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Spanish Main box art
1984 Ranked #13,192

Spanish Main

Exploration and colonization game has nations sail to the New World, load colonial wealth, and return it to Europe. Rival fleets can intercept, sink ships, or seize cargo, making every voyage vulnerable.

Strategy Games Adventure Exploration

Players

1-6

Play time

Not listed

Age

10+

Complexity

2.71/5

Rating

6.50

Harder to teach Highly interactive Deep strategy

Overview

At a glance

Is this game right for my group?

ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.

Teachability 2.3/5

Harder to teach

Replay value 4.0/5

High replayability

Interaction 3.7/5

Highly interactive

Player scaling 4.0/5

Scales well

Strategic depth 4.5/5

Deep strategy

See all 5 specifications

How it plays

How does it play?

A game of exploration and colonization of the new world. At the start, each player decides what country they will be from and takes the appropriate counters.

Read the full game description

A game of exploration and colonization of the new world. At the start, each player decides what country they will be from and takes the appropriate counters. The board represents a map of the Atlantic ocean with Europe in the NE and the North America to the WSW. The object of the game is to sail to the New World and load up your ships with wealth from your colonies to bring back to Europe. The other players are trying to do the same but they can try to intercept your ships and either sink them or take your cargo. There were two main editions of the game. The first accommodated 2-6 players and came in a brown box (there were apparently actually two versions in a brown box, but the differences between them are apparently very minor). The second is in a blue box, takes only 2-4 players (there are also solo rules, but the gameplay is very different with them), and has some changes from the earlier edition. There was an expansion kit for this edition which added the other two players, but which appears not to have been widely distributed. There was also a "Spanish Main Up-Date Kit" to upgrade the 1st to 2nd edition.

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Editions

Language and publisher variants currently recorded in the catalog.

Edition Year Language Publisher / Region
No editions imported yet.

Player resources

Rulebooks, player aids, FAQs, and solo resources.

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Game and edition data

All specifications (5)

Play and group

Players
1–6
Best with
2
Play time
90 min
Age
10+
Complexity
2.7/5
Credits and catalog connections

Credits

Designers

1
Francis Tresham

Artists

1
Ed Dovey

Publishers

1
Hartland Trefoil Ltd.

Linked items

No published linked games yet.