Arena

Arena
Info
Type	Landmark
Set	Empires
Illustrator(s)	Martin Hoffmann
Landmark text
At the start of your Buy phase, you may discard an Action card. If you do, take 2  from here. Setup: Put 6  here per player.

Arena is a Landmark from Empires. It holds a finite number of   tokens, which players take from if they keep an unplayed Action in hand to discard at the start of their Buy phase.

FAQ

Official FAQ

• With Villa it is possible for your Buy phase to start twice or more in a turn; you can make use of Arena each time.

Other rules clarifications

• You can discard an Action card even if there's no more   on this, which can be useful with Village Green.

Strategy

Arena is a relatively low-impact Landmark.   are usually of minimal importance early in the game, and even small improvements to your deck quality will have a much larger cumulative effect over the long term compared to an early lead in  . Discarding Action cards to Arena that you would otherwise play is therefore usually not worth the cost until later in the game. However, in weaker Kingdoms with limited scoring options (e.g., those where you can only gain one Province per turn), Arena's   may be more important than playing a weak Action card.

In games with Shelters, Arena will frequently have no impact at all, as players will be able to discard their Necropolis to Arena each shuffle, usually resulting in Arena points being quickly split at 6  per player.

Arena slightly lessens the cost of building a deck that is overterminaled because if you have terminal collision you can at least still discard the unplayed Action card for some benefit. Arena also lessens the drawback of receiving Ruins; Ruins count as Action cards but are too weak to be worth playing in most cases and are therefore prime targets for Arena.

Arena synergizes with Faithful Hound, which returns to your next hand when discarded, allowing it to be discarded to Arena every turn for little cost. Arena can also be used to activate Village Green. In these cases, it may be desirable to discard to Arena even if no   remain available.

Versions

English versions

Print	Digital	Text	Release	Date
		At the start of your Buy phase, you may discard an Action card. If you do, take 2  from here. Setup: Put 6  here per player.	Empires	June 2016

Other language versions

Language	Name	Print	Digital	Text	Notes
Dutch	Arena			Aan het begin van je aanschaffase mag je een actiekaart afleggen. Doe je dat , neem dan 2  van deze kaart. Voorbereiding: leg per speler 6  op deze kaart.	(2016)
Finnish	Areena
French	Arène
German	Arena			Zu Beginn deiner Kaufphase darfst du eine Aktionskarte aus deiner Hand ablegen. Wenn du das tust: Nimm 2 -Marker von dieser Karte. Spielvorbereitung: Legt pro Spieler 6 -Marker auf die Arena.	(2016)
German	Arena			Zu Beginn deiner Kaufphase darfst du eine Aktionskarte aus deiner Hand ablegen. Wenn du das tust, nimm 2  von hier. Spielvorbereitung: Legt pro Spieler 6  hierher.	2. Edition (2021)
Japanese	闘技場 (pron. tōgi-jō)			あなたの購入フェイズの開始時、アクションカード1枚を捨て札にしてもよい。捨て札にした場合、この上から2 得る。 準備:プレイヤー1人につき6 をこの上に置く。
Polish	Arena			Na początku swojej fazy zakupu możesz odrzucić kartę Akcji. Jeśli to zrobisz, weź stąd 2 . Przygotowanie: połóż tutaj po 6  na gracza.	(2017)
Russian	Арена (pron. aryena)

Trivia

Official card art.

Secret History

No changes.

—Donald X. Vaccarino, The Secret History of the Empires Cards

Was Arena considered as an Event?

It just didn't occur to me; I was trying to come up with Landmarks at the time. If I had noticed, it probably would have stayed as a Landmark, since it fits in with the VP-per-player ones, and as an Event it would have needed +1 Buy and "once per turn."

—Donald X. Vaccarino, Interview with Donald X.