After years of experimentation in your shared laboratory, you and your fellow alchemists have just successfully transmuted common metals into gold! Now all that's left is to perfect the formula, repeating the experiments to find the perfect combination of metals that produce the purest gold.
Aurum is a trick-taking game for three or four players, with two teams of two competing in the four-player game. After all cards for the round have been dealt, you bid on how many tricks you think you/your team will win. (In a four-player game, the higher of the two bids on a team becomes the team's bid.)
During the round, you can lead with any non-gold card. On your turn, you must not play a suit that has already been played (unless it is a gold card). The highest number played wins, but gold is the trump suit and always wins. Whoever played the lowest non-gold card adds a gold card of the same number from the supply to their collection if it is available. All gold cards played in a trick are returned to the supply.
The round ends immediately when a 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. If you win more tricks than you bid, you earn your bid value as points; if you met your bid exactly, you earn twice your bid value as points. Additionally, you earn points for the number of gold cards in your collection. The player/team with the most points wins a gold nugget, and the first to collect two nuggets wins!
- Nice twist on trick-taking by not following suit as a baseline rule
- Good balance between three- and four-player variants
- Reference cards provide a compact overview of rules
- Playtime is concise (about 30–45 minutes)
- Rulebook can be confusing and omits some details; updating the bid across modes is not well integrated
- Card size and stock lead to sleeve compatibility and QC concerns
- Four-player mode can overwhelm new players due to limited communication and team coordination
- gold-focused trick-taking with bid-timing and gold as trump/spendable resource
- abstract metals table-top card game with no strong setting
- minimalist, utilitarian theme with emphasis on mechanics over story
- The Crew
- Brian Boru
- District Noir (sleeve size reference)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- bidding — before rounds, players bid on the number of tricks they expect to win; in 4-player games two players share a bid value.
- gold card mechanic — gold cards function as trump-like resources that can be spent or exchanged to modify bids and scoring.
- three- vs four-player variants — three-player mode is all-versus-all; four-player mode is 2v2 with teammates opposite, introducing different dynamics and communication constraints.
- Trick-taking — players play cards to win tricks; unlike standard trick-taking, you are not always required to follow suit in Aurum.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I give it an 8 out of 10
- it's a fairly simple rule set, but the game has a twist on trick-taking
- the three-player mode is nice and simple to teach
- I like the idea that you can play gold cards to adjust your bid
- the rulebook is a pig's ear and could be taught better
- box is nice and compact, but the sleeve size is a real annoyance
- Aurum's a solid little trick-taker that will stay in my collection
References (from this video)
- clever use of gold cards to influence play
- engaging alchemist theming
- potential complexity for new players
- alchemy and trick-taking competition
- alchemist-trick-taking theme
- competitive, team-oriented play
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- gold cards as modifiers — play gold cards that alter scoring and play dynamics
- Trick-taking — teams bid and play tricks with cards; strategic play across rounds
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's a no-brainer right
- insta buy
- this is definitely something I want to check out
- I would definitely want to check that out
- I love art-themed games
- the art by Vincent de Trey is great
- insta buy for me as well
- this looks amazing