Ambar

About this board game

Ambar is a 2018 board game for 2–4 players, played in about 45 minutes, in which you collect amber, create precious jewels, and sell them for gold.

Each turn begins on the route days, where you take cards from the route deck and place them on the board. Cream-colored cards represent neutral travel days, while black cards bring dangers of the journey. The more days you play before holding, the more actions you can take afterward.

Your actions take place in an action zone made up of four fixed cards in front of you. Use them to collect amber, produce attractive jewels, and take those jewels to villages or trade cards for gold. You can then spend your gold to buy something that improves your resources.

• Take route cards and resolve the events they create.
• Hold to gain one action for each route-day card played.
• Collect amber, produce jewels, and sell them for gold.
• Use gold to improve your resources, then resolve any demon cards from the turn.

The game is divided into two rounds. The first offers fewer resources and less danger. In the second, the discarded cards from round one are mixed with the new cards, increasing the pool of possibilities until the second-round deck runs out.

Demons add pressure throughout Ambar. During the first round, the snake demon pursues the player who advances too far—five or more travel days. In the second round, the red demon always chases the player with the most gold. When the cards of the second round are finished, the player with the most gold wins.