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Sauerbaum
1986
Rules assistance for Sauerbaum
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 3–7 players
- 30 min
- 8+
- Complexity 1.6/5
Rules assistant for Sauerbaum
What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Sauerbaum is a board game released in 1986 for 3–7 players, 30 minutes per game, and ages 8 and up. It was designed by Johannes Tranelis and its main mechanics are Roll / Spin and Move, Dice Rolling, and Grid Movement.
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About the game
Award-winning cooperative boardgame that was published more than a decade before Knizia's The Lord of the Rings, Sauerbaum is a dice-based movement game. The board depicts a tree filled with a square grid of movement spaces, which are gradually filled from the top with tokens representing acid rain. The players' pawns try to move through the remaining open spaces on the tree, ending their movements on a raindrop, "flicking" it off. Thus, it's a race between the accumulating raindrops and the players' collective ability to flick them off with clever movement plays. The rules encourage the players to discuss the options openly for each player's turn, and in fact they'll have their hands full defeating the acid rain together. Doing it alone is practically doomed to failure, and will cripple the other players, too. The level of difficulty is easily adjusted by varying the number of acid raindrops that fall onto the tree.
Categories
Designers
Publishers
- (Self-Published)
- Zoch Verlag
- Herder Spiele
Questions and answers
Sauerbaum supports 3–7 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 Sauerbaum is 30 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 Sauerbaum for ages 8 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.
Sauerbaum 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.
Sauerbaum belongs to these categories: Dice and Environmental. Its main mechanics are Roll / Spin and Move, Dice Rolling, and Grid Movement. 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 Sauerbaum are: Johannes Tranelis. 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 Sauerbaum 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.