San Juan is a card game version of Puerto Rico. Colonists are removed, and the plantations are lumped in with all the other buildings during the builder phase. There are no explicit goods, coins, or shipping of goods for victory points. Cards are used to represent everything. This results in a much faster playing game, and one that is a bit easier to learn and play. Most importantly, San Juan plays very well as a two-player game. There are still roles to choose from. The trader, builder, prospector, and craftsman all make a return in a similar form. The changed mayor role allows each player to draw two cards and discard one of them. Choosing the mayor allows a draw of five cards while discarding four, this allows a player to search the deck if they need a specific card. Instead of coins, buildings are built by spending cards from your hand. Selling goods during the trader phase increases the number of cards in your hand. Goods are produced in the craftsman phase by placing cards on the draw pile face-down on a production building. At the end of each round of play, the governor card is passed to the next player and each player must discard down to a maximum of seven cards in their hand. All the roles are made available and a new round starts. The game ends when someone builds twelve buildings. Without a captain phase, buildings are the only way to gain victory points, so it is important to try to build a building whenever the building phase is chosen. However, due to the wide variety of buildings available, there are many interesting strategies available to a player. The San Juan has that great "friendly" kingdom building feel. As the game progresses, cards become less scarce and it becomes a race to produce victory points. Since buildings and resources are never taken away from other players, it is important to plan wisely and figure out when to change from the early production-oriented game play to the endgame victory-point race. San Juan is a great two player game since it avoids the direct competition trap of many two player games. Many two player games result in situations where one player can increase in strength only at the expense of the other player. This results in a game where the underdog has a very difficult time recovering and can end in a game that only one person enjoyed. Since both players are building their own little kingdom, San Juan is able to avoid that pitfall. There is one special rule for two players, the governor chooses a role, then the second player, then the governor gets to choose a second role before governorship is passed back to the second player. While it sounds slightly complicated, it just results in the two players alternating turns. Without that special rule, players would constantly get to take two turns in a row. While San Juan is very fun for two players, it also serves as an easy game to teach and play. If a group of folks enjoy it and are willing to try something a little bit more challenging Puerto Rico can be brought out at the next gathering. While there are some differences between the games, San Juan has many game mechanics found in Puerto Rico. San Juan is also a much shorter game. San Juan can be easily finished in under an hour, great for short evenings or for killing time. San Juan has little to be offended about. A premium is put on decision making and planning skills. The non-confrontational nature of the game makes it an excellent choice for family games among siblings of unequal ages. Poor decisions will sometimes favor one opponent over others, but will rarely entirely ruin the decision-maker. San Juan is has the added advantage of being a good two player game that can be played in the time between the kids bedtime and your own. The listed age is just a tad high, as a bright child under 10 could still manage to play.