
- BGG rank
- BGG #5,561
- BGG rating
- 7.2
Crisps!
- 2 players
- 15–25 min
- Complexity 1.6/5
- 2025

2023
Rules assistance for Aurum
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
For 3 players

What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Aurum is a board game released in 2023 for 3–4 players, 30–45 minutes per game, and ages 7 and up. It was designed by Shreesh Bhat and its main mechanics are Auction / Bidding, Team-Based Game, and Trick-taking.
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!
Aurum supports 3–4 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 Aurum is 30–45 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 Aurum for ages 7 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.
Aurum has a complexity rating of 2.1 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a medium-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.
Aurum belongs to these categories: Card Game. Its main mechanics are Auction / Bidding, Team-Based Game, and Trick-taking. 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 Aurum are: Shreesh Bhat. 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 Aurum 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.