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- 8.8
Animator vs Animation
- 2–8 players
- 15–30 min
- Complexity 1.3/5
- 2018
- BGG rank
- BGG #26,573
- BGG rating
- 6.0
Annapurna
2021
Rules assistance for Annapurna
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 1–4 players
- 30–60 min
- 12+
- Complexity 1.6/5
For 1 player
Rules assistant for Annapurna
What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Annapurna is a board game released in 2021 for 1–4 players, 30–60 minutes per game, and ages 12 and up. It was designed by Rebecca Horovitz and its main mechanics are Take That, Point to Point Movement, and Memory.
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About the game
Climb the most dangerous massif in the world! In Annapurna you co-operate — or compete — with your fellow climbers to achieve balance on this treacherous, ever-changing mountain. As you explore your mountainside made of cards you will encounter rockslides, yetis, and danger at every turn! You start with a deck of 18 mountain cards, laying out 15 of them face down in a pyramidal mountain and keeping the rest as your backpack. Each card has a yin or yang value of 1-4 on it as well as a special effect. To start the game, each player reveals a card in their bottom row, carries out the effect, then places their meeple on the card. On a turn, you explore an adjacent card on a non-lower level by flipping it over, carrying out its effects, and placing your meeple on it; trade a card from your backpack with a card in your mountain, pacing the replaced card in a cache; or hide a card, which is the same as trade, but on another player's mountain. If your face-up mountain cards have a balance of yin and yang, you can remove them from play. Once you reach the mountain's peak, you add your cache to your hand, then you can spend your turns doing nothing, dropping cards from your cache face up on the mountain to better balance your yin and yang, and throwing cache cards onto another player's mountain, who then flips up one of your remaining face-down cards. In the competitive game, when everyone is at the peak, players score 3, 2, and 1 flags based on who is most balanced, with ties being broken in favor of whoever ascended their mountain first; play multiple rounds until someone collects nine flags and wins. In the co-operative game, you end the game after everyone has scaled their mountain, and you all win only if everyone has an even yin-yang balance. There are also rule books for Cooperative, Solo, and Team play.
Categories
Designers
Publishers
- Fiat Lucre
Questions and answers
Annapurna supports 1–4 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for Annapurna is 30–60 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists Annapurna for ages 12 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
Annapurna has a complexity rating of 1.6 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a light game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
Annapurna belongs to these categories: Card Game. Its main mechanics are Take That, Point to Point Movement, and Memory. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of Annapurna are: Rebecca Horovitz. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists Annapurna as a base game. It can be played on its own with the components in the box and does not require any other title. Expansions, if any exist, add new content or rules on top of it and are listed separately in the catalogue with a link back to this base game.