I normally skip writing about short filler games. They’re usually so simple that the strategy involved in quite straightforward to understand, even if it isn’t quite as simple to carry out, and their rules are short enough that a few lines suffice as a summary. I’m making an exception for Cartagena however. I’m skipping the rules since it’s an old game and will just jot down some thoughts:
- The theme is a bit rubbish, frankly. You’re supposed to be in charge of a gang of pirates escaping from prison, but really the mechanics have nothing whatsoever to do with this. It’s really just an excuse to have your peons advance down a track with the stipulation that a maximum of three peons, from whichever player, may occupy a space at the same time.
- The rules are extremely simple but interestingly thinking of the correct move to make at any given time is anything but simple. This is why I admire this game so much. In particular, it is quite a chore to figure out how and when to drop back to draw cards. Keeping a decent set of cards in hand so that you can respond to the developing situation seems key in this game. I messed up on this front.
- Shan frequently ended her turn with spaces on which there were two pirates, creating an opportunity for the next player in turn order, in this case Chee Wee, to drop back to draw an easy two cards. Apart from that, it’s quite difficult to engineer a situation whereby you can draw two cards like that while still making overall progress with your pirates.
- Sometimes, due to how the rules work, a pirate can be at the back for a while and then suddenly leap to the front because all the symbols of a certain type have pirates standing on them. It’s quite dramatic when that happens. Sean passed on a couple of actions on his first turn, presumably because being the first to occupy a symbol is just begging to be leapfrogged. Chee Wee talked with Sean a bit about this. Someone needs to come out first of course, but what happens if everyone passes? This could possibly be a weakness of the design.
- You should not do what I did by delaying in getting all your pirates out so that three of them were at the back of the line. When this happens, you’re playing with yourself at the back with no opportunities to leapfrog the pirates of other players.
Nevertheless, there is probably a best algorithm to play this game once you get the hang of it and Sean won the game easily despite Chee Wee having more free opportunities to grab cards. Still, it is a surprisingly strategic game for such a simple ruleset. I’m seriously tempted to buy Cartagena 2 because I’d read that you can basically play the first game with its components as well, though it’s not ideal with just two players.
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