Our family plays a lot of games. We have a game night about every other weekend, and with three young kids, we try to find games that everyone can play together. What does that mean? In short, I try to purchase games that:
1. Are fun to play.
2. Are easy to learn.
3. Can accommodate at least five players,
4. Have a lot of replay value.
Jamaica fits all of these criteria. Although it is a newer game and is still establishing a name for itself, I am certain that it will become a widely popular game at some point in the future.
The premise of the game is that of a pirate race around a topical island. Each player takes one of the six available pirate characters (who are actually based on authentic historical figures!) and sets out with a meager supply of gold and food tokens. To make it around the island, each player must take turns moving their ship and replenishing their stores of food, gold, and ammunition tokens. Most of the spaces around the circular board have a "cost" associated with them. The player must either pay the required cost or be forced to move backward into a space that they can afford. Spaces that have no cost associated to them, instead offer potential treasure to the player who first lands on them. When two players end up on the same space, they must "fight it out." A combat die is rolled and the player with the highest roll wins the fight, though players may boost up their attack strength by using any ammunition tokens they have in their holds. The winner of the battle then gets an opportunity to steal items from the player they defeated.
The game is very light and fun, and sometimes players have more fun just fighting each other rather than pursuing the goal of being the first to cross the finish line. When one player does cross the finish line, the game ends, and points are scored according the each player's position on the map and according to the total amount of treasure they have accumulated. Games typically take around 45 minutes to play, which is just about right. Any longer than this, and younger kids lose interest in a game. Although I have yet to try it, there are optional rules for playing a two-player game. Every time I have played this game, I have had five or six players, playing, and everyone enjoyed themselves.
This game has a very high production value, with gorgeous artwork, thick cardboard or plastic components, sturdy cards, a not-overly-big box, and a nicely-designed plastic tray insert that has a proper space for each of the game components. Not only does this make things more organized, but it makes set-up of the game quicker and easier.
The only complaint I have with this game is the rules book. Rather than make a small, concise pamphlet of rules, the designer, instead, chose to lay out all the rules on a giant fold-out poster that looks like a large map. While this may add to the fun theme of the game, it makes reading the rules a pain in the butt. Rather than holding a copy of the rules in your lap for reference, you must unfold the spacious poster and lay it out on the table to find what you are looking for. This is cumbersome and impractical. Other than this small gripe, I have no complaints with the game, and I would highly recommend it to families looking for a fun new game to play together!
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Customer Review: Great,..but side of box is ripped!
Savannah Davis
Reviews with images
Great fun for 4-6 players
🎲 Jamaica (2007)🤓 Malcolm Braff, Bruno Cathala, Sébastien Pauchon🏭 GameWorks.📝Spark Notes:⚡️Racing pirate ships⚡️Hand management, resource management⚡️Roll dice, select actions⚡️Battle opponents, amass treasure.💼Brief Review:🟢High replay-ability🟢Fun and engaging theme🟢Exciting racing experience🟢Simple yet thoughtful mechanics🟢Quality components and artwork🟢Battles are quick and easy to recover from🟡Requires at least 4 players to get the full experience🔴Some rules can be confusing at first.🎬Final Take:In Jamaica players manage a pirate ship and its cargo in a race around the island. Each round the captain rolls two dice and selects one result for daytime actions and one for nighttime. Players choose a card from their hand and carry out their actions—sailing forward or backwards, or collecting food, gold, or gunpowder as cargo—then repeat. Food and gold are required to sail forward, and gunpowder is used in battle to steal each other’s cargo. Battles occur when ships land on the same space, and each player rolls a die and adds gunpowder to their score. Fights are quick and exciting and you can easily recover from a defeat. Players can also explore caves for treasure, or cursed treasure, which may give bonus points or abilities. The game ends once one player’s ship has navigated a complete rotation around the island, and points are scored for how much gold and treasure you’ve collected + how far you’ve sailed. At the 2-3 player count battles rarely occur and this is mostly a racing game, so 4 or more players unlocks the game’s full potential. A beautiful blend of strategy, luck, conflict, and excitement, Jamaica belongs on every gamer’s shelf in my opinion.
Top reviews from other countries
Franco Mota
Excelente juego para reuniones con gran calidad de arte
Reviewed in Mexico on January 16, 2020
Lewis
Un super jeu très joli et bien rigolo
Reviewed in France on January 6, 2019
Lewis
Reviewed in France on January 6, 2019
Vous êtes des pirates qui devaient faire le tour de la Jamaique le plus rapidement possible, en récolletant un maximum de pièce d'or et en affrontant au passage les autres adversaires.
[ le design]
Vraiment magnifique ! les illustrations sont sublimes, les pions, le plateau, les cartes, tout est vraiment parfait ! La notice est sous forme de très grande carte, assez pénible à déplier, mais en général on n'a pas besoin d'y revenir, les règles deviennent vite limpides.
[mécanique des règles]
A chaque tour un joueur est capitaine, il lance les deux dés et les places selon son choix. Chaque joueur à en main trois cartes avec deux actions (matin et soir) correspondant aux dés. Les actions sont : avancer, reculer, charger de la nourriture, des canons (pour les combats), ou des pièces d'or. Si en se déplaçant on tombe sur une case occupée on déclenche un combat qui se règle à coup de dés (auquel on peut augmenter des bonus de canon).
Bref on intègre vite tout ça, notamment comment charger dans ses soutes des richesses.
[jeu]
Le jeu est en lui même est très souple et rapide, les actions sont simples, font la part entre aléatoire (les dés, les cartes en mains) et la stratégie. Des échanges sympathiques entre les joueurs rendent les actions vraiment sympa (les combats ne sont jamais gagnés d'avance !)
La rejouabilité est remarquable, et le jeu plaira aux grand comme au petits (joué avec des enfants de 9 ans sans problème).
Images in this review
Hörbe
Perfekt für Familien und lockere Spielrunden
Reviewed in Germany on September 11, 2013
Sendar
Buen juego familiar y con una calidad excelente!!
Reviewed in Mexico on April 24, 2020