In the board game Amerigo you are an explorer competing to become the best explorer in the land and you will need to take control of a cube tower in order to claim a new discovery as your own. Amerigo is a board game primarily about discovery and development. Once you discover a valuable asset on the board, you must build and develop on that asset. Amerigo can be played by 2 to 4 players, and official game equipment includes pirate cannon tokens, goods tiles, development tiles, and a turn order track. Each player will also have a Player Board where they can keep track of all the gold, pirate cannon tokens, development pieces and goods they have. Players will also have their own markers.
Cube Tower
The main mechanic of Amerigo is a cube tower. You drop cubes into the top of it and some of these cubes will get stuck on their way down. Other cubes that were previously stuck can be knocked out of the tower, allowing cubes of different colors, whether more or less, to come out. The cube tower is basically a card tower containing a few card sections inside, and having various holes where cubes will fall through.
How To Play Amerigo
Every round of play consists of 7 turns for each player. In a turn you will drop the main action cubes down the tower. If only 1 color comes out, then that will be the amount of Action Points and also the type of action you can take on that turn. When more than 1 color comes out all players will choose which available action that came out. The largest number of the same color cubes that came out in a single round will determine the number of Action Points players can win.
7 Actions
Here are the following 7 actions a player can take to make history and become a great explorer.
1) Explore (Blue Cubes)
You can set sail for adventure, move your boats and make bold discoveries with blue cubes. Once you discover a new land you will automatically get to make a settlement. If you are the first person to explore and settle on new land the you will receive bonus Victory Points. It is preferred that you explore as much as you can on the board. By exploring often you will give yourself a chance to score points along with other actions. Even if you explore lands that are already occupied, you can give yourself the chance to spread your influence to the people of that land.
2) Gain Cannons (Black Cubes)
Amerigo is not safe brisk exploration marathon! While out on the open seas, the possibility of a pirate attack is always present. If you leave yourself open to a pirate attack, you will have points stolen from you. With black cubes you will be able to place cannons, pirate cannon tokens, around you to defend yourself. However, be prepared to lose some cannons after every fight against the pirates because they will be destroyed, so you must rebuild your supply of cannons. If you don’t have enough cannons to defend yourself, you will lose all your cannons and the pirates will steal at least 1 point from you.
3) Planning (Red Cubes)
It’s one thing to just discover a land, but it’s another thing to build on that land and develop it to cater to the people of your city! Settlements must be taken care of once they are established. With the help of red cubes you will be given the chance to evaluate what you need for your land to thrive and what type of buildings you need to build to strengthen your influence on your people. Do you build certain buildings to help your people survive, or just to win yourself more points?
4) Development (Brown Cubes)
The larger cities grow the more valuable they will become in the game, so it’s best to obtain new resources to keep your people happy. When given brown cubes you will be able to gain any number of ideas that will eventually take you to a new discovery. With these new ideas the big picture will become very clear as to what you need to do become the best explorer. What kind of fame would you like to be known for as an explorer? Which resources symbolize your efforts? The more ideas you obtain, the more technologies that will come to your possession, which means you can score more points.
5) Place Building Tiles (Green Cubes)
Utilizing green cubes, you take your plans and build them in an area that you feel is most opportune. While building on these plans you can find natural resources that you could produce at a later time in the game, which will help you win some points. You want to focus on completing as many buildings as possible because Completion Points and Settlement Points are at stake.
6) Improve Trade Good Values (Yellow Cubes)
Also known as the Production phase, by utilizing the yellow cubes you will take your newly found natural resources and develop them. You will gain double the value of a particular resource with each production of it. If you have a chance to produce more of one resource then take that chance!
7) Special/Bonus Action (White Cubes)
With the white cubes you gain the ability of moving up on the track. Regardless of where you land on the track you will be able to utilize the color your marker is on instead of moving on the track when white cubes are rolled. Moving up on the bonus track means that you will gain Victory Points.
Objective and Strategy:
The main objective in Amerigo is to have the most combined points out of all players after every round is played. Amerigo is a game that mainly requires short-term decision making. You are allowed to develop long-term plans, but it requires more thought in order to execute those plans. Sometimes you will need to make revisions to your long-term plans in order to better fit your current position on the board.
A player can only place city tiles if they can connect that tile in a path back to one of their trading posts either with their own tiles and/or with natural tiles. If you don’t have a trading post then you won’t be able to build on an island. The amount of goods that you store will count toward the amount of Victory Points you will have at the end of the game. Spending yellow cubs will increase the value of goods. If you choose to build on a larger island you will be able to score more points. You can also skip an action to gain more gold, which will lead to having more Action Points.