Goal

The game is played over several rounds. In each round, each player chooses one of seven different roles and, thereby, offers all players, in clockwise order, the action associated with that role. So, for example, with the settler, players can place new plantations, on which, with the help of the craftsman, players can produce goods. Players can then sell these goods to the trading house with the trader or, with the captain, ship them to the old world. With the money earned from such sales, the players, with the builder, may build buildings in the city, and so on. The player who best manages the changing roles with their associated actions and special priveleges, will achieve the greatest prosperity and the highest respect and, thereby, win the game.

Preparation

Place the game board in the middle of the table. Place all the buildings on their assigned spaces on the game board. Sort the doubloons by value and place them on the bank on the game board.

Each player takes:

• 1 player board (placed before him on the table)
• money - with 3 players, 2 doubloons; with 4 players, 3 doubloons; with 5 players, 4 doubloons; The players store their doubloons on the windrose on their player boards, so that all players can see how much money each player has.
• 1 plantation tile - first, the players choose a starting player using any method they choose. This player takes the governor card and a blue indigo tile (which he places face-up on any of the 12 spaces on his island). The other players take the following in clockwise order: with 3 players, 2nd player takes indigo, 3rd player takes corn; with 4 players, 2nd player takes indigo, 3rd and 4th players take corn; with 5 players, 2nd and 3rd players take indigo, 4th and 5th players take corn;

Place the raming materials near the board:

• Victory point chips (in 2 separate piles) - with 3 players, 75 points; with 4 players, 100 points; with 5 plyers, all 122 points;
• All 8 quarry tiles (face up)
• All remaining plantation tiles (well shuffled in 5 face-down stacks)
• 4, 5, or 6 plantation tiles (one more than the number of placers) are taken from the face-down stacks and placed face-up next to the quarry tile stack
• The role cards - with 3 players, all cards except both prospectors ( = 6 cards); with 4 players, all cards except one prospector ( = 7 cards); with 5 players, all 8 cards;
• Three cargo ships - with 3 players, the ships with 4,5, and 6 cargo spaces; with 4 players, the ships with 5,6, and 7 cargo spaces; with 5 players, the ships with 6,7, and 8 cargo spaces;
• All goods (in 5 separate piles)
• The trading house
• The colonist ship with 3, 4, or 5 colonists, depending on the number of players
• the brown colonist markers (as supply pile) - with 3 players, 55 colonists; with 4 players, 75 colonists; with 5 players, 95 colonists;

Place unused material back in the box.

Playing the game

The game is played over several rounds (about 15). Each round is played in the same way. The player with the governor card begins. He takes on of the role cards, places it face-up next to his player board, and takes the action allowed by the role card. Then, his left neighbor takes the action allowed by that role card, and so on around the table, in clockwise order, until every player has taken this action once.

Next, the left neighbor of the governor takes his turn: he takes one of the remaining role cards, places it face-up next to his player board, and takes the action allowed by the role card. Then, his left neighbor takes the action allowed by that role card, and so on around the table, in clockwise order, until every player has taken this action once. Then, his left neighbor takes a role card, and so on until all players have taken a role card and all players taken the actions allowed by the role cards taken.

Next, place on doubloon on each of the three role cards that were not taken by a player during the round. Then, places the used role cards back on the table next to the unused cards. The left neighbor of the player with the governor card takes the governor card, becoming the governor for the next round. He begins the round and game continues as before.

The Roles

Each role grans the player who takes the card a special privilege, and also, a specific action that can be taken by each player, in clockwise order, starting with the player who took the role (exception: prospector).

Basic rules for all role cards:

• If a card has one or more doubloons on it, the player who takes the card gets the doubloons in addition to the privilege and action associated with the card.
• The action associated with a role card is always taken first by the player who took the card, followed by the others in clockwise order.
• A player must always take a role card when it is his turn to do so, but he may choose not to use the action or privilege of the card he chooses. The other players, of course, get their turns at the action of the card.
• The action of a role card is options (exception: captain). A player may choose not do or be unable to use the action on his turn.
• A role card remains in front of the player who took it until the end of the round. It may not be taken by another player in the round.
  

  The Settler (settler phase -> place a new plantation on the island)

  The player who chooses this role may take either a quarry tile as his privilege or one of the face-up plantation tiles and place it on any empty island space on his player board. Afterwards, each other player, in clockwise order, may take one of the face-up plantation tiles (not a quarry tile! - exception: construction hut) and place it on any empty island space on his player board.

  Finally, the settler player puts the untaken plantation tiles face-up on a plantation discard stack and draws new plantation tiles from the face-down stacks, placing them face-up next to the quarry stack. He draws one more than the number of players.

  Notes:

  - Remember the special functions of the hacienda, construction hut, and hospice.
  - If there are not enough plantation tiles left in the face-down stacks, the player first draws and places those. He shuffles the discarded plantation tiles face-down, creates a new face down stack, and fills the face-up row. If there are insufficient tiles to refill the face-up row, players in following rounds may have to do without.
  - Where a player places quarry and plantation tiles on his island plays no role in the game. The tiles may not be removed from the island.
  - If a player has filled all 12 island spaces on his player board, he may not place plantation or quarry tiles in future settler phases.
  - If there are no more quarry tiles in the quarry tile stack, the settler may not use his privilege and the owners of a contsruction hut may not use that special function.

  The Mayor (mayor phase -> arrival of new colonists)

  The tiles (plantation, quarry, or building) have 1 to 3 circles. A player may place one colonist on each circle on the tiles on his player board. If there is at least on colonist on a tile, it is considered occupied. Only occupied tiles may use their fuctions; unoccupied tiles never function!

  The player who chooses this role may first take on colonist from the colonist supply (not from the colonist ship!) as his privilege. Next, the players take the colonists from the colonist ship one at a time, starting with the mayor. The players continue to take one colonist at a time, in clockwise order, until none remain on the colonist ship.

  A player may place his new colonist(s), together with all colonists he acquired from earlier rounds, on any empty circles on the tiles on his player board. Thus, a player may move a colonist placed on a circle or San Juan in an earlier round. If a player cannot place all his colonists, he may "store" them on the small city of San Juan on his player board. The colonists remain there until a later mayor phase when they may be placed on empty circles on the player's tiles.

  As his last duty, the mayor puts new colonists on the colonist ship to be used in the next mayor phase. For each empty circle on the buildings on the player boards of all players (empty circles on plantations and quarried do not count!), the mayor takes one colonist from the colonist supply and places it on the colonist ship. However, as a minimum, the mayor should always place at least as many colonists on the ship as there are players in the game.

  Notes:

  - Usually, all players place/move their colonists at the same time. If, however, the players feel that their placement decisions may depend on other's placements, the players should place their colonists in the following order: first, the mayor and, then, the others in clockwise order from the mayor.
  - If a mayor forgets (players may remind him) to place new colonists on the colonist ship, players later place the minimum (number of players) on the colonist ship.
  - When the colonist supply runs out, the mayor may not use his privilege and, or course, he does not refill the colonist ship.
  - No player may choose to place colonists in San Juan if he has empty circles available on his player board. All empty circles must be filled, if possible. Colonists may not be placed on the circles other than in the mayor phase.

  The Builder (builder phase -> build buildings)

  The player who chooses this role, can immediately build one building for one doubloon less than the normal cost as his privilege. He pays the money to the bank, takes the building from the supply, and places it on any empty space in the city on his player board. When placing a large building, the player needs two adjacent empty spaces. Then, the other players, in clockwise order from the builder, may, in the same way, each build one building (at normal cost).

  Note: No player may build more than one building per round. Further information on the individual buildings is at the end of the rules.

  Quarry

  Each occupied quarry tha a player owns may reduce the player's cost for building a building by 1 doubloon. The limit for such reductions is shown on the game board: players building buildings in the first column can reduce their cost by at most 1 doubloon (1 occupied quarry), in the second column by at most 2 doubloons (2 occupied quarries), in the third columb by at most 3 doubloons (3 occupied quarries), and in the fourth columnb by at most 4 doubloons (4 occupied quarries). The builder's privilege reduction is in addition to the quarry reduction, but the cost of a building may not be reduced below 0 doubloons. A player with 3 occupied quarries pays the following costs: construction hut: 1 doubloon; office: 3 doubloons; harbor: 5 doubloons; city hall: 7 doubloons.

  Notes:
  
  - Remember the special function of the university.
  - If the builder does not build a building, he does not take 1 doubloon for his privilege!
  - It is not possible to build on more than 12 city spaces. A player who has not empty city spaces may not build more buildings.

  The Craftsman (craftsman phase -> production of goods)

  The player who chooses this role akes goods from the supply according to his production ability and places them on the windrose on his player board. Thus, the windrose contains a player's money and goods. Next, the other players take goods from the supply according to their abilities, in clockwise order from the craftsman. See more details on production abilities under "The production buildings."

  As his last duty, the crafstman takes one additional good (of those he can produce) from the supply as his privilege.

  Notes:

  - Remember the special function of the factory.
  - If the kind of goods a player produces is exhausted in the supply, he goes without.
  - If the craftsman does not produce goods, he does not get an extra good (privilege).

  The Trader (trader phase -> selling goods)

  The player who chooses this role, may immediately sell one good to the trading house. He takes from the bank the price associated with the good he sold (0 - 4 doubloons) plus 1 doubloon as his privilege. Then, in clockwise order from the trader, each other player may sell one good to the trading house for the price shown as long as there is room for it in the trading house. The trader phase ends when all players have had one turn to sell or when the trading house is full.

  When selling, use the following rules:
  - The trading house has room for just four goods. When it is full, no other players may sell goods in this trader phase.
  - The trading house buys only different kinds of goods (exception: office).

  As his last duty, the trader empties the trading house if it is full with four goods, placing them in their separate supply iles. If there are fewer than four goods in the trading house, they remain there. It will e more difficult to sell goods in the next trader phase, because of the kinds of goods already there and the fewer number of spaces available.

  Notes:

  - Remember the special functions of the small and large markets and the office.
  - If the trader does not sell, he does not collect the extra doubloon (privilege).
  - A player may sell corn to the trading house even though he earns no money for doing so.

  The Captain (captain phase -> shipping of goods)

  The captain is in charge of shipping goods to the old world. This means that the captain is the first to load goods on the cargo ships. Then, the other players follow, in clockwise order from the captain.

  Note: In the captain phase, each player may get several turns to load goods on the cargo ships. When it is a player's turn to load goods on a cargo ship, he must load if he can. However, a player may load goods of only one kind on a turn.

  The captain phase continues, clockwise around the table, as long as at least one player has goods he can load.

  Loading/Shipping rules:

  When shipping, players must follow these ruels:
  - Each cargo ship will carry goods of only one kind.
  - Players may not load goods on a cargo ship if goods of that same kind are on one of the other two cargo ships.
  - Players may not load goods on a full ship.
  - On a player's turn, he must load goods if he can. However, he may only load one kind of good.
  - When a player loads goods of a kind, he must load as many of that kind as he can. A player cannot hold back goods when there is space on a ship carrying the kind of good he has. If a player has a kind of good that can be loaded on several empty ships, he must choose the ship where he can load the most goods, leaving none behind if possible.
  - If a player has several kinds of goods that he can load, he may choose freely which goods to load. He need not choose the goods that would allow him to load the most barrels.
  

  Victory points:

  For each good (each barrel, not each kind of good) a player loads, he earns one victory point (1 VP) in the form of a victory point chip. When loading goods onto the cargo ships, all kinds of goods have the same value: 1 VP per barrel loaded! The goods values used in the trader phase are not used here. When loading his first kind of goods, the captain takes as his privilege one extra victory point. He does not get extra VPs for each kind he loads. A player keeps his victory points, unlike his money and goods, secret from the others. A player puts his victory point chips face-down on his windrose. From time to time, players should convert 5 value 1 chips for a single value 5 chip.

  Goods storage:

  When no more goods can be loaded on the cargo ships, the players must store the goods left on their windroses. Each player may store one good (one barrel) on his windrose. For all other remaining goods, each player must find room in one of hi warehouses (small or large). If a plyer does not have sufficient warehouse space, he must place all extra goods back in the goods supplies (see more information under "small warehouse").

  As his last duty, the captain unloads all full ships by placing those goods back in their separate supply piles. Partially full and empty ships remain as they are until the next captain phase. It will be more difficult to load goods in the next captain phase, because of the kinds of goods already on the cargo ships and the fewer number of spaces available.

  Notes:

  - Remember the special functions of the small and large warehouses, the harbor, and the wharf.
  - If a player cannot store all his extra goods, he may choose which goods to store and which to return to the goods supply.
  - The captain earns only one extra VP as his privilege, regardless of how many kinds of goods he loads. If he loads no goods, he does not get the extra privilege VP.
  - Players only check for goods storage at the end of the captain phase. Players store goods acquired in other phases on the windroses without limit until the next captain phase.

The Prospectors

The player who chooses this role initiates no action, but receives as his privilege 1 doubloon from the bank.

A new round...

After the last player in the round takes a role and all players complete the action, if any, of the role, the round ends. Now, the governor takes three doubloons from the bank, placing one each on the three role cards that were not selected during the round. The doubloons are placed regardless of the number of doubloons already on the cards. Role cards with more doubloons will be more attractive to the players as they get the doubloons in addition to the privilege of the card. For example, a player choosing a prospector card with 2 doubloons will get, in total, 3 doubloons for his effort. Finally, the players return the role cards they selected to the area next to the game board and the governor gives the governor card to his left neighbor. The new governor begins the next round by selecting a role card, and so the game continues.

Game End

The game ends at the end of the round in which at least one of the following conditions is satisfied:
- at the end of the mayor phase there are not enough colonists to fill the colonist ship as required;
- during the builder phase, at least one player builds on his 12th city space;
- during the captain phase, the last of the victory point chips is used. When the victory point chips are exhausted, players earning victory points thereafter should track them with pencil and paper.

The victory points of the players are now scored with pencil and paper. Each player adds:
- the value of his VP chips (including those noted on pencil and paper) + the VP value of his buildings (red-brown number in the upper right) + the extra VPs of his occupied large buildings
Note: a building scores its victory points even when it is not occupied. Thus, for example, the five large buildings score 4 VP each when they are not occupied.

The five large buildings score the extra victory points only when they are occupied!

The player with the most victory points is the winner! If two or more players tie with the most VPs, the player with the most doublons and goods together (1 good = 1 doubloon) is the winner.

The Buildings

For all buildings:
- Each player may build each building only once.
- When at least one colonist is in the building, it is considered occupied.
- Where a building is placed in the city has no bearing on the game. A building is placed on an empty city space. A large building requires two adjacent empty city spaces. A building may be moved within the city to make room for a large building. However, as with the plantation and quarry tiles on the island, a player may not remove a building from his city (to, for example, make room for another building or prolong the game).
- The red-brown number in the upper right corner of each building indicates how many victory points the building is worth (occupid or unoccupied) at the end of the game.
- The number in the first circle is the cost to build the building. Once built, the building cost has no further role in the game.

The production buildings (blue, white, light and dark brown)

The production buildings are required, together with the plantations, for the production of certain goods:
- In the indigo processing plants, the indigo plants are processed to produce indigo dye (blue barrels).
- In the sugar mills, the sugar canes are processed into sugar (white barrels).
- In the tobacco storage, the tobacco leaves are shredded into tobacco (light brown barrels).
- In the coffee roasters, teh coffee beans are roasted into coffee (dark brown barrels).
Note: There is no production facility needed for corn. Corn (yellow barrels) come directly from the plantation without any need for processing. That means that, in the crafstman phase, occupied corn plantations produce corn (yellow barrels) directly.

The number of circles on the production buildings indicates the maximum number of goods the building can produce when the circles have colonists on them. Of course, the player must also have sufficient occupied plantations of the appropriate kind to produce the raw materials needed to produce the goods in the production buildings.

Notes:
- The raw materials used in production do not exist in this game. The players only get the end products of their production. The unused colonists produce nothing.
- As described under the craftsman, when a player produces a good and the supply for that good is empty, the player gets nothing.

The violet buildings

There are 17 different violet buildings: two each of the 12 small buildings and one each of the 5 large buildings. The special functions of the violet buildings tend to allow players to break the normal game rules. So, for example, the owner of an occupied office may sell a kind of good to the trading house that is already there. A player is not required to use the special function of an occupied violet building if he does not wan to (important with the wharf, see below).

Small market

When the owner of an occupied small market sells a good in the trader phase, he gets an extra doubloon from the bank for it.
Example: Anna sells a corn and receives 1 doubloon.

Hacienda

On his turn in the settler phase, the owner of an occupied hacienda may, before he takes a face-up plantation tile, take an additional tile from the face-down stack (the top-most) and place it on an empty space on his island. He may then take his normal turn in the phase.
Note: If a player chooses to take a face-down tile, he must immediately place it on an empty space on his island. He may not discard it. If the player also owns an occupied construction hut, he may not take a quarry instead of the face-down tile. Thus, if the settler owns a hacienda, he may only take one quarry.

Construction hut

In the settler phase, the owner of an occupied construction hut can place a quarry on his island instead of one of the face-up plantation tiles.
Note: If the settler owns a construction hut, he may only take one quarry.

Small warehouse

As described under the captain, players must store their unloaded goods at the end of the captain phase. If a player does not have sufficient storage space, he must return the goods to the goods supplies. The owner of an occupied small warehouse may store, at the end of the captain phase, in addition to the signle goods barrel he is allowed to store on his windrose, all the barrels of one kind of good that he chooses. The warehouse protects the player from returning goods to the supply. It does not protect the player from being required to load the goods onto the cargo ships.
Note: The goods chosen are not actually stored on the small warehouse tile, but on the player's windrose.

Hospice

During the settler phase, when the owner of an occupied hospice places a plantation or quarry tile on his island, he may take a colonist from the colonist supply and place it on this tile.
Note: If the player also owns an occupied hacienda and chooses to take the additional face-down tile, he does not get a colonist for the extra tile. If there are no more colonists in the colonist supply, he may take one from the colonist ship. If there are also non there, he goes without.

Office

When the owner of an occupied office sells a good to the trading house in the trader phase, it need not be different than the goods already there. If the trading house is full, the player cannot sell a good there!
Example: The trading house already has a barrel of tobacco. Bob owns an occupied office and, on his turn, sells a tobacco to the trading house. Chris owns the other office. On her turn it is occupied, so she too can sell a tobacco to the trading house.

Large market

When the owner of an occupied large market sells a good in the trader phase, he gets an extra 2 doubloons from the bank for it.
Note: If a player owns both a small and large market, he takes an extra 3 doubloons when he sells a good to the trading house.

Large warehouse

The owner of an occupied large warehouse may store, at the end of the captain phase, in addition to the single goods barrel he is allowed to store on his windrose, all the barrels of two kinds of goods that he chooses.
Note: If a player chooses to take a face-down tile, he must immediately place it on an empty space on his island. He may not discard it. If the player also owns both a small and large warehouse, he may store all the barrels of 3 kinds of goods that he chooses.

Factory

If the owner of an occupied factory produces goods of more than one kind in the craftsman phase, he earns money from the bank: for two kinds of goods he earns 1 doubloon, for three kinds of goods he earns 2 doubloons, for four kinds of goods he earns 3 doubloons, and for all five kinds of good he earns 5 doubloons. The number of barrels produced plays no role.
Example: David owns an occupied factory, 3 occupied corn plantations, 3 occupied sugar plantations, 1 occupied tobacco plantation, and the associated proudction building with the necessary number of colonists. He produces only 2 sugar barrels and 1 tobacco barrel as there is no corn and only 2 suar barrels in the supply. He earns 1 doubloon from the bank for producing 2 kinds of goods.

University

During the builder phase, when the owner of an occupied university builds a building in his city, he may take a colonist from the colonist supply and place it on this tile.
Note: If he builds a production building with more than one circle, he gets only one colonist. If there are no more colonists in the colonist supply, he may take one from the colonist ship. If there are also none there, he goes without.

Harbor

Each time during the captain phase that the owner of an occupied harbor loads goods on a cargo ship, he earns one extra victory point.
Example: The owner of an occupied harbor (and an occupied wharf) can only load 3 of his 5 tobacco on the "tobacco ship" as those 3 fill it up: he earns 3 + 1 VP. In his next loading turn he loads both his 2 sugar on the "sugar ship": he earns 2 + 1 VP. In his next loading turn, he uses his wharf to put his remaining 2 tobacco in the supply: he earns 2 + 1 VP. Thus, in this captain phase he has earned an additional 3 VP with the use of his harbor (and 2 VP extra with his wharf).

Wharf

During the captain phase, when a player with an occupied wharf must load goods, instead of loading them on a cargo ship, he may place all his goods of one kind in the goods supply and score the appropriate victory points as though he had loaded them on a cargo ship. It is as though the player has an imaginary ship with unlimited capacity at his disposal. The player must load goods on a cargo ship whenever he can on his turn during the captain phase, except when he chooses to use his wharf and "load" them on his imaginary ship. The wharf can only be used once per captain phase by its owner, but he may choose when to ue it if at all. This imaginary ship can take any one good, but it may be of a kind on one of he three cargo ships or the other imaginary wharf ship.
Note: When a player uses his wharf, he must load all the goods barrels of the kind he chooses that he has. He is not required, however, to choose the good he has the most of. An imaginary wharf ship has the capacity for 11 barrels.

The large buildings
The following five large buildings occur just once each in the game. Each needs two adjacent city spaces to be built, but it counts as one building.
Note: When, in these rules, "large building" is mentioned, it is the following five buildings that are described!

Guild hall

The owner of the occupied guild hall earns, at game end, an additional 1 VP for each small production building (occupied or unoccupied) in his city ( = small indigo plant and small sugar mill), and an additional 2 VP for each large production building (occupied or unoccupied) in his city ( = indigo plant, sugar mill, tobacco storage, and coffee roaster).
Example: At game end, the owner of the occupied guild hall also has a small and large sugar mill, a small indigo plant, and a coffee roaster in his city: he earns an additional 6 VP.

Residence

The oner of the occupied residence earns, at game end, additional victory points for the plantations and quarries he has placed on his island. For up to nine filled island spaces, he earns 4 VP, for ten filled island spaces, he earns 5 VP, for eleven filled island spaces, he earns 6 VP, and for all twelve spaces filled, he earns 7 VP.
Example: At game end, the owner of the occupied residence has filled 10 of his 12 island spaces with plantations and quarries: he earns an additional 5 VP.

Fortress

The owner of the occupied fortress earns, at game end, one additional victory point for every three colonists on his player board.
Example: At game end, the owner of the occupied fortress has a total of 20 colonists on his plantations, quarries, buildings, and in San Juan: he earns an additional 6 VP.

Customs house

The owner of the occupied customs house earns, at game end, one additional victory point for every four victory points he acquired during the game. The player should count only his victory points he acquired during the game. The player should count only his victory point chips (and any extra victory points recorded on paper after the chip supply was exhausted, but before game end). He does not use victory points earned for his buildings at game end.
Example: At game end, the owner of the occupied customs house has accumulated 23 victory points in VP chips: he earns an additional 5 VP.

City hall

The owner of the occupied city hall earns, at game end, one additional victory point for each violet building (occupied or unoccupied) in his city (city hall counts!).
Example: At game end, the owner of the occupied city hall also has: hacienda, harbor, office, construction ut, large warehouse, and residence: he earns an additional 7 VP.