?
- Does the Treasure Chest version of the Forest use forest tiles?
- Are the Treasure Chest buildings the same as the stand-alone Expansion I buildings?
- Does the San Juan Caritas work in the phase it is built?
- Do building bonuses apply to the Governor Visit event?
- Is the Cathedral shuffled into the deck, and what does it cost?
- Are the Great Wall tiles chosen or drawn at random?
- When does the Inn trigger, and must its owner build?