With no natural resources, the Government of Uruguay is concerned about the country’s dependence on imported fossil fuels. As a consequence, it is seeking to increase the share of domestic resources, of which the most feasible are biomass and wind energy, as well as employing end-use energy efficiency measures to increase its energy security. In addition, the government aims to use the intended growth of the domestic energy sector to foster its other objectives of increasing economic growth and creating employment. (Extract from World Bank Documents, CASE STUDY 11: URUGUAY – WIND ENERGY PROGRAMME )

“Toward noon, however, the sun’s rays were extremely scorching, and when evening came, a bar of clouds streaked the southwest horizon – a sure sign of a change in the weather. The Patagonian pointed it out to the geographer, who replied:

‘Yes, I know;’ and turning to his companions, added, ‘see, a change of weather is coming! We are going to have a taste of PAMPERO.’ And he went on to explain that this PAMPERO is an extremely dry wind which blows from the southwest. […] The PAMPERO generally brings a tempest which lasts three days, and may be always foretold by the depression of the mercury, ‘he said. ‘But when the barometer rises, on the contrary, which is the case now, all we need expect is a few violent blasts. So you can make your mind easy, my good friend; by sunrise the sky will be quite clear again.’ ( Jules Verne, 1868: In Search of the Castaways. CHAPTER XVI: THE NEWS OF THE LOST CAPTAIN. )

 

Pampero is a hand management, card driven action selection game. Every player has a identical starting hand of 8 cards, to be played on an action board on their tableau, which contains two rows of spaces to activate actions on the different sectors of the board. On your turn you will have the option to play one card to the leftmost empty space of any row, pay the cost for that space (depending which zone on the board the action will take place – A, B, or C), and take the action. After three turns, all players return only the rightmost card from one of the two rows back into their hand. Players also collect income.

Actions become less expensive as cards fill your action board. Eventually, you will run low on cards and need to take a turn to retrieve all cards from your tableau and move your turn marker to the next space.

Knowing when and where to play cards, and when to retrieve them all to your hand is a crucial skill for success.

Add wind farms to the board to collect energy that can be used to power other actions, such as placing power lines. Move power lines to the main board from your grid board, opening your grid board up and allowing you to collect different contract types and achieve higher income.

Collect contracts from the board in areas where you’ve added power lines. Move these contracts to the grid board on your tableau, and put the transformer from that space on the grid board onto the main board to show ownership of that contract.

Pampero is APE’s largest game yet! Multiple scoring tiles, bonus action card, bonus tiles, etc. provide multiple avenues to victory and make every game a very different experience!

The installation of wind farms can have an impact on the natural habitat of the surrounding fauna and flora. The government has programs that reward the protection of this habitat. A new action lets players score points for nature reserves near their transformers.

Additionally, the Nature expansion includes components and rules for improving the energy grid infrastructure. The Cardal Transmission Project included with the expansion lets players improve the resilience and reliability of Uruguay’s electricity transmission network.

The Pampero pre-order store is available now! Get Pampero, the Nature expansion, cool metal coins!

  • 1–4 Players
  • 60150 Min
    Playing Time
  • Age: 14+

How to Play

Final rulebooks for Pampero and expansions:

Pampero base game rules
Player reference
Solo rules
Clear skies expansion rules
Nature expansion rules

We’ll add to this list a guide for putting the game components back into the box.

Designer Bio

Julián Pombo is a game designer from Uruguay who created and developed the solo mode for Vital Lacerda’s Lisboa and CO2: Second Chance. A photographer, System Analyst and father of two, Julián lives in his old family home in Zapicán, a 400-person town in Uruguay. He plays Basque Pelota and enjoys long bike rides.

Ian O’Toole is an avid board gamer and relishes the chance to use his skills to make a great game even better. A keen sense of genre and theme, as well as extensive gaming experience enable him to create a visually fluid and engaging experience.

Pampero News

Dealers in Hope Postponed

| Dealers in Hope | No Comments
After much soul-searching and dialog, we've decided to temporarily postpone Dealers in Hope. Our plan had been to crowdfund the game this summer, but decided to hold off on our…

APE Games Project Status Update

| Chaos Cove, Comic Book Bubble, Dealers in Hope, Ivion, Legends of Crimson Bluff, News, One Card Wonder, Pampero, Trickerion, Vengeance: Roll & Fight | One Comment
I've been meaning to put together a diagram like this that shows the location of each APE games in the production chain. Now that it's finally built, it'll be easy…

Join the discussion 2 Comments

  • Jeff Knapp says:

    Hi!! My name is Jeff, and I produce board game content videos on YouTube both on my own channel (Tabletop Toolbox) as well as contributions to The Dice Tower. I learned of Pampero recently through Heavy Cardboard’s YouTube Channel and am especially interested in this title. I am a project construction scheduling consultant working with Dominion Energy in central Virginia (US). We are currently in the heavy planning and logistics stage of the United State’s largest off-shore wind farm to date – estimated at over $9.5 Billion US Dollars. I’ve worked heavily in wind energy now for nearly 2 years, and as an avid board gamer, this game caught my interest immediately. I would REALLY love a chance to somehow demo this game – I’d love to talk about it on my own channel, perhaps discussing the specific rules or gameplay. Is there any way I might be able to do so, perhaps using an online method such as Tabletop Simulator? Thanks for your time – I hope we can link up regarding this upcoming title!

  • Henry Rudat says:

    Hello,
    We are interested in the Games Pampero and Great Dinosaur Rush.
    Is there a possibility to preorder the Games and pick them up at Spiel 23.

    Greetings Henry Rudat

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