Amritsar: The Golden Temple

I approached Amritsar: The Golden Temple with some hesitation. The manual is a little awkward, and the graphic design has that peculiar look that reminded me of Ludonova’s other deranged effort, Sabika. This is not a game that immediately wins you over through its presentation—and yes, we cannot clone O’Toole to illustrate everything.

At its core, though, it has a genuinely substantial medium-euro recipe. Its main engine is a two-dimensional mancala, with bodies and colours, which brought recent Pilgrim to mind and, naturally, its great ancestor Trajan. Moving and managing those elements is not merely a trick for selecting actions: it links your choices into a chain, so that every move affects what you will be able to do later.

On top of that comes the rather strange area-majority mechanism: players move an elephant around in a circle, and it drops offerings at the Asian temple. Yes, somebody thought of that. In practice, however, it works, adding a second source of pressure over the mancala and producing some pleasing synergies. The game is tight without becoming complete multiplayer solitaire, and it leaves several different strategies capable of competing for the win.

My first game was decided on the final action by just one point, which perfectly suits that sense of tension. I would mentally deduct a few points for the tiring instructions and the illustration, but the system has enough substance to overcome those obstacles. For any fan of medium euros, Amritsar is a good addition to the shelf.