Review
city of amul important Antique trade center
AMUL
Search for perfect Card “comboS”
Introduction
“Card” games are always very popular, especially if you must make “combinations” with them in order to increase your points, and Amul is one of them: what is “different” is that you may play it with 2 to 8 players and this is a very important feature as it is not easy to find a fast but interesting game (easy to teach and very interactive) for so many people.
Bild 1
Picture 1 shows the components, mostly cards: 147 “Market” cards, 19 “Palace” cards and 9 “Bazar” ones: a triangular board is used to keep separated the cards in three different areas. Two booklets are also included: the first is for the rules and the second is a summary of the different cards and their function. It is recommended to use transparent sleeves to protect the cards, as they will be intensively used.
The triangular board is placed in the middle of the table and the “Palace” and “Bazar” cards are displayed on its left and right side (cards must be “sorted” before play, following the number of players). Five market cards are then distributed to each player and the game may start (look at Picture 2 for an example of set-up).
Bild 2
The first player should be assigned the
task to mark the turns using two special cards. He will also have the “First
Choice” in the card selection that will follow, and this task will change turn
after turn.
The game
The first player gives a sixth card to all and places ein bis drei cards face up on the table (the number increases with the number of the players) under the triangular board in an area called “market”: now every player must select one of his cards and place it (covered) on the “market”. All the cards are turned at the same time and the player with the “First Choice” may take any one of them adding it to his hand: the others follow in turn order. Finally, every player displays one of his cards in front of him (in an area that we may call his “personal reserve”), where it will stay until the end of the game.
This action is the real heart of the game and this is also the moment where the players should decide and follow their strategy. Therefore, it is time to look at those cards a little closely (see also Picture 3).
Bild 3
Bitte so groß wie möglich man sollte den Text lesen können
Each card has the following characteristics:
- A name (Guard, Merchant, etc.)
- A color (Red, Pink, Green, Yellow, Blue and Orange)
- One or more “round icons” (Arab, Mongol, 2 swords, etc.) on the left
- One square icon (“hand” or “table”) bottom left
- One or more “rectangular” icons on the bottom right (arrows, cards, etc.)
- A special section on the bottom that shows Victory Points (PV), represented by coins, and special instructions on how to get them: to make an example, if you have one “spices” card (bottom left in the picture) you receive two VP, but if you get TWO of them you will gain six VP; one camel has a value of 15 VP, but if there are more camels in play at the game’s end their value will decrease (10-7-4-3-2 VP); and so on.
The booklet with the explanation of all those cards has been added just to make things easier to find and to understand in the first couple of games because ALL the cards are explained.
But let’s go back to our players: we left them with six cards in their hands and it is time to see what they are doing. In effect they have now to play a card on the table and a first important decision must be taken: as we said before each card is marked with a “hand” or a “table” inside a square and this means that the “table” cards should be played openly on the board, while the “hand” ones should be saved in your hand till the end of the game. Sometimes this is not possible, especially if you do not wish to “present an important card to a competitor, and you will be obliged to play the “wrong” card that will not give you VP.
Some cards let you select (for free) another one from the Palace: they are similar to the some of the Market but sometimes they may help you to obtain a particular “combo”.
Bild 4
Cards in the Bazar are different (see also Picture 4): their value (in VP) is calculated only if a specific combination of other cards is obtained at the end of the game. The “Roman salesman”, for example, is worth “0” VP, but if you also own a gem, a spice and an ivory it’s value climb to “6” VP. And the same happens with the others.
The game proceeds always in the same way: the “First Choice” passes to the following player at the beginning of each new turn, and he will distributes 1 new card to all and X on the table; everybody plays a card and select one from the table, then play a card on his personal reserve. The players that used a card for the Palace or the Bazar finally take and play an extra card.
But there is an exception to this routine: after having played a number of turns equal to the number of players it is time to check for the “Guards”: the player with the most of them (or the most important guard in case of a tie) displayed on his reserve has the priority to select a card from the table, followed by the other warriors, and only then when they are finished the turn proceeds as before.
At the end of the ninth (and last) turn the players must discard from their hand all the “table” cards and from their personal reserve all the “hand” cards: now it is time to calculate the VP, starting with the “yellow” cards and going on with the other colours. Finally, the Bazar cards are calculated (but only if all the conditions are met) followed by the symbols: who owns the most “arab” or “mogols” symbols receives 8 VP, then 4 VP are granted to the second and 2 VP to the third. Of course, the player with most points wins the game.
AMUL is a rather simple game, in principle, but playing with cards means that it is very difficult to get the right ones at the good moment and therefore to have a sure strategy, so you must use any possibility that may arise.
The following are my suggestions:
1 – Camel: it always worth to have 2-3 of them because even if other players may buy some, each of them always grants at least 3-4 VP;
2 – Silver: one card is worth 3 VP, but if you collect two of them you will get 7 VP, with three the point rise to 13 VP, and so on, therefore it is interesting to collect them;
3 – Warriors: if you see one of the most value guards (those with and “A” or a “B”) try to take them because in the final turns you will select your new card first, a very powerful action;
4 – Combos: many cards have an interesting value if they combine with another one of the same kind, so, if it is possible to get two spices, or two carpets, or two porcelain, etc. try to get them;
5 – Gold: each of these cards is worth 4 VP, so 2-3 of them can make the difference… but unfortunately everybody knows this …;
6 – Symbols: we have seen that the player with most “Arab” and/or “Mongol” symbols will get 8 VP, so these cards are always in demand. It is very difficult to win in both categories, so if you have the opportunity to get one of them at the beginning, try to collect more of the same kind in the following rounds.
AMUL was designed to allow up to 8 players to pla y together and to give them an interactive and competitive game: it is very difficult to find good games for so many players, so we strongly suggest it. It is perfect for a “light” gaming evening with friends and in family. We tested it with different numbers of players (from 3 to 8) and it worked well every time without exceeding the playing time of 45 minutes.
Pietro Cremona
Players: 2–8
Age: 10+
Time: 50+
Designers: Remo Conzadori, Stefano Negro
Artist: Eilene Cherie
Price: ca. 25 Euro
Publisher: Lautapelit
Year: 2019
Web: www.lautapelit.fi
Genre: Card game
Users: With friends and family
Version: de
Rules: de dk en es fi fr it nl ru se
In-game text: yes
Comments:
Reasonable playing time
Good interaction among players
Good rules
Compares to:
Ohne Furcht und Adel, 7 Wonders
Other editions:
Gigamic (fr), Hobby World (ru), Lautapelit (dk en fi se), Playagame (it), Stronghold (en), White Goblin (nl),
My rating: 5
Pietro Cremona:
An interesting card game for up to eight players, something not easy to find today, and with a good interaction between players.
Chance (pink): 2
Tactic (turquoise): 3
Strategy (blue): 1
Creativity (dark blue): 0
Knowledge (yellow): 0
Memory (orange): 0
Communication (red): 0
Interaction (brown): 3
Dexterity (green): 0
Action (dark green): 0