''Amun-Re'' is a game designed by

Reiner Knizia Reiner may refer to: *Reiner (crater), a crater on the Moon, named after Vincentio Reiner *Reiner Braun, a fictional List_of_Attack_on_Titan_characters, character in the anime/manga series ''Attack on Titan'' People with the given name Reiner *Rein ...

and first published in

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Hans im Glück Hans im Glück is a German board and card game publisher. Though many of their own games are language-independent they themselves publish only printings for the domestic market which include only German-language rules; English-language printings o ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

and in

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Rio Grande Games Rio Grande Games is a board game publisher based in Placitas, New Mexico. The company primarily imports and localizes foreign language German-style board games. History In 1995, Jay Tummelson began working for Mayfair Games. At that time, May ...

. Players are leaders of different Egyptian

dynasties A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A d ...

who try to gain influence in 15 provinces of ancient Egypt. Influence and building

pyramid A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...

s earns points for the players. Points are scored at two instances during the game, at the end of the "Old Kingdom" and at the end of the "New Kingdom", and the player who amasses the most points wins the game.

Gameplay

''Amun-Re'' is played in six rounds, where each round consists of an

auction An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition ex ...

of provinces, followed by the purchase of "power cards" (for special use or that give bonuses in scoring), farmers (that generate income), and bricks (which are converted into pyramids on a three-for-one basis), a sacrifice phase, and then income. All prices in auctions, as well as for purchases, are based on the

triangular numbers A triangular number or triangle number counts objects arranged in an equilateral triangle. Triangular numbers are a type of figurate number, other examples being square numbers and cube numbers. The th triangular number is the number of dots in ...

. The number of provinces available for auction in each round is equal to the number of players, but it is randomly determined which provinces will be available. Each province gives the player who wins it different abilities. For example, some provinces can support more farmers, some allow the players to buy more cards, and some produce a set income automatically. Certain power cards also give game-end bonuses if a player's provinces meet certain conditions, such as being on the same side of the Nile. Once the provinces have been auctioned, players may buy power cards and farmers as allowed by the provinces that they own, and as many bricks as they want or can afford. Following purchases, there is a sacrifice where each player either sacrifices a number of gold or can steal from the sacrifice (and a player must either sacrifice or steal, "sacrificing" 0 gold isn't allowed). Rewards are given to players based on their sacrifice (highest sacrifice receiving the most reward, "thieves" getting no reward beyond the three gold they steal). Players may choose whether they wish to receive cards, bricks, farmers, or some combination of these as rewards. Finally, players receive income. The sacrifice that has just taken place determines the income generated by each farmer. In certain provinces, income is only generated if the sacrifice is below a certain level. Other provinces provide a fixed amount of gold, or a combination of farmer income and fixed income. As the ends of rounds three and six (the end of the "Old Kingdom" and "New Kingdom") points are scored for pyramids, sets of pyramids, temples in territories controlled, and for bonuses earned using power cards. At the end of the Old Kingdom, players lose their claim to all of their provinces and all farmers are cleared from the board, while bricks and pyramids remain. The same provinces will be used in the New Kingdom, but they will be auctioned again and may be owned by different players. Although this game is best played with 5 players so the entire board is used, it does play quite well with 3 or 4. The game allows for many different strategies to be used.

Awards and critical reception

*''Amun-Re'' won the 2003

Deutscher Spiele Preis __NOTOC__ The Deutscher Spielepreis (, ''German Game Prize'') is an important award for boardgames. It was started in 1990 by the German magazine ''Die Pöppel-Revue'', which collects votes from the industry's stores, magazines, professionals ...

References

External links

* {{Deutscher Spiele Preis winners Board games introduced in 2003 Board games about history Reiner Knizia games Deutscher Spiele Preis winners Hans im Glück games Rio Grande Games games