San Juan FAQ
85 questions players ask · Updated Nov 12, 2026 · Full rulebook
Preparation
Roles and turns
- In a two-player game, how many roles are chosen each round and in what order?
- In a two-player game, does the governor get the privilege of both roles he picks?
- If the player who chose a role skips its action, can the other players still take that action?
- When you choose a role, must you do its action right away, and can you skip it?
- Can a player choose any role not yet picked in the round, in any order?
- If nobody chooses the Trader role in a round, does anyone trade that round?
Producing and selling goods
- Which role puts goods on production buildings, and which role sells them?
- Can a production building hold more than one good at a time?
- If you own two production buildings of the same type, do you produce or sell more?
- Does the order in which players produce goods matter?
- Does one player's sale limit what the other players can sell in the Trader phase?
- Can you sell several goods of the same type in one Trader phase?
- When you sell a good, do you keep the good card as income?
Hand and drawing cards
Building and paying
- How is a building's cost paid, and do the card values matter?
- Do cards spent to build go under the new building or onto the discard pile?
- Can you own two copies of a violet building such as the Chapel or Library?
- Does the Builder's one-card discount apply to production buildings as well as violet ones?
- What are the non-violet building cards (Indigo, Sugar, Tobacco, Coffee, Silver) for?
- What counts as a purple (violet) building?
- When Builder is chosen, can every player build, not only the chooser?
- When you pay for a building, can opponents see which cards you discard?
Crane
- If a Crane building costs less than the building it covers, do you get the difference back?
- Can you build a violet building again after a Crane has covered it?
- Can you build a Crane over another Crane?
- With a Crane, can you build one building and upgrade another in the same builder phase?
- Can a Quarry reduce its own cost when you build it?
- Do the Builder discount and the Crane's cost reduction stack on the same build?
- Do buildings covered by a Crane still count for victory points at game end?
- Can a good on a production building pay for a Crane build placed over that same production building?
- If you build over a Black Market with a Crane, can that Black Market still help pay for the new building?
- Does the Carpenter's bonus apply when you build a violet building over another building with a Crane?
Library
- In a two-player game, can the governor use the Library on both of his role picks?
- Does owning a Library let the Builder build twice in one turn?
- Does the Library's doubled privilege apply when an opponent picks the role?
- How does a Library double the Councillor role?
- When must you decide to use the Library's privilege, and can you see the market or drawn cards first?
Building abilities
- If you own both a Carpenter and a Poor House, which one resolves first after you build?
- Is the Poor House bonus checked before or after you pay for the building you just built?
- Does the Carpenter's free card come right after you build the Carpenter?
- Does the Quarry discount apply to monuments, and to production buildings?
- Does the Smithy discount apply to a Library or other violet buildings?
- If you own a Market Hall and a Market Stand and sell two goods, how many extra cards do you draw?
- How does an Archive work with the Councillor role?
- How many cards can you put under a Chapel, and when?
- Do you have to pay for a card before placing it under the Chapel?
- Does the Well give a free card for each good produced?
- When the Producer takes the Well, is the free card drawn before or after the other players produce?
- How many goods can an Aqueduct owner produce?
- How many goods can a Trading Post owner sell?
- With a Gold Mine, do you still reveal all four cards if the first two have the same cost?
- Can the Prospector use his own Gold Mine?
- Do a building's bonus abilities work only when its owner picks the matching role?
- Can I use a building's ability while its card is still in my hand?
- Can you use a building's ability in the builder phase in which you built it?
Game end and scoring
- Does the game end at 12 purple buildings, or at 12 buildings of any kind?
- When a player builds their 12th building, does the game end immediately or after that builder phase?
- How is the Palace scored at game end?
- Which buildings do City Hall and Guild Hall score?
- Do monuments count toward the 12-building end and for City Hall?
- How does Triumphal Arch score for one, two or three monuments?
- Do production buildings with goods on them still score victory points at game end?
Treasure ChestExpansion
- Does a role re-selected by the Governor Visit event still give your building bonuses?
- When does the Inn's ability resolve, and must its owner build to trigger it?
- Does Treasure Chest add new types of production building, or extra copies of existing ones?
- Where does the Cathedral go at setup, and does City Hall score it?
- How much does it cost to overbuild a Park with a Crane?
- Does the Villa give an extra nobleman in the Mayor phase?
- Does a Jeweler pay for every nobleman you own, or only nobles on your island?
- Can a nobleman work like a colonist on a plantation or quarry?
- Does the Guard Room's hand limit of 6 apply from the start of the game?
- If an event card is drawn during the Councillor phase, must it be played?
- Does Treasure Chest include the same buildings as the stand-alone Puerto Rico expansion?
- With a Harbor, do you still draw your normal income when you sell goods, and does the Harbor add victory points?
- How do goods get onto the Customs Office, and can it hold more than one good?
- Can you sell a Customs Office good when another player chooses Trader?
- With the Great Wall, are the wall tiles' reward sides face up so you can choose, or drawn at random?
- Can more than one player take the Great Wall action in the same month?
- How are the eight action cards split into piles when the Great Wall action card is added?
- Does the Caritas work in the round it is built, even if its owner builds nothing that phase?