Last updated on January 4th, 2026 at 12:53 pm
Maracaibo Digital – Board Game Review
Maracaibo Digital is a Board/Strategy game from Spiralburst Studio, LLC, first launched in 19th December 2021.
It’s rated 12+ and currently has 51+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Maracaibo Digital Stand Out
Play as an adventurer and sail around the Caribbean! Upgrade your ship, complete quests, and engage in combat. Every card you buy will unlock new abilities and bonuses to outwit your opponents.
The board changes every round, and your strategy will have to keep up. Will you play slowly, buying as many cards as you can? Or will you race to the final space to catch your opponents by surprise?
ABOUT THE GAME
• Ranked in the Top 50 board games of all time
• Easy to start playing, difficult to master
• Strategize around hundreds of unique cards
• Play on a board that changes every game
FEATURES
• Learn the game's rules with an interactive tutorial
• Play solo against the Automa at 5 levels of difficulty
• Pass and play for 2 to 4 players on the same device
• Uncover the story of Maracaibo in Campaign Mode, where your decisions permanently change the board
• Includes all cards from the "La Armada" mini-expansion!
DOES NOT include Online Multiplayer features or AI opponents other than the Automa
This Board game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Maracaibo Digital is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 26th August 2024
Recent improvements include:
Bug Fixes:
- App no longer loads incorrectly in portrait mode on certain iPhones and Macbooks
- Hostel Warden card no longer causes a crash when played
Other Changes:
- Localization updated for certain menu items and Automa text
Download & Availability
Maracaibo Digital is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Get Maracaibo Digital on App Store
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
Never any issues with our iPad. This game is deep and brilliantly brought to life. Misses out on the multiplayer front.
Issues have been fixed with recent update. One of our favorites to play on our phone.
This feels like a very solid implementation of the Maracaibo board game. It has a ton of potential, but it is also hurt from various things that simply need polishing. All actions should be undoable within a single turn. In essence you should be able to restart your turn if desired (or at least make this an option in settings). At the moment the undo seems limited, even within a single turn. The tutorial would greatly benefit from a back button, so that you can easily step back a screen or two and re-read something. The game doesn't handle mobile devices properly that have the default system font set to a larger size. On Apple silicon devices (macOS versus iOS) the game starts is the wrong orientation and can not be rotated, so it is basically unplayable, even though it appears to be running fine. On the featureside, it would be great if there was support for multiple online players, both realtime via local bluetooth or internet, and a delayed email-style turn taking feature, where oneplayer takes their turn the other player recives a notifcation that it is their turn and then whever they start the app and take their turn, the next player is notified, etc, so that a game can be played as time allows over a few days, or whatever. It would also be great to see content from the new expansion and any additional promos, etc.
Ive played the game a few times and have not yet been able to get through one game without it locking up and not being able to move past the 3rd round.
Loving this implementation of one of our favorite board games. In this game you are a hired gun on the high seas hire your crew (card tableau) and specializing in a few actions while racing your opponents to the end of the round. Thinky fun! Im currently just playing the solo mode within the campaign so we cant comment on multiplayer. With a few tweaks the game will be perfect but even as is its great to pick up our phone/iPad wherever we are and play a game of Maracaibo. If you have a smaller phone we wouldnt recommend it but it works fine on our old 8 plus.
Developers take notice. This is the cleanest port to digital Ive ever tried for a board game. It strives to be as close to the physical board game experience as possible. Its the boards, the cards and simple menus. AI is the actual solo mode from the physical game. Again, we really feel like they wanted to keep this as close to the physical board game experience as possible and they succeeded. Im looking forward to any future projects this developer announces.
Another person mentioned the board being stuck to where you cannot view the bottom section. This happens to us about 50 percent of the time if we have an unfinished game- if we exit out and log back in , it fixes it SOMETIMES. The way you can tell is if there is a small snippet of the scroll that appears saying to move your ship 1 to 7 spaces. If we log in and see that little Snippet at the top, we immediately shut out of the game and restart it until it goes away – pretty frustrating but it is not game breaking like another mentioned _. Hopefully this gives insight to fix it- also , if they added multiplayer this would be one of the best board game apps on iOS. Thanks.
Enjoying the game and have no problem yet. Looking for AI play though. Hope that will be implemented.
We like this digital edition of Maracaibo. The imagery and icons are the same as the physical board game. It feels the same as physical. They also simplified combat so that its clear what options you have and the penalties you might pay or benefits gained, etc. We play board game apps so that we can play solo against AI. Unfortunately, the only AI in this game is Jean the Solo Mode opponent. Instead of playing against an AI player youre playing a solo mode against Jean who plays by different rules. We find Jean to be pretty difficult to beat. It might just be us but it seems like if you play against Jean the best way to beat them is to quickly navigate to the last space while making some good plays along the way. Each turn Jean gets heaps of rewards usually. We would much rather play against AI that is following the same rules as us to feel more like a normal multiplayer match. Otherwise the app is good and is fun to play? Its also a great way to learn the game through the tutorial.
Im very familiar with the board game. Most of this digital version plays very smoothly (Im using an iPad mini 6). However, on the last round of our first game, we could not complete our turn. It would not let us draw up to our hand size, and therefore wouldnt advance to Jeans turn. We saved and restarted our turn numerous times, but still the same problem our guess is our rating will go up if we can continue the game we started. We will say Im ok without an AI (as others have indicated they desire). Jean is a fun simulation of an opposing player. And this app does make it easier to manage Jean. A digital game against others would be nice however. EDIT: OK, after we shut the app, it did let us complete the game. There were a few times during the game when Jean couldnt complete his turn, and we had to save a reload the game. Bottom line: A little buggy, but a nice implementation. Information is pretty easy to find. So, if the bugs were eliminated for us, this would be five stars. Well done overall.
Playing on iPhone 13 Pro. Im trying to learn via tutorial but the camera is at the top of the screen. We cant see the board at all and have absolutely no idea whats going on. Prompts come up but we cant see whats happening. If we cant learn the game we cant play it. We basically threw away $8.
So the digital implementation of the game is pretty good, however, like many others have noted this game lacks AI opponents. We think many would agree this is a major faux pas in 2022 and the dev response of a ton of people want it but its unlikely at this moment is also not great. Many would also agree this is an essential feature and the game is incomplete without it. Having a good pass and play set up is essential, especially for those who want to experience the game at many different player counts (which can be impossible IRL). A solid 2/5 until the game is completed with AI opponents.
Beautiful representation of the game. HOWEVER, the idea that AI has it been included is inexcusable. We would have never purchased this if we would have realized it. Not your fault. But, if we wanted to play solo, and we absolutely do NOT, Ill use our physical copy. Fix this problem immediately. You will sell millions.
So while the gameplay and presentation is passable the screen real estate is poorly managed and the fact that it is pass and play only makes this a colossal waste of money. We would recommend if there was network play but having the option of pass and play or a single automa opponent makes this a failure. Skip this and buy one of the hundreds of other games that have true multiplayer. Wish we could get a refund.
We have this on an iPhone 12 Pro and it will not scale to the screen consistently. We had to abandon the tutorial but was hoping we could just play a game ( we know how to play the board game ) but it immediately got stuck on the opponents first turn by having no way of advancing the text to move the game forward. The way you scroll and scale the screen is terrible, and often leaves icons you need to click in a spot that makes it next to impossible to do so without activating something else. This game needs serious work and thus far was a waste of money.
Ive had this app for about a while now. It does have its issues but it has always worked for us and Ive enjoyed playing it. However, recently there are bugs in the game that make it unplayable. You can no longer scroll down to see the bottom of the board, which makes it so you can no longer use the Expedition mechanic in the game. Also when you draw back up to your hand size it cuts out half of the cards available to choose from. So the only options you have is draw from the deck or pick one of the 1st two cards. You can no longer look across the board to see the spaces ahead. It gets stuck at the top of the board now. So now you cannot see what Quests are coming up and it causes issues of moving across the main board. We have uninstalled and reinstalled and it works for the 1st game, but if you open the app back up, it goes right back to the same issues. It has been a year since this was updated so we doubt it will be fixed which is a shame since we did enjoy playing this app.
This review is based on experience with this App on iPhone 8 Plus (large screen). We cant use this app at all. Ive never played the board game, so the digital versions use of iconography exclusively made the game very confusing, and the content is so tiny on the phone we honestly dont even know what Im clicking. We went through a lot of the (lengthy) tutorial and it didnt help much. We dont recommend unless youve played the game, can squint real good or are using iPad version.
It would be tempting to give this 4 stars because of the lack of online multiplayer and AI but, reading the devs responses to other comments that they wanted to build a solid foundation first- we have to give them props that they definitely accomplished that goal. This game is built very well! Also, major bonus points for probably the best digital board game tutorial we have ever seen- it was so thorough and easy to follow. The only thing we will say is that its a bit disappointing this isnt full screen on the iPhones we get it with the notch and everything but thats pretty much expected at this point.
Online multiplayer would be better but this is a really fantastic implementation of a complicated board game. The little tooltips to explain every card and tile are especially wonderful. Really been having a great time with this so far. (Actually it would also be great to have a turn log so you can see what happened earlier.).
We were initially very frustrated as others were by the lack of online multiplayer and a true AI. But we have nevertheless found ourselves coming back again and again to play against the automa,Both in standard mode and through the Campaign. While we still desperately hope that they add an AI opponent, the implementation of a great game is still well worth the cost of admission. The main problem with the automa is that its movement rules make for a fast game without the interestingVariation in tempo that is such a core part of these Alexander Pfister games.
This is a faithful representation of the board game. We think Maracaibo is one of Alexander Pfister's best games. Though we are not keen on the theme, the mechanics are solid and its a lot of fun. The game functions as an engine building rondel race where you always want just one more turn at the end, which feels like a well balanced design. There are so many different paths to victory and finding how the cards can work together is a treat. We are terrible at beating the automa and would love to see an AI. The campaign is fine. It tells a reasonable enough story and you can replay the game or play without it. All in it feels like icing on an already delicious cake. We did run into a bug early on and the developer reached out and was very helpful. We think this is a great experience that is improving all the time.
Great reproduction of the board game. The solo mode (AI) is very challenging (after three games we have only been able to beat the very easy level just barely). It would be nice if there was a more Player-like AI in addition to (or instead of) the board game automa mode (since thats what software can do differently / more / better than a board game). Another reviewer mentioned inability to Redraw cards after planning and we did notice that miss toohopefully they fix that.
Great game so far. We love playing the physical board game so this is awesome to have a quick mobile version. Updated, no UI issue. Everything works wonderfully.
Really high quality adaptation of a great game. Even the soundtrack is good. Good tutorial. Jean! One question, is there any way to make it take up the whole screen on an iPhone 12 mini? Would give significantly more real estate but Im guessing its a fair amount of work to add this? Update: Thanks for your reply! Avoiding the notch issue, there may be a way to just hide the white bar at the bottom of the screen which is making everything smaller. Thanks again for the amazing app.
The best digital board games dont feel digital! It feels like youre playing the BOARD game! Ive had a blast playing this game.
Maracaibo is a challenging game to fit onto a tablet screen, but the developers did an admirable job. It is worth noting that there are no AI opponents, other than an the Automa rules from the board game. A digital board game without AI opponents is incomplete in our opinion, hence the missing star on our review. The app description is accurate in terms of it only including an Automa opponent and pass & play (no online multiplayer either) but frankly, we dont check for those things because we assume they will be present in all board game apps at this point.
Great job on the look and feel. We love this game and cant wait to keep playing. That said, having Jean use different rules to score and not be playing in the same way isnt great. Also, online multiplayer would be worth a subscription fee, as long as it was reasonable.
Maracaibo is a great game, but its inexcusable in this day and age to not include an AI opponent in an app adaptation. You can play against the automa, but its just not the same.
There seems to be no ability to play on-line, and no ability to play a multiplayer game against AI opponents. The lack of these features, standard on every other board game adaptation we own, makes this nearly useless to us.
The automa force player to play a fast game (it voyages 1.5-2 times faster than a rational player) and invest equally in all aspects (it simply gains scaled additional points based on its advantages over player on quest, upgrades, and explore while theres no bonus regarding how far head you get). Such a destroyer of game experience.
Cant redraw cards from the deck after delivering goods and planning cards. Which makes the game unplayable.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 1.1.2
- Size: 48.58 MB
- iOS: 13.0 or later
- Languages: EN
- Content Advisory: Infrequent/Mild Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or References
- Developer: Spiralburst Studio, LLC
Last updated: 26th August 2024 | Genre: Board, Strategy | Developer: Spiralburst Studio, LLC