Amsterdam

About this board game

Amsterdam is a strategic merchant game for 1–4 players that takes about 120 minutes, set in Amsterdam near the turn of the 20th century. Reimplementing Macao with improved card balance and new gameplay elements, it challenges you to build powerful combinations while calculating the advantage of delayed gratification.

At the beginning of each round, two district cards, two building cards, and two profession cards are drawn to create an offer of six cards. In turn order, players select one card. Every card has a cost in colored action cubes and provides a new action, a special ability, or a way to score points.

Next, the six colored dice are rolled. Each player chooses a die, with multiple players allowed to select the same one, then takes action cubes in that color equal to the number of pips. These cubes are placed on future spaces of a personal, rotatable windrose. When the wheel is spun, cubes reaching the 1 space become available.

• Purchase cards using colored action cubes.
• Claim one of nine types of goods around Amsterdam.
• Ferry goods or workers through canals to warehouses.
• Deliver goods and use card bonuses to earn points.

A market card is also revealed each round, allowing players to exchange money for victory points on their turns. Planning when your action cubes will become available is central to every decision, as immediate opportunities must be weighed against stronger future possibilities.

Players score by delivering goods and through bonuses on purchased cards. After the twelfth round, the player with the most points wins. With its card-driven abilities, dice selection, rotating windrose, and canal-based movement, Amsterdam offers a focused contest of timing, planning, and commercial opportunity.