Ra (1999)

Ra is an auction game with an Ancient Egyptian theme. Each turn players are able to purchase three lots of tiles with their bidding tiles. Once a player has purchased his three lots for the round, the other players continue until they do likewise, which may set up a situation with a single uncontested player bidding on tiles before the end of the round occurs. Tension builds because the round may end before all players have had a chance to win their three lots for the epoch. The tiles give either immediate points, prevent negative points for not having certain types at the end of the round (epoch), or give points after the final round. The game lasts for three epochs. The game offers a short learning curve, and experienced players find it both fast-moving and a quick play.

This game is #1 in the Alea big box series and is part of the Knizia auction trilogy.

Awards

2000: International Gamers Award Best Strategy Game Nominee.

1999: Deutscher Spiele Preis 2nd Place.

1999: Meeples' Choice Award

Sequels & Spinoffs

• Razzia!
• Ra: The Dice Game

Online Play

• BrettspielWelt (real-time)

Non-Online play
computer version of Ra

"Official" rules for two players are well-established but were not published in the rules:

• Sun tile distribution: 2 5 7 8 / 3 4 6 9
• No -2 penalty for fewest pharaohs or -5 penalty for smallest sun tile total
• As expected, the first Ra tile goes on the space after the one marked "3 players"

Uberplay box size is 28 x 19.5 x 7 cm.

Microbadges:

Designer Reiner Knizia Microbadges: (Buy One)

Components:

• 1 eight-page rule booklet
• 1 cloth bag with drawstring
• 1 Ra figure
• 16 sun tokens, numbered 1 to 16
• 48 tablets (10 1-point, 8 2-point, 20 5-point, 10 10-point)
• 180 tiles
  • 2 drought tiles
  • 2 earthquake tiles
  • 2 funeral tiles
  • 4 unrest tiles
  • 5 gold tiles
  • 8 god tiles (Anubis, Bastet, Chnum, Horus, Seth, Sobek, Throth, Uto)
  • 12 flood tiles
  • 25 civilization tiles (5 agriculture, 5 art, 5 astronomy, 5 religion, 5 writing)
  • 25 Nile tiles
  • 25 pharaohs tiles
  • 30 Ra tiles
  • 40 monuments (5 fortress, 5 obelisk, 5 palace, 5 pyramid, 5 sphinx, 5 statues, 5 step pyramid, 5 temple)