Pirates of Maracaibo
I must admit that I am not a fan of remakes. Few of them match the original, and most are significantly worse.
Do you agree with that?
Pirates of Maracaibo is a game in which we play as brave pirates sailing only forward. Their main goal is to reach Maracaibo and repeat this feat three times. It is also another Pfister game in which the main theme is travel.
During our travels, we will visit numerous locations. Some of them will allow us to perform basic actions. Some places will allow us to obtain new cards to improve our ship. We will also have the opportunity to dig up forgotten treasures from one of the three islands.
Basic actions will allow us to travel around Maracaibo in order to obtain numerous bonuses. We will also be able to roll the dice to perform a spectacular robbery. We will visit guilds that will provide us with points at the end of the game. We will gain new objectives to fulfill. However, I have saved the most important thing for last, because we will also be able to upgrade our ship. This will give us many passive abilities, strengthening our actions, and will also allow us to gain powerful one-time bonuses.
However, all these options boil down to one thing: reaching the legendary Maracaibo. The first person to do so ends the round, and we start the whole voyage all over again.
Why I like Pirates of Maracaibo
First and foremost, I like that I can build my own route. The instructions give me a few examples of how everything should be arranged, but they also give me complete freedom to create my own islands.
Another thing is the journey itself. I love that movement is the most important thing in Pfister’s games. It makes this simple worker placement game so dynamic and exciting as you move wooden meeples around the map.
The actions in the game are very simple. Everything is clear and the instructions quickly introduce us to the game. There are a few symbols, but they are easy to get used to.
In Pirates of Maracaibo, there are many ways to score points. The best thing is that every path is a good one. Every time I play, I go for something different. Although I like walking around the mini map of Maracaibo the most.
Another cool feature is upgrading our ship. We do this by adding cubes that give us passive abilities and powerful one-time bonuses. We can also buy a BANNER, which will further improve everything and provide a slight asymmetry between our ships.
The gameplay itself is ultra-fast. With two players, it sometimes takes an hour and we’re done. By the way, the players themselves dictate the pace of the game. Because if there is a pirate who wants to sail only forward, the whole affair may end sooner than we would like. However, that’s what’s great about it.
A few drawbacks
While the swimming itself is quite fast, unfortunately the game slows down a bit when it comes to laying out cards and other tokens.
In terms of components, it’s really good, and I especially like that we have a real ship that we can improve. The scoring track and the way we mark points is definitely a downside. It’s easy to move it and you can quickly lose track of how many points you have.
Summary
Pirates of Maracaibo turned out to be an excellent Euro game. The rules for controlling the ship are very simple, but the game offers a lot of ways to score points, and importantly, each of them is good. The gameplay is fast, and the journey itself across these Euro waters is simply an exciting worker placement game with a cool twist of Pfister’s journey. In my opinion, he has created another sensational game that I will be very happy to play.
Final verdict: Just Arrr-some game
Pros
- Fast gameplay
- Simple rules
- Many ways to score points
- High replayability
- Building your own map
- Upgrading your ship
- Pfister’s journey
Cons
- Takes a while to set up
- Movable scoreboard
