Game Review: Cuba

By Greg J. Schloesser
November 30, 2007

Publisher: Eggertspiele / Rio Grande Games
Designers: Michael Rieneck & Stefan Stadler
Players: 2-5
Playing Time: 120 minutes
Rules Language: German and English

The first game I had the opportunity to play during my Essen 2007 excursion was Cuba, the new Eggertspiele release designed by Michael Rieneck and Stefan Stadler, the team that brought us Pillars of the Earth. Being a fan of Pillars, I was anxious to see what the design team had created this time.

Cuba is set in the pre-revolution days, when making money was paramount, and rum and cigars were the commodities of choice. Players gather resources and products, convert them to goods, and sell or ship them to earn handsome profits and gain influence. All of this must be accomplished in spite of a frequently aggressive yet indecisive government, which continues to change the tax and duty requirements and enact often troublesome policies.

Each player receives a plantation mat with twelve fields, each depicting a particular resource or product. One field is occupied by a warehouse, in which players can store goods and products. Each turn, players will have the opportunity to activate their laborer, who will generate resources and products in the row and column where he is located.

The unnecessarily large, yet attractive central board depicts Havana and includes spaces for the commodities and goods market, ships, alternative powers, score track, and statutes. The artwork is attractive, but quite congested and busy—just like Havana! The twenty-five buildings are supposed to be placed beside the board, but five building images are printed directly on the board. Buildings don’t have to be purchased in a specific order, so it’s quite puzzling why these are here.

Each of the game’s six turns follows a rigid sequence of play:

• Bills: Four proposed bills are revealed, allowing players to adapt their plans to the potential laws the legislature may enact. Only two of the laws will ultimately be enacted, and only the player controlling the most votes in parliament will decide the exact two. Two of the bills deal with taxes and duties players will be called upon to pay, while the other two involve subsidies and other statutes.

• Action Phase: Each player has an identical set of five character cards bearing values of 1-5. Players alternate playing cards one at a time until each player has played four cards. The remaining card determines the player’s base vote value in parliament.

  Specific characters allow players to move their worker in their field and collect the appropriate resources and products, activate buildings in the row and column where their worker is located, sell and purchase products and goods at the marketplace, ship products and goods, and construct buildings. Several characters have specific alternative uses, such as earning commodities, resources, money or victory points. This phase is where the bulk of the game occurs, and choosing the order and type of character to play is a vital key to one’s success.

  When constructing a building, a player may select any of the twenty-five possible buildings, each of which costs a specific type and quantity of resources. Each building grants the owner a special ability when activated by the foreman card, and there are a wide variety of special abilities: the granting of extra money or victory points; the ability to convert resources or commodities into money or victory points; and the ability to transform resources into commodities or commodities into goods. Others allow unscheduled loading of goods onto ships, swapping the ship at sea with a new one, exchanging resources or commodities, or even gaining additional votes in parliament. The buildings work in a nearly identical fashion as those in the authors’ Pillars of the Earth.

  Buildings are constructed on the player’s plantation mat, with each building covering a resource or commodity space, effectively reducing a player’s production options. Buildings do not convey their power unless activated by the foreman card, which takes an action to enact.

  The idea is to assemble a powerful combination of buildings whose abilities mesh well together. Building an efficient economic engine is a main goal, as it will allow a player to convert merchandise into goods and/or victory points. With two exceptions, there is only one of each type of building, so players must act quickly to assemble the buildings they desire. Astute players will attempt to deny buildings to their opponents that allow the formation of strong combinations.

  Shipping commodities and goods can bring a windfall of victory points. Each of the three ships in the docks lists five commodities or goods it can hold. Playing the mayor card allows a player to select a ship and load as many of the requested goods as possible. A player earns 1-3 victory points for each good loaded based on the dock occupied by the ship. Being the first to load goods onto a ship usually denies opponents the ability to occupy those slots with their goods, thereby denying or reducing their victory points for shipping.

• Parliament Phase: Each player has a base number of votes in parliament equal to the value of his un-played character card. To this, players may simultaneously offer a bribe, the amount being added to their base votes. The player with the highest total chooses which two bills to enact.

  Sometimes a player may be ambivalent about the proposed bills, so will not endeavor to be the player choosing which ones to enact. Other times, however, a player will be keenly interested in seeing a particular bill passed or squashed and should plan his turn—and offer sufficient bribes—accordingly.

• Statute Phase: The effects of each of the current four laws are implemented. Each player will have the opportunity to pay the taxes and duties assessed. Paying just one of the two earns two victory points, while paying both yields five victory points. Since the possible taxes and duties are known from the beginning of the turn, a wise player will attempt to gather the required pesos and resources or commodities during the turn. Five victory points are significant, and if a player is able to earn them each turn, it results in an impressive thirty victory points over the course of the game.

At the end of each round, players must surrender all commodities in their possession, unless their worker is positioned in a row or column containing a warehouse. Fully loaded ships depart for foreign ports, with all other ships moving down one dock. The ship at sea arrives at the top dock, and a new ship is revealed. At the conclusion of six turns, players earn two points per constructed building, and the player with the most cumulative victory points rules the island. Well, at least until Fidel arrives on the scene!

Cuba is a “gamer’s game”, filled with lots of choices, strategic options, and tactical decisions. It will likely take numerous sessions before all of the viable building combinations can be explored. Like Puerto Rico, the game is ripe for building expansions that can help keep the game fresh and give players even more options to investigate. At this point, however, whether such expansions are forthcoming is purely speculative.

The influences of several games—most notably Pillars of the Earth, Caylus and Puerto Rico—are clearly evident in Cuba. Indeed, it is difficult to find anything significantly new in the design. It is a hybrid, combining elements of the designers’ previous collaboration with mechanisms from other titles. The finished product is a solid design, albeit one that will likely not “wow” its audience. Due to its similarities to the aforementioned titles, some will undoubtedly argue that they would rather be playing those games. Fair enough. However, the game is different enough to provide another alternative with a similar level of strategy and complexity. Whether one needs another game of that breed in their collection is a matter of choice that some will answer in the affirmative, while others will decline. For now, I fall on the “affirmative” side of this question.

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Opening a Jack in the Box next to a group of other fastfood burger joints like McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s doesn’t really make sense.  They are all burgers.  Sure, Jack in the Box has a Sirloin Burger, but is it enough to set it apart from the other 3? If there were no Caylus and/or Pillars and/or PR (specially Pillars), this game would REALLY shine.  Unfortunately it’s strengths are overshadowed by these other classics. For the record, I thought the game was great, but I do already have McDonald’s, BK, and Wendy’s… making me ask myself “is the Sirloin Burger enough?” (ie the laws, the production player mat, the random ships). Posted by Robert Ramirez on Nov 30, 2007 at 08:27 AM | #

Robert, businesses of the same type often open in the exact same area. Think of an intersection that has gas stations on two or three corners, or (as you suggest) a row of fast food restaurants within sight of each other on a busy street. Businesses do this for a variety of reasons, such as believing an area is underserved, feeling they offer a better product, or wanting ot pick up the overflow from an existing business. I haven’t played Cuba yet, so I can’t comment on the game, but for those gamers who haven’t already purchased the trio you mention, they now have four options to consider for a game of this type, each with slightly different strengths and fans who will tout one as the best of the group. Posted by W. Eric Martin on Nov 30, 2007 at 10:04 AM | #

Here’s why Cuba just shot up my list: It sounds far less dependent on luck than Pillars, much shorter and easier on the brain than Caylus, and fresh, unlike the classic but a bit tired Puerto Rico. Thanks for the review! Posted by Tim Harrison on Nov 30, 2007 at 10:50 AM | #

Ah, Robert, but why does Burger King offer 10 different Flame-Broiled Burgers?  They’re all some form of ground beef patty on a bun, right?  People like novelty - few of us want to eat the same exact burger every day and like to try the latest offering, even if it is another burger.  I’m sure most of them will go the way of the McDLT (hot side hot, cold side cold!), but the Quarter Pounder with Cheese wasn’t on the menu in 1953 and now it’s a staple world wide (Royale with Cheese, anyone?) and its just another combination of bun-burger-cheese. Posted by Brett Myers on Nov 30, 2007 at 10:57 AM | #

I liked Cuba. It was easy to grasp, plays smoothly, and has good integration. It’s not all that original as was mentioned, but the mix plays much better than Pillars and less stressful than Caylus. It’s like a smooth Cigar. :) Posted by Michael Chapel on Nov 30, 2007 at 11:10 AM | #

LOL.  I’m enjoying the burger joint analogy… Lunch break can’t come fast enough. Well put Tim, Eric, et al.  All very good points.  BTW, my answer to the question at the end of my post is a “yes”.  Like the Sirloin Burger from Jack in the Box that I had on my way to BGG con, I did enjoy the game A LOT (great theme, great mechanics).  I guess I was just a tiny bit disappointed because I was expecting a taco salad or a personal deep dish pizza more so than another burger. Posted by Robert Ramirez on Nov 30, 2007 at 11:53 AM | #

BTW....it’s on Tanga right now.  I did order one. If only they had Brass.... Posted by Robert Ramirez on Nov 30, 2007 at 01:06 PM | #

How was lunch, Robert? Posted by Jeffrey D Myers on Nov 30, 2007 at 03:54 PM | #

To each their own.  Do you like variations of the same theme, or a totally different gaming experience?  All of us old grognards have been playing the same basic systems for decades.  Now with the wonderful selection from the Eurogame invasion, how the variations are being adapted is the holy grail of game design. Without sounding too much like Rocky from B2P, “Yeah, that was done before in _____”, that view is going to become a more prevalent phrase no matter what game is released. But, keep ‘em coming! Posted by Ray Smith on Dec 1, 2007 at 09:51 AM | #

Jeffrey: Nothing exciting… Chick Fil-a Posted by Robert Ramirez on Dec 1, 2007 at 06:02 PM | #

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