Aurum
Aurum Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- Base Metal cards: 50 cards (5 suits, ranks 1-10)
- Player Reference cards: 4 cards
- Gold cards: 15 cards
- Rank 0: 4 of each
- Ranks 1-3: 2 of each
- Ranks 4-8: 1 of each
- Round Winner: 3 golden nuggets
- 1st Player Marker
Iconography
- Bismuth
- Phosphorus
- Zinc
- Copper
- Silver
- Gold
Quick Start Guide
If your group has played trick-taking games before, here's a quick start guide that will give you the basics of gameplay. If you're new to trick-taking games, go to the 4 Player Game or 3 Player Game setup.
Unlike many trick-taking games, Aurum uses a must-not-follow card playing system.
Round Overview
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Bid on how many tricks you/your team will take. Place a non-Gold card with the number of tricks that you/your team plans to take. (In a 4 player game, after both players on a team have bid, the higher of the two bids is the team's bid).
-
Lead with any non-Gold card.
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You must not play a suit that has already been played (unless it is a Gold card).
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Highest number take, but Gold is a trump card (always takes the trick).
-
Whoever played the lowest non-Gold card in the trick adds a Gold card of the same number from the Supply to their Gold Collection and leads next.
-
All Gold cards played in a trick are returned to the Supply.
-
The round ends immediately whenever any player:
- Cannot play a valid Base Metal card and does not have a Gold card to play.
OR
- Chooses not to play a Gold card.
Scoring
Bidding
- Under the bid: If you take fewer tricks than your bid, you earn no points.
- Over the bid: If you take more tricks than you bid, you earn your bid value as points.
- Exact bid: If you take the exact number of tricks that you bid, you earn double the bid value as points.
Gold
Gold cards values are determined by their rank:
- Gold cards with rank 0 are worth 0 points each
- Gold cards with ranks 1-3 are worth 1 point each
- Gold cards with ranks 4-6 are worth 2 points each
- Gold cards with ranks 7-8 are worth 3 points each
Playing With Four Players
Game Overview
A 4 player game is played between 2 teams. Teammates will be sitting opposite each other. The objective of the game is to score the most points to win rounds. Points can be scored by bidding correctly and by collecting Gold. The first team to win 2 rounds wins the game.
Setup (4-Player)
- Supply - Place all of the Gold cards face up in the center of the play area so all players can reach them. 1a. Give each player a 0 Gold card.
- Shuffle all of the Base Metal cards together and deal 12 face down to each player. 2a. You will have 2 cards left over after dealing 12 Base Metal cards to each player. Place both face up next to the Gold cards. These cards are face up so all players know which cards are not in play when they make their bids. These cards will be shuffled back in with the other cards at the end of the first round and players will again have 2 extra cards after 12 cards are dealt to each player at the start of the second round.
- First Player - Randomly determine a first player. Give this player the First Player Marker. This First Player Marker will be passed clockwise around the table at the start of each round.
- Each Player - Make sure each player has a space in front of themselves dedicated to the following actions: 4a. Gold Collection - Gold cards are collected here. 4b. Bid - Placing your bid in front of you. 4c. Play - Playing cards to the trick 4d. Tricks Taken - Collecting cards from taken tricks
How to Play (4 Players)
Bid
- After the Base Metal cards have been dealt to all players, players look at their cards and determine how many tricks they believe they will take this round. This will be their bid. Players look for a Base Metal card in their hand whose value matches the number they want to bid. Starting from the first player and moving clockwise, each player places this bid card face up in front of themselves.
- After both players on a team have made a bid, the higher of the two bids will be the team's bid.
Example: You bid 4. Your teammate bids 2. Your team's bid will be the larger number, 4.
The first player begins the round by leading the trick, playing a single card from their hand. The next player clockwise then plays a card and so on. Once all players have played a card, determine who takes the trick.
Rules for playing cards
The first player may lead the trick by playing any Base Metal card. You cannot lead with a Gold card.
Always play cards in a clockwise order.
Players MUST NOT FOLLOW THE SUIT of ANY already played Base Metal cards. In other words, each Base Metal suit can only appear in a trick once.
Gold can be used to follow any suit, even Gold. Players can play Gold cards from their Gold Collections to a trick instead of playing a Base Metal card from their hand. Gold cards trump any Base Metal cards.
Before any cards have been played to a trick, a player can spend a Gold card from their Gold Collection to replace either their partner's bid card or their own with a card from their hand. Return the spent Gold card to the Supply.
Example - Changing Your Team's Bid: You bid 3. Your partner bid 7. You believe their bid is too high. Spend a Gold card from your Gold Collection and return it to the Supply. Swap the 7 for a 4 in your Hand. Your team's new bid is 4. The 7 goes in your hand.
Taking the Trick
The player who played the highest ranked Base Metal takes the trick if no Gold cards are played. Gold is the trump suit and outranks any Base Metal suit. If multiple Gold cards are played, the highest ranked one takes the trick.
The player who played the lowest ranked Base Metal card takes a Gold card of the same rank from the Gold card Supply (if it is available) and adds it to their Gold Collection face up. This player also leads the next trick.
If there is a tie when determining who takes a trick, who will lead the next trick, who will collect a Gold card, etc., the tie goes to the player who most recently played a card.
The player who takes a trick gathers all the Base Metal cards played to that trick into a stack and places that stack in front of them in their Tricks Taken area. The next time they take a trick, they will do the same, placing the stack beside any they have previously collected. The number of stacks of cards in front of a player is how many tricks they have taken that round.
Gold cards played to a trick are returned to the Gold card Supply, becoming available for someone else to collect in future tricks.
Example - Tricks Taken: A player has taken 4 tricks, which are added to the tricks taken by their teammate to determine if the team bid correctly.
End of Round
The round ends immediately whenever any player:
-
Cannot play a valid Base Metal card and does not have a Gold card to play.
OR
-
Chooses not to play a Gold card.
A player ending a round in this way must reveal their cards to show that they do not have any valid Base Metal cards.
The round-ending trick does not affect scoring in any way. It does not count toward bids, and all cards played that trick are discarded without anyone collecting a Gold card for playing the lowest ranked card.
Example - End of Round (Can't Play a Card): You can't play a card from your Hand because you can't play a Suit that's already been played.
Example - End of Round (Chooses Not to Play Gold): You can't play a card from your Hand and want to keep the Gold cards in your Gold Collection for scoring.
Scoring
Bidding
- Under the bid: If you take fewer tricks than your bid, you earn no points.
- Over the bid: If you take more tricks than you bid, you earn your bid value as points.
- Exact bid: If you take the exact number of tricks that you bid, you earn double the bid value as points.
Gold
Gold cards in your Gold Collection have values based on their rank:
- Gold cards with rank 0 are worth 0 points each
- Gold cards with ranks 1-3 are worth 1 point each
- Gold cards with ranks 4-6 are worth 2 points each
- Gold cards with ranks 7-8 are worth 3 points each
Teammates add together points earned from their Gold Collections to any points earned from their bid to determine their score each round. The team with the highest score wins the round. Give this team a golden nugget.
Start Next Round
To start the second round, place all Gold cards back into the Supply and shuffle all the Base Metal cards together. Deal 12 Base Metal cards to each player again. Remember, place the 2 extra cards face up near the Gold card Supply.
The person to the left of the first player from the first round will be the first player for the second round. Pass the First Player Marker to that player.
End of Game
After two rounds of play, if a team has won both rounds, they win the game. If each team has won a round, play a final round as a tiebreaker.
Playing With Three Players
Note: Playing with 4 Players starts on page 4.
Game Overview
A 3 player game lasts 3 rounds, and all players compete against each other. The objective of the game is to score the most points. Points can be scored by bidding correctly and by collecting Gold.
Setup (3-Player)
- Remove From Game - Only use the cards ranked 1 to 9 of the Bismuth, Phosphorus, Silver, and Zinc Base Metal suits. Place the unused rank 10 cards of each suit and all the cards of the Copper suit back in the box.
- Supply - Only use Gold cards ranked 0-7. Place these Gold cards face up in the center of the play area so all players can reach them. Place the unused rank 8 Gold cards back in the box. 2a. Give each player a 0 Gold card.
- Shuffle the Base Metal cards and deal 12 face down to each player.
- First Player - Randomly determine a first player. Give this player the First Player Marker. Starting player will change each round in a clockwise manner, meaning each player will be first player once.
- Each Player - Make sure each player has a space in front of themselves dedicated to the following actions: 5a. Gold Collection - Gold cards are collected here. 5b. Bid - Placing your bid in front of you. 5c. Play - Playing cards to the trick 5d. Tricks Taken - Collecting cards from taken tricks
How to Play (3 Players)
Bid
- After the Base Metal cards have been dealt to all players, players look at their cards and determine how many tricks they believe they will take this round. This will be their bid. Players look for a Base Metal card in their hand whose value matches the number they want to bid and place it face down in front of themselves.
- After all players have placed a bidding card in front of themselves, reveal them all simultaneously by flipping them face up.
- The first player begins the round by leading the trick, playing a single card from their hand. The next player clockwise then plays a card. The next player clockwise (the final player for the trick) then plays a card. Once all players have played a card, determine who takes the trick.
Rules for playing cards
The first player may lead the trick by playing any Base Metal card. You cannot lead with a Gold card.
Always play cards in a clockwise order.
Players MUST NOT FOLLOW THE SUIT of ANY already played Base Metal cards. In other words, each Base Metal suit can only appear in a trick once.
Gold can be used to follow any suit, even Gold. Players can play Gold cards from their Gold Collections to a trick instead of playing a Base Metal card from their hand. Gold cards trump any Base Metal cards.
Example - Updating the Bid: You want to update your original Bid, so you spend a Gold 0 from your Gold Collection and return it to the Supply. You increase your Bid from 4 to 7, and add your original Bid card to your Hand.
Taking the Trick
The player who played the highest ranked Base Metal takes the trick if no Gold cards are played. Gold is the trump suit and outranks any Base Metal suit. If multiple Gold cards are played, the highest ranked Gold card takes the trick.
The player who played the lowest ranked Base Metal card takes a Gold card of the same rank from the Gold card Supply (if it is available) and adds it to their Gold Collection face up. This player also leads the next trick.
If there is a tie when determining who takes a trick, who will lead the next trick, who will collect a Gold card, etc., the tie goes to the player who most recently played a card.
Example - Tie: You are the Third Player. You win the trick because even though two fives have been played, you played most recently. The First Player receives a Gold 4 from the Supply if it is available.
The player who takes a trick gathers all the Base Metal cards played to that trick into a stack and places that stack in front of them. The next time they take a trick, they will do the same, placing the stack beside any they have previously collected. The number of stacks of cards in front of a player is how many tricks they have taken that round.
Gold cards played to a trick are returned to the Gold card Supply, becoming available for someone else to collect in future tricks.
Example - Tricks Taken: A player has won 3 tricks.
End of Round
The round ends immediately whenever any player:
-
Cannot play a valid Base Metal card and does not have a Gold card to play.
OR
-
Chooses not to play a Gold card.
A player ending a round in this way must reveal their cards to show that they do not have any valid Base Metal cards. The round-ending trick does not affect scoring in any way. It does not count toward bids, and all cards played that trick are discarded without anyone collecting a Gold card for playing the lowest ranked card.
After the round-ending condition is met, proceed to scoring.
Scoring
Bidding
- Under the bid: If you take fewer tricks than your bid, you earn no points.
- Over the bid: If you take more tricks than you bid, you earn your bid value as points.
- Exact bid: If you take the exact number of tricks that you bid, you earn double the bid value as points.
Gold
Gold cards in your Gold Collection have values based on their rank:
- Gold cards with rank 0 are worth 0 points each
- Gold cards with ranks 1-3 are worth 1 point each
- Gold cards with ranks 4-6 are worth 2 points each
- Gold cards with ranks 7-8 are worth 3 points each
Players add their Gold card score and their bid score to determine their total score for this round. The player with the highest score wins the round and takes a golden nugget.
Start Next Round
To start the second round, place all Gold cards back into the Supply and shuffle all the Base Metal cards together.
Deal all the Base Metal cards out to the players again.
The person to the left of the first player from the first round will be the first player for the next round. Give this player the First Player Marker.
End of Game
Continue all processes until all players have been first player (3 rounds).
The player with the most golden nuggets after 3 rounds wins. If there is a tie, the player who bid the highest in the final round wins.
Note: If a single player wins 2 golden nuggets, they automatically win the game.
Terms
Because Aurum is a trick-taking game, this rulebook will use many terms associated with that type of game. If you are unfamiliar with trick-taking games, this list of terms will help explain the core concepts.
Trick: Going clockwise around the table, each player plays 1 card face up from their hand.
Taking a trick: After all players have played a card, the player who played the highest ranked card "takes" the trick, collecting all the cards played that trick.
Rank: How much a card is worth. The Base Metal cards are ranked 1-10 with 10 having the highest rank. Gold is ranked 0-8.
Leading a trick: The first player to play a card in a trick is said to be "leading" that trick. In Aurum, the player who plays the lowest ranked card in a trick leads the next trick.
Suit: All the cards featuring the same color and associated symbol belong to the same suit. Standard playing cards have the suits Hearts, Spades, Clubs, and Diamonds. Aurum has the suits Bismuth, Copper, Phosphorus, Silver, Zinc, Gold.
Following suit: This is when a player plays a card of the same suit as one that has already been played. In Aurum, players MUST NOT FOLLOW SUIT, meaning they can not play ANY Base Metal suit that has already been played in the trick.
Trump: This is a card suit that is ranked higher than all of the other suits. Gold is the trump suit in Aurum and is ranked higher than any of the Base Metal suits. If a Gold card is played in a trick, a Gold card will take the trick. If multiple Gold cards are played to a trick, the highest ranked Gold card will take the trick.
Round: A round is a series of tricks. After someone takes the first trick, a new trick is started. After someone takes that trick, another new trick is started. This process continues until the end of the round, which is triggered when either all cards have been played or one player is unable (or unwilling) to play a card from their hand.
Bid: Before each round, players look at the ranks of the cards they have been dealt and predict how many tricks they will take during that round. The predicted number of tricks is their bid.
Gold Reminders
- Players keep Gold cards in their Gold Collection for points at the end of each round (see Scoring).
- Gold cards used to take tricks are returned to the Gold card Supply, not into players' collections.
- Before any cards have been played in a trick, players can put a Gold card from their Gold Collection back in the Gold card Supply to update their (or their partner's) bid by exchanging the bid card with a card from their hand.
Expert Modes
Once all players are comfortable playing Aurum, play with one or more of these changes to increase difficulty:
- Do not play with the rank 0 Gold cards. Consider playing with rank 0 cards the "training mode" of Aurum.
- Instead of using the golden nuggets, tally numerical scores each round.
- 4 Player: The team with the most points after 3 rounds in a 4 player game wins.
- 3 Player: The player with the most points after 3 rounds in a 3 player game wins.
Credits
Game Designer: Shreesh Bhat Development: Alex Cutler Editor: Eric Slauson Art: Stevo Torres Graphic Design: Peter Wocken
Special thanks: Portland Game Collective, Break My Game, and ProtoATL groups for testing.
Playtesters: Shruthi Srinath, Jonathan Egbert, Thomas Brendel, Lee Gianou, Daniel Grant Vieu, Bert Trobaugh, Adelle Frank, Jamie Thul, Jamie Sutanto, Alex Torrez, Jonathan Bovee, Sarah Khan, Taylor Reiner, Jon Barron, Sam Frigerio, Caitlin Robertson, Dan Kobayashi, Xoe Allred, Catherine Stippell, Matt Mill, Matthew Hocker, Christine Dong, Archimedes, Adam Gemmer, Corey Coleman, Ryan Power, Andy Juell, Ryan Campbell, Jonathan Franklin, & Daniel Newman.
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