Maracaibo is a four-round route and card game for one to four players. On each turn, sail forward, take a main action where you stop, then refill your hand. A player reaching the end of the route closes the round, so the other ships can lose stops they hoped to make. The base box supports both standalone games and a linked story campaign.
1. Set up for a standard game
Use the publisher’s setup for the player count and chosen story card. The non-campaign setup still uses a specified story card to place quests; it is not the same as removing every story component. Each player has a ship board with covered upgrade spaces, a ship beginning in Havana, an explorer, influence markers on the three nation tracks, a career card and project cards. The solo mode adds the Automa and has its own instructions.
2. Sail from one to seven locations
In Phase A, move at least one and at most seven locations forward along the arrows. You may pass ordinary stops, but must stop at spaces marked as mandatory. You cannot sail backward. Every location you skip is an action you forgo, while moving quickly can hurry the round end.
3. Take one main action at the destination
At a city, you may first deliver one matching good by discarding a card from hand and placing one of your ship-board discs on an empty market space. Then you may take the printed city action. Delivery and printed action are optional, but if you do both, delivery comes first. You can still take the city’s action when you cannot deliver.
At a village, you usually take one village action. If you spent four to six movement points sailing this turn, you may take two; if you spent all seven, you may take three. The basic options include taking one doubloon, discarding your hand for two doubloons if you discard at least one card, or buying a project card from hand or your planning area. A bought card enters your display, where its printed effects and endgame value can matter. The longer sail therefore trades skipped stops for additional village actions.
If a quest or one of your assistants is at your location, it can offer an alternative main action. You still choose only one main action at the stop. Separately, free actions let you move a card from hand into an available planning slot and complete a career goal when eligible. Cards in planning cannot be used as goods, so reserve one only when you intend to buy it later.
4. Draw back to your hand limit
Phase C refills your hand, initially to four cards. You can draw from the deck or pay one doubloon per card taken from the face-up display, unless an upgrade removes that cost. Ship upgrades can raise the hand limit. A card can be a goods icon for delivery, an object for other requirements, or a project worth buying; the choice depends on your next route stops.
5. End each round and score after round four
The homeward-bound spaces cannot be skipped. Reaching the round-ending destination triggers interim scoring in rounds I–III: players can buy a card or take two points, receive printed income, and reset specified board elements before all ships return to Havana. At the end of round IV, resolve final scoring instead. Do not assume a player gets another normal turn after someone triggers it.
Nation influence and ownership, cards and prestige buildings, income tracks and career rewards contribute in different ways. Exploration grants rewards as you advance, but its marker is not a universal final-score track. The detailed scoring page explains the nation multiplier and the final sequence.
Continue with the game and edition hub, turn guide, strategy guide, and final-scoring reference.
Source and scope: Maracaibo base game, excluding The Uprising and the standalone Pirates of Maracaibo. dlp Games’ product page and linked English rulebook, checked October 2, 2026. Examples and recommendations are editorial analysis.