The board is inspired by an original map of the foundation of Buenos Aires (1580) and it’s geometrical, as is the original. The modern Buenos Aires still retains this layout: the city is divided into squares of exactly 100 meters, called “Quadras”, just as it was designed on the original map of 1580.

The Plaza Mayor of the game is the modern “Plaza de Mayo” and the Fort, that players can build in the game, was really built in the same position (work started on it in 1595). The Fort is now the “Casa Rosada”, the Argentinean White House.
Behind the Casa Rosada is the Rio de la Plata River, as on the game board.
(This city structure was common to many Spanish settlements of the same period, as King Felipe II preferred this style of creating settlements.)

After the foundation, Spanish settlers proceeded to build the more important buildings of the city: first the walls, then the harbor, the church (1589, Iglesia de S. Francisco), the fort (started in 1595), and the Cathedral (1602), the Governor's Palace (the “Cabildo”, 1610): I tried to include the same aspect into the game.
English pirates were a constant danger for the city, as were the Natives. The construction of the Fort was basically started to try to resolve this problem (as in the game).
Many Corsairs tried to attack the settlement. In some cases, only luck saved the city: in 1583, the pirate Edward Fenton was intercepted in the river estuary by Spanish ships; in 1584, the pirate Tomas Cavendish was only held at bay by a storm.
I liked the idea that players don’t know when pirates will come, but that they know that pirates are there. So I added a random system to generate wars.

In 1583, the Governor, Juan de Garay, was killed by natives and the position of the most influential person in the city was thus vacant.

Another two curiosities:
- The original name of the city was “Santísima Trinidad y Puerto de Nuestra Señora del Buen Ayre”. After a few years the name became only “Buenos Aires” because the harbor (the “Puerto”) was the most important activity of the City.

- The box cover is inspired by the painting “Buenos Aires foundaciòn” by José Moreno Carbonero (1915).

Obviously, I have taken only some aspects and I omitted/changed many others: Rio de la Plata is not a game of simulation. Anyway, I think that is very nice to have a certain consistency with reality!!!

Michele Quondam