Pacific
BGG rank
BGG #21,368
BGG rating
6.1

Pacific

2025

Rules assistance for Pacific

Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.

  • 2–5 players
  • 30–60 min
  • 14+
  • Complexity 2.0/5

For 2 players

Rules assistant for Pacific

What would you like to know?

Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.

Pacific is a board game released in 2025 for 2–5 players, 30–60 minutes per game, and ages 14 and up. It was designed by Donald X. Vaccarino and its main mechanics are Simultaneous Action Selection.

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About the game

We journey now to the Pacific Ocean. From California to Japan, the peaceful sea is ringed by rumbling mountains. Animals, some of them tourists, fill every conceivable niche; boats dot the waves; and businesses and industries thrive on the coasts. It is this world that you will exploit, or make friends with, or perhaps just pass through. Your goal in Pacific is to earn more money than anyone else, whether through fishing, hotels, factory work, or business. The game lasts ten rounds, and at the start of each round, each player reveals one card from their hand at the same time. Next, all players reveal which one of the revealed cards they want to use, then they simultaneously use their chosen card. Each player has their own playing board with five areas on it in a circle: Japan, California, Peru, Polynesia, and Coral Sea. To use a card, you carry out the text in the box, then "run" the 1-2 areas listed on it. Most cards have text like "[area]:[symbols]", such as "California: (hotel)" or "Each area: (fish)" or "An empty area: (boat)(boat)", so you'll place the appropriate token(s) in the named area(s). The card might have other text as well instructing you to move tokens, swap one token for another, "run" an area, etc. To "run" an area, you take an action with each token in it: hotels earn you money, boats earn you money based on fish in the area, fish move clockwise to the next area, and factories let you remove tokens for money. Special tokens have unique abilities, and you can carry out these actions in whatever order you wish. After ten turns, whoever has the most money wins.

Categories

Publishers

  • Rio Grande Games

Questions and answers

Pacific supports 2–5 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.