Introduction

In Aurum, players take the role of alchemists melding base metals into gold. Aurum is a competitive, trick taking game where players must not follow the suits of previously played base metal cards.

Three vs Four Player Game

With three players, players play individually. With four players, players play in two teams of two with each player sat between their opponents and opposite the player on their team in clockwise order of play.

Cards

There are two types of cards in Aurum:

• • Base Metal Cards are dealt to each player's hand at the start of each round. They are used for playing to tricks and to indicate the number of tricks a player thinks they (or their team) will win during a round. The base metal suits are: Bismuth, Copper, Phosphorus, Silver and Zinc. The cards in player’s hand is private information known only to them and not shared with other players including their partner.
• • Gold Cards can be played as a trump that always beats base metal cards when played to a trick. Gold cards can be spent to swap players' bids between tricks. Gold cards indicate a number of points they are worth when kept till the end of a round with gold symbols below the number indicating their rank. If a player played the lowest base metal card in a trick, they win a gold card of the same number (rank), if available in the gold supply. There are 2 copies each of gold cards numbered 1, 2 and 3 worth 1 point each at the end of a round; 1 copy each of 4, 5 and 6 worth 2 points; 1 copy each of 7 and 8 worth 3 points each. There are four 0 gold cards worth 0 points given to each player at the start of each round in the base game. Gold cards a player holds are kept publicly in front of a player face up in their gold collection.

Round Structure

Aurum plays in 2-4 rounds. At the end of each round, one or more players win a gold nugget. A player (or team) with two gold nuggets wins the game.

A round consists of the following phases:

1. • Dealing where base metal cards are dealt evenly to players and gold is returned to the supply. Each player receives a 0 gold card.
2. • Bidding where players predict the number of tricks they will win with a card from their hand.
3. • Playing Tricks where each player plays one card. The highest card wins the trick. The lowest base metal card wins a gold card and starts the next trick.
4. • Scoring where the player (or team) with the highest points wins a gold nugget. Points are based on tricks and gold cards won.
5. • Pass on the Round First Player Marker where the marker of which player starts the next round is passed clockwise to the next player.

Dealing

Each player receives a 0 gold card at the start of each round (except in the Expert Variant). This card is placed face up in front of a player in their gold collection.

Three Player Cards

With three players, there are four base metal suits with ranks 1-9. These base metal cards are shuffled and dealt evenly face down between the three players at the beginning of each round. The gold supply contains all gold cards from 1-7 at the start of each round.

Four Player Cards

With four players, there are five base metal suits with ranks 1-10 and all gold cards in the gold supply from 1-8 at the start of each round. Two random base metal cards are not dealt to players' hands and instead revealed in the Extra cards not dealt to players section of the table in the four player game; these cards take no part in this round. The remaining base metal cards are shuffled and dealt evenly face down between the four players at the beginning of each round.

Bidding

Each player must select a base metal card from their hand whose number matches the number of tricks that they think they (or their team) will win. If they win tricks to match or exceed their bid, they will score points at the end of the round.

Three Player Bidding

Players bid simultaneously and then reveal their bid cards.

Four Player Bidding

Players bid in clockwise order starting with the player with the Round First Player Marker. Players are bidding the number of tricks that they think both members of their team combined will win. Between the two cards bid by the two players on a team, only the highest card is counted as the team's bid.

Trick Structure

Before each trick, players have an opportunity to change their bid by spending a gold card and choosing a card in their hand to swap with their bid card (or their partner's bid card). The gold spent is returned to the gold supply.

Players each play one card to the trick in order clockwise from the start player. The start player must start with any base metal card: they cannot start a trick with a gold card. Subsequent players cannot play a card of a base metal suit that any previous player has played. Multiple players can play gold cards to the trick.

Scoring a Trick

The player who wins the trick is, in order:

• • The player who played the highest gold card wins the trick. Gold acts as a trump that always beats base metal cards.
• • If no player played a gold card, the player who played the highest base metal card wins the trick.
• • The player who played the lowest base metal card wins a gold card with the same number (number) as their played base metal card, if there is still such a card available in the gold supply. This gold card is placed face up in front of a player in their gold collection. This player will be the start player for the next trick played in this round.

Played gold cards are returned to the gold supply after the trick has been scored. If there are no gold cards with the same number (rank) as the lowest base metal card played to the trick but a player has played a gold card of that number to the trick, the player who played the lowest base metal card does not get a gold card of that number, as the gold card is returned to the supply after the point of checking for a gold card in the supply during trick scoring.

Resolving Trick Ties

In the case of ties for winning a trick or gold card, the last card played of the tied cards wins. If all players played the same number (rank) base metal card to a trick, the last player to play wins the trick, wins the gold card and will play first in the next trick.

Round End

If when they are due to play a card to a trick, a player has no base metal cards that they can play to the trick, they may pass. If their hand is empty or their cards in hand are all of suits that have already been played to the trick, then they must pass or may optionally play a gold card, if they have one. If they pass and don't play a card, the round ends immediately, all cards in the current trick are discarded with the trick not counting as won, no player being awarded a gold card and any gold cards played to the trick not counting for player scoring.

Scoring a round

The highest scoring player (or team) will win a gold nugget. A round score is composed of two elements:

1. • Points for tricks taken compared to the bid a player (or team) made.
2. • Points for gold cards that were won and not used during the round.

Points for Tricks Taken

If a player (or team) won a number of tricks that:

• • was lower than their bid, they score 0 points for tricks.
• • exactly matched their bid, they score points equal to two times the number of tricks they won.
• • was higher than their bid, they score points equal to the number of tricks that they won.

A player's bid is the number showing on the card that they bid with. A team's bid is the highest of the numbers showing on the two cards that both team members bid with. A team's bid is compared to the combined total of tricks taken by both partners in that team.

Points for Gold Cards

Each player (or team) adds together the points (gold symbols) showing on each of the gold cards that they won during the round and didn't play to tricks or spend to change a bid. Gold cards with number (rank) 1-3 each score one point, 4-6 score two points and 7-8 score 3 points. There are two of each 1-3 gold card in the gold supply at the start of a round and one of each 4-7 card. There is also one 8 gold card in the supply in the four player game.

Resolving Round Ties

If two or more players or teams won the same number of points for the round, ties are broken in the following order:

• • If only one player (or team) matched their bid exactly, they win the gold nugget.
• • If still tied, the player (or team) that collected the single gold card showing the highest number (rank) wins the gold nugget.
• • If still tied, all tied players (or teams) win a gold nugget.

Game End

The first player (or team) to have two gold nuggets at the end of a round wins the game.

Game Options

To speed up the game, players can turn on Auto-skip change bid. This will stop the game asking if you want to change your bid at the beginning of every trick. It is recommended to switch this option off towards the end of a round (e.g. when players have 4 or less cards in hand), if you think you may want to change your bid. If you change the option during a game in the Options tab in this panel or in the hamburger menu (top right of the page), the option selected will be remembered and set to that option at the start of each round in this and future games. For convenience, you can change the option selected in the player's score panel and the option will not be remembered for future games.

If players are concerned about accidentally playing an incorrect card when bidding or playing to a trick, then they can turn off Auto-confirm bid and played cards. This option is in the player score panel, Options tab of this panel or player preferences in the hamburger menu (top right of page). If turned off, this will show a Confirm button for each move. (The exception is bidding in three player games, which can already be cancelled/undone.) This option is off by default to avoid unnecessarily lengthening most games.

Expert Variant

Once players are experienced with the game, they may choose to play the Expert Variant. In this variant, players do not start each round with a 0 gold card.