Puerto Rico: Buccaneer

About this expansion

Puerto Rico: Buccaneer is a 2019 board game for 2–5 players with an approximate play time of 150 minutes. It adds the Buccaneer role placard to the starting role placards, giving the player who selects it one of four powerful actions.

The Buccaneer’s action affects only the player who chose the role. Piracy removes all goods from any transport ship, allowing the Buccaneer to store up to three of those goods. Plunder removes all goods from the trading house—not a warehouse—and awards one victory point for each good removed.

Raid reduces the colonist ship to the minimum number of colonists, equal to the number of players. The Buccaneer may keep up to three removed colonists and use them immediately on the island, but they cannot be added to San Juan; any remaining colonists return to the supply.

The fourth option, Kidnapping, lets the player “catch” any unused role by placing it in front of them. They take all doubloons on that role, while an opponent who still wants to use it requires an additional three doubloons from the bank. If the caught role remains unused until the end of the round, the Buccaneer plays it alone.

• No doubloon is placed on the Buccaneer card when it is not chosen.
• A player may take the Buccaneer role again only after another player has taken it.
• The player who chooses it also takes the reward card, which stays with them until another player chooses the Buccaneer role.

With its targeted disruption and sharply limited repeat access, Puerto Rico: Buccaneer makes the role selection phase a tense opportunity to seize goods, colonists, victory points, or another role.