Cuba: El Presidente

About this expansion

Cuba: El Presidente is an expansion for Cuba that adds new strategic choices for 2–5 players, with games lasting about 120 minutes. Released in 2009, it introduces an additional board, new ship cards, laws, buildings, and character cards.

Each turn, players choose and play one character from the El Presidente board. The worker places your goods in the warehouse and keeps all your goods safe for the turn. The revolutionary provides one victory point, while the musician gives you two money.

• The dancer immediately becomes the new start player.
• The attorney lets you use a building even when your supervisor is not in its row or column, for one money.
• The warden lets you exchange the positions of two adjacent ships.

Once everyone has chosen a card, the president’s car moves to the position of the remaining card. The six cards are shuffled and randomly placed each turn, so players must consider both the role they want and the position they want the president to visit. In games with fewer than five players, two mule cards are included but cannot be chosen.

Each position on the board has a symbol that triggers a special effect when the president stops there. These effects can enact all proposed laws, let a supervisor move anywhere on a player board next round, or allow a building to be overbuilt for one money plus any resource difference. Other effects send the leading player back two points on the score track or provide discounted market wares.

With two additional laws in each of four categories, Cuba: El Presidente can extend the game from six rounds to as many as eight. The expansion adds changing priorities and new ways to plan around the president’s unpredictable arrival.