Being an empire builder is generally fun, but in this game there is a lot of thinking and choice balancing as is typical for a Knizia game. Set in ancient Egypt, this game also includes building pyramids and sacrificing to the ancient god Amun Re, thus the name. While another Knizia Egyptian game has been accused of having a very light theme, the theme for Amun Re is woven into the actions that a player can take and the results of the various actions. This quickly became one of my favorite games. The game contains two auction phases, one open auction where players chose provinces and one blind auction (the sacrifice) which has many other factors other than winning affecting how much players bid. But this game is not just about the auctions. Doing poorly at the auctions will doom you to failure, but being successful at the auctions will not guarantee victory either.

Components: The components are of high quality, but are not excessively fancy. The board seems to have been designed to be functional, but it does have a feeling of being set in a desert. The board is divided into 15 provinces, each of which has various symbols within them to designate different factors important to that region. The board is also divided into quarters by a river and a perpendicular line. While I have only seen man-made rivers that are that straight for such a long course, the river does a fine job of dividing the board into two sections. The division by the line is less obvious and can easily be missed by beginning players. Outside of the map of the regions is a summary of costs for buying the various items in the game, a tracker for measuring the sacrifice, and a scoring track. Overall, the board is very functional, if not overly beautiful to start with.

The cards are small, but this does not hamper game play. There are cards for money in various denominations from 1 to 20 with an extra -3 card for each player, cards indicating the provinces that are being auctioned, and power cards that can be used in different ways. The cards are study, but they were once again designed to be functional.

The bits included with the game include plastic stones, pyramids, double pyramids, and scoring markers which look like chicklets. Each color of scoring markers also has a matching set of 3 cardboard province markers to claim provinces once bought. There are also two cardboard figures which represent Amun Re signifying the player to go first and a temple to indicate how much was sacrificed. Small cardboard farmers are also included. All very useful, but not overly fancy by themselves.

Amazingly, the combination of all of the pieces when played on the board is appealing. While none of the pieces individually looks great, by the end of the game a nice looking desert kingdom has been produces including farmers, pyramids, and stones.

A nice addition is the player aids included with the game explaining the different phases of each turn and scoring.

Setup: This is actually a very easy game to set up. Each player is given 20 gold (1 ten, 1 five, 2 two, and 1 one card) along with a -3 card. Players also choose a color and take the corresponding scoring and province markers. Power cards and provinces cards are shuffled. A player is chosen to go first. Players place one of their scoring markers on the zero of the scoring track and the other is kept for bidding.

Game Play:The game is divided into 6 turns of 5 phases. The first three turns comprise the Old Kingdom, and the last three turns comprise the New Kingdom. Since scoring is done at the end of turns 3 and 6, these two turns include a sixth scoring phase.

One note before describing the different phases of the game. When auctioning off the provinces or purchasing goods a graded scale is used in what will be paid. The first unit costs one gold, the second unit costs two gold, and this pattern continues. Thus, buying one of something cost 1. Buying 2 costs 3 (1+2). Buying 5 costs 15 (1+2+3+4+5). Bidding on provinces begins at 0, and proceeds to 1, 3, 6, 10, and so forth. As a result, it is encouraged to buy a couple of each item each turn rather than saving up to buy a whole bunch at the end. Also, overbidding on provinces becomes more expensive very quickly as the cost increases.

Phase 1: Displaying provinces for bid. Province cards a flipped up equivalent to the number of players in the game. If there are 4 players, flip up 4 province cards and place them on the corresponding provinces on the board. Also, add any bonuses included with the province to the board as indicate on the province section. These may included stones, money, or power cards.

Phase 2: Bidding on provinces. Players bid on provinces by placing their scoring marker on the appropriate bid on the province of their choice starting with the player who has the Amun Re figure and continuing clockwise. If a player is overbid on a province, they must wait for their turn to come around again before bidding on a different province. Once there is a single bid on each of the five provinces, each player pays the gold bid and claims the province with a province marker.

Two power cards can be used in this phase. The Rebid card allows a player to rebid on a province without first bidding on a second province and being subsequently overbid on that province as well. It is very useful when a player needs a specific province for some reason (like fulfilling scoring power cards). The Block card forces a player who is outbidding someone to outbid them by two spaces.

Phase 3: Buying power cards, farmers, and stones. Starting with the player who has the Amun Re figure, players buy cards, farmers, and stones. The cost is related to how many of each item is being bought. Buying power cards and farmers are limited by the provinces that a player owns. Each province gives the ability to purchase a given number of power cards, ranging from 0 to 4. A player may buy as many power cards as denoted by the province that they own which allows the most power cards. Once they have purchased power cards or chose not to purchase any, a player may purchase farmers. To purchase a farmer, a player must have a spot in one of their provinces available to place a farmer. If there are no available spots, they have nowhere to place the farmers. Provinces may have 0 to 6 spaces for farmers, and players may place farmers on any of their provinces. Player can sell back power cards at any time for 1 gold. Finally, players may purchase stones. Any number of stones may be purchase and placed in any of their provinces, but the cost depends on the number of stones purchased. Any time there are 3 stones on a provinces, they are converted to a pyramid.

Two power cards can be played in this phase. A free farmer can be played, and the farmer is placed on any owned province, but the farmer is not placed in one of the farmer rectangles. This is truly an extra farmer for the player. Also, a building card may be played, converting 2 stones into a pyramid.

Purchasing continues clockwise until each player has purchased what they want.

Phase 4: The sacrifice to Amun Re. Each player either sacrifices gold to Amun Re or steals 3 gold from the offering. Players select the gold they wish to sacrifice, and hold the gold face down. If they chose to steal, they hold the -3 card distributed at the beginning of the game. Once all players have determined their sacrifice, the sacrifices are revealed, and the total is added up. The temple piece is placed on the appropriate sacrifice space (total 2 or less on space 1, 3-12 on space 2, 13-22 on space 3, and 23 and up on space 4). The player who offered the most receives 3 items in bonus, second receives 2, and other players making a sacrifice receive 1. The items can be a combination of power cards, farmers (if the player has a space to put them) or stones. Any player stealing from the offering receives no items as a bonus from Amun Re, instead they receive 3 gold. The player making the greatest offering takest the Amun Re figure and starts the bidding in the next turn.

One power card may be played in the face down cards, the Offering Adjustment card. The player who played the card may increase or decrease the value of the offering by 3 gold.

Phase 5: Income. Players receive income based on the income indicated in the provinces they own and the farmers. Some provinces contain free money each turn, and players with those provinces always receive this income. Some have dependent income, indicated by camels. Players only receive this income if the offering ended up on spaces 1 or 2. Finally, farmers generate income, as they did in ancient Egypt. The income from a farmer is dependent on the harvest which is dependent on how much people sacrificed to Amun Re. If the sacrifice was at position 1, players receive 1 gold for each farmer, if it was at position 3, they receive 3 gold per farmer, and similar calculations for 2 and 4.

Two power cards affect income. The “8” power card allows players to replace the income from one province with 8 gold. The “+1” card allows players to earn an extra gold per farmer during the harvest.

Phase 6: Scoring. This phase only occurs at the end of turns 3 and 6. Players tabulate the score they have accumulated.
Players score:
1 point for each pyramid
3 points for each set of pyramids (1 set = 1 pyramid in each of the 3 provinces the player owns, 2 sets = 2 pyramids)
5 points for having the most pyramids in one province on one side of the river. Thus, 2 bonuses are given out each time. Ties are broken by counting extra stones in the province, and if it is still tied points go to all tied players.
Temples, located in 3 of the provinces, give points equivalent to where the sacrifice ended in the given phase (1 to 4 points per temple).
3 points for each completed power card the player has. Power cards include on-or-off of the river, one side of the river, upper-or-lower kingdom, 9 farmers, or 7 power card symbols.
At the end of turn six only, player also get points for the gold they have on hand. First place gets 6 points, second gets 4, third gets 2.

After scoring is complete at the end of the third turn, all of the player markers and farmers are removed from the board. The stones and pyramids remain to alter the values of the provinces used in turns 4-6. For turns 4-6, only the provinces that were used in turns 1-3 are available to be used. Thus, the province cards that were not used during the first 3 turns are removed from the game.

Players move their scoring marker on the outside track to the score that they earned in turn 3, and add the points earned in turn 6. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins.

Final note, only one of each particular type of power card can be played each turn. Thus, a player may not play 2 free farmer cards on one turn. They can play one, but the second has to wait until the next turn.

Explaining the Game: Standard game play is easily explained to new plays, and it is facilitated by the inclusion of the player aids. I have found it helpful to give each player a player aid even after they have played a few times.

Beyond the basic phases of the turns, there are three factors that people have difficulty judging: determining the value of a province during the first auction, understanding and appropriately sacrificing during the offering, and scoring. The difficulties with scoring are resolved after playing a few times, but the other factors are more difficult.

First, I describe the power cards available. While doing this, I go over what each power card does and which round they can be played in. I describe each point power card in detail, since these power cards may affect the relative value of the provinces to individual players. I have found it helpful to keep the rule book out during all games as a reference for the power cards even after a few plays. Some people can never keep them all straight, especially when they only play occasionally.

Second, when describing how to judge what a province is worth, it is important that new players understand what can be done with each province. The first thing to describe the value of a province is to focus in income and power cards. Income is important, because you need income in later rounds to buy the desired provinces as well as farmers, stones, and cards. Highlight the fixed income where available and the income from camels, reminding the new players that camel income is dependent on the sacrifice. Also, players need to understand the ability to get power cards from each province, noting that while some provinces allow the purchase of multiple cards others do not allow any. Finally, I point out the presence of temples in three of the provinces, stressing that these guarantee points in the scoring phase. To truly understand the value of a province to a player, players must also understand the power cards, which I have found only comes with playing a few times. While teaching players, I try to describe the importance of power cards in determining the values of provinces, but it is difficult for beginners, especially non-gamers, to grasp.

Finally, I try to describe the importance of the offering. I start by focusing on the income generated in the offering and its effects on the farmers. I point out that players with camels may want to limit the total value of the offering to guarantee they receive their trading income, while players with many farmers often want to sacrifice generously for both the income and the bonuses awarded to the higher sacrifices. This provides a good transition to discuss the rewards from Amun Re. These can be gone over briefly, since frequently beginners fixate on getting these “free” rewards. I then remind players that they can steal from the offering to gain money rather than other rewards. The last part I mention again is the effect the sacrifice has on the values of the temples in turns 3 and 6. I finally go back and stress the effects on income. This allows them to remember that there are multiple factors at work when determining how much to sacrifice.

Amun Re has many mechanisms that are easy to understand in principle but difficult to use effectively. That is where the beauty of the game is found. As players gain experience, they will be able to better understand when to pay a lot for a province, when to fight for the pyramid bonuses, and when to take the cheap provinces and let other players overpay.

Conclusions: Amun Re is a great game, and it can be a lot of fun to play if players like optimization. Figuring out how much to spend on provinces, cards, farmers, stones, and sacrifices takes some time, and less experienced players frequently find themselves without enough money to effectively purchase what they need to compete in the game. As a result, the first few games a player participates in are often massive blow outs that are not competitive. I have seen a number of games where the most experienced players win by 15-25 points, which is quite a margin when they only finish with 45-50 points. However, even in these games the players who were decimated wanted to play again, showing that winning is not necessary to have a good time.

The design of the game is meant to highlight the feel of the desert, and it does very well, adding to the theme of the game. The theme is well integrated into the mechanics and feel of the game, making this less of a soulless game than it could have been. However, the game is still about optimizing resources and resource management, which some will not find enjoyable.

Overall, I have found this to be one of my favorite games. It can generally fit into 45-75 minutes, depending on the number of players and the experience of the players. Unfortunately, this game is much better with more players. The 3 player game is lacking quite a bit since many of the provinces (6 out of 15) are not used in the game. Since players do not know which provinces are going to emerge in the draws, planning during the first 3 turns can be thrown off by an unlucky province draw. This is not a problem during the last 3 turns since the same provinces are used. The problem is diminished with 4 players when 12 of 15 provinces area available and eliminated entirely with 5 since all provinces are used. While the 3 player game is still enjoyable, the 4 and 5 player games are much better.

There is also some luck involved in the draw of the power cards. While almost all power cards are useful, they are also not all created equal. Scoring power cards can be very useful early in the game when there is still time to plan to use them, but in the last couple of turns they are often of no use since they cannot be gained. However, being able to sell back power cards for 1 gold reduces the risk involved in buying cards. That being said, players can still be hampered by bad draws. To me this adds to the replayability and planning in the game. Others may not like having this luck factor involved.

Replayability for me is high since each game is different based on which provinces are drawn and which combinations of provinces are available in each turn, altering the relative values of the provinces. However, since there are often multiple provinces that will work for each player, there are only rare times that players will begin crazy bidding wars for particular provinces. Combining this with differences in the amount of money available, differences in the offerings, and differences in where pyramids are built leads to variety in every game played. I have found the game to be very enjoyable, and while there is a learning curve to playing the game well, I have found that playing with beginners is still fun. They often want to play again and gain enough experience to become competitive after a few plays.

Rating by Number of Players:
3: 6
4: 8
5: 9