Is it your fantasy to be a pirate of the Caribbean? Hoisting your sails, lifting your anchors and sailing around to Tortuga to steal treasures? Piracy is a crime, but fortunately piracy is also subjective. Hoist a different flag and suddenly you’re a prized seafarer of the British Empire ready to enrich yourself with some resources stolen from the Caribbean, sensitive topic! In the expansion, The Uprising, players will get even more rebellious!
Recap: In Maracaibo by Geronimo Games, named after the capital city, players take on the role of these sailors in the 17th century. Try to plot and sail a route as efficiently as possible, improve your ship, bring in a crew, construct buildings, trade resources, and collect points according to the teachings of Philippus the second (by dividing and ruling) and staying in good graces with France, Spain, and England.
Underneath the heap of rules, complexity, symbols, cards, chits, choices, and associated analysis paralysis, Maracaibo is actually a very elegant and simple game. Each turn you move your boat to a town or village to perform the corresponding action(s). The game offers many choices to actually earn points. Will you build an engine to rake in points at the end of a game round or do you invest in an expensive crew and prestigious buildings to grab a lot of points like a cannon shot at the end of the game.
The many choices make Maracaibo the complex game it is often described as. The first few games you are thrown in at the deep end, but after that you start to get the hang of it. Once you grasp the game, you also discover that Maracaibo is very rich in strategies. Because of the many strategies, Maracaibo offers something for every multi-player. In addition to the base game, Maracaibo also includes an extensive campaign/legacy mode that offers ever new rules and variations.
The Uprising expansion adds additional modules to the game for extra variety and gameplay. These include new scenarios that players can add to Legacy mode and the game now includes much needed doubles. Ahoj matey, and have (expanded) fun playing!
