Settlers of San Ignacio

If you have never played the game Settlers of Catan and are completely unfamiliar with the concept this post might not make much sense.

When I was in Mozambique some other volunteers and I came up with the Settlers of Mozambique version of the game.  We changed the commodities, thief, longest road, largest army, etc, to create a themed version of the game.  Even though we never actually finished making our version of the game, we had a lot of fun deciding which changes to make, and the changes all reflected the reality (or our perception) of Mozambique.

If I were to make a Settlers of San Ignacio edition, here is what it would entail:

First, instead of making settlements and cities, you would make asados (cookouts), which you could then upgrade to fiestas.

Commodity cards -
Mate
Meat
Ice
Sound system
Fernet (an alcohol that is popular to mix with coke)

To create an asado you would need one of each of the following: mate, meat, ice, and sound system.
To upgrade to a fiesta you would need 3 fernet and 2 ice.

Instead of building roads you could become friends with neighbors at adjacent vertices for the price of 1 mate and 1 meat.  You could then compete with other players for the most popular card worth 2 points.

Instead of buying development cards you could buy WhatsApp messages for 1 fernet, 1 ice, and 1 sound system.  These messages would most commonly award you a stray dog, which you could accumulate to form the largest pack, which would be worth 2 points.  The stray dog could also be used to scare away the Foreigner and move it to another spot.  Other WhatsApp messages might award you victory points (nightclub, beach, swimming pool, Jesuit ruins, etc), or they might award you a boat trip to Paraguay to pick up any two commodity cards of your choice.  Additionally, the car card might award you two free friendships, or the lazy ex card might allow you to steal all of a specific commodity from other players.

And, as always, the first to 10 wins.