Pandasaurus Games has revealed a new trick-taking card game by Shreesh Bhat that is heading into retail before long. Enter Aurum, a game which will have players take the roles of alchemists who are trying to discover the formula for turning every rubbish metal into precious gold, transmuting all sorts of odd scraps to craft the purest gilt.
Get Ready to Transmute the Purest Gold
To level with you, the alchemists in Aurum are already sure that they can turn metal into gold – and they know how, but they are just like coffee artisans. They need to get the ingredients just right to craft the purest gold. This makes for a fun plot already.
To get started, though, you do need 3-4 players, as Aurum plays with three players as the bare minimum. Each player will use their round to bid on the number of tricks they believe will win by simply offering one of their hand cards. Also, a player cannot play a card of the suit that has already been played, which is pretty standard.
The victory condition of each round is similarly straightforward – have the biggest numerical value on your card to win, add cards to your collection, and be one step closer to establishing yourself as the greatest alchemist. You may save up on any gold cards you have won taking tricks and exchanging them for victory points or playing them as trump cards.
The gameplay is simple, yet captivating. Aurum is also illustrated by Stevo Torres who has done the art of Umbra Via and Blume and will definitely be a contributing factor to players’ decision to buy it. As to the designer, Bhat is known for other products, including Pins & Needles, and the upcoming Dealer’s Dilemma.
Novice Friendly Gameplay and Great Art
Another way to spend your gold cards is to swap the bid from a player’s hand. Players will gain points equal to double their matched initial bid. Alright, if this is somewhat confusing right now, the rules of the game are actually very straightforward, so don’t worry about that.
Even Pandasaurus head of development Alex Cutler confirms that Aurum is a game that is immediately approachable for new players, although it takes a few twists on the classic trick-based card game.
The game will be available on August 16, and you may actually get it at Gen Con or play earlier on Tabletop Simulator.