Maracaibo (2019)

Overview
How to Play
Videos
Play Now
Awards & Honor
Ratings & Comments

About the Game

Maracaibo, by Capstone Games, sits in the upper-weight bracket of medium-heavy strategy offerings. Designer Alexander Pfister is well known for his brilliant use of dovetailing mechanisms. (Great Western Trail, Mombasa, Blackout: Hong Kong, to name but a few.) If you’re a Pfister fan, then Maracaibo joins the ranks as another corker of a Euro-style game!

Maracaibo board game | Source: capstone-games.com

How to Play Maracaibo

Maracaibo takes place in the 17th century Caribbean, with a nautical theme. Over the course of four rounds, you’ll try to earn as many points as possible. There are a lot of different ways to achieve that. You can try to gain influence (stocks) in three different nations for end-game bonuses. or you can go on quests, which provide narrative choices. Another way is to progress along the ‘explore’ track for extra benefits. You can also visit cities to deliver goods, shoot for a bit of everything, or focus on one particular area. The game isn’t a total ‘sandbox’, though. You each start out with individual objective cards. These offer incentives and an immediate target.

The heart of the game involves point-to-point movement. You’re sailing your ship through the Caribbean waters. On your turn you can progress between 1-7 spaces. This is like a rondel, in the same way Great Western Trail works. A round ends once any player completes a ‘lap’. That could either be rather quick if a player zooms round seven spaces at a time! Or it could be slower, if everyone’s trying to utilize every action space on the board.

Hand management plays a key role, too. There’s so many amazing multi-use cards that help you perform actions along the way. You also have a player board, which you can upgrade as the game progresses. There’s a solo mode available, as well as a story/campaign mode. Coming in at an approximate play time of 40 minutes per player, Maracaibo is a big game. But one thing’s for sure: it promises a different experience every time.

How to Play Maracaibo | Source: capstone-games.com

Maracaibo Review

“I am really enjoying Maracaibo so far. There is a lot going on here, with many, many choices to be made and seemingly many paths to victory. None of the choices feel forced; they all flow well with the theme and work as a path to victory. Having so many things going on may be a negative for some, but I like it. If you don’t like Great Western Trail, I suspect you will not like this either. However, Maracaibo is not just a rehash of GWT with boats; my statement is based on the number of things happening that lead to a looooooong rules explanation and the many, many things to think about as you play. Maracaibo has its own elements and strategies that differentiate it from GWT…”

Tery Noseworthy, opinionatedgamers.com

“While I definitely prefer this as a multiplayer game and highly rate it for multiplayer I do recommend this as a solo game purchase. Doubly so if you like a tight game that will really force you to eek out every little bit of value in your turns. Triply so if the thought of making small adjustments to the board between games makes you excited to give it another go to see what difference it makes in the next game!”

R0land1199, boardgameatlas.com

“Maracaibo comes with a story/legacy mode which is brilliantly implemented. It adds new cards to buy, and using tiles overlaid on the board to add new locations, hazards and quests. It completely changes how you approach your games, and can be instantly reset to its vanilla state for a fresh game. The solo mode works with an automa opponent called Jean, who plays with a deck to randomly choose what they do each turn. Even this deck can be customised to make the game easier or more difficult. It’s a strong challenge and a great solo option.”

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The content of this article is originally from Board Game Geek and . For more information and a better understanding of the game, you can watch the videos below.

Videos

Review

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Awards & Honor

Year	Award Ceremory	Result
2019	Golden Geek Best Strategy Board Game	Nominee
	Golden Geek Board Game of the Year	Nominee
	Meeples' Choice	Winner
	Swiss Gamers Award	Nominee
2020	Cardboard Republic Tactician Laurel	Nominee
	International Gamers Award - General Strategy	Nominee
	Jogo do Ano	Nominee
	Tric Trac	d'Argent
	Tric Trac	Nominee
2021	Geek Media Awards Game of the Year for Experienced Gamers	Nominee
	MinD-Spielepreis Complex Game	Nominee
	Nederlandse Spellenprijs Best Expert Game	Nominee