Pyramid Review
Tutankhamen
Published by Out of the Box Publishing
Designed by Reiner Knizia
Art by John Kovalic
70 artifact tiles, pyramid, 90 coins, 6 tokens, reference sheet, rules; $14.99
Many historical questions persist about Egypt's so-called "boy king," supposedly dead at the age of 18, but the one that holds the most fascination for folks is: Where did Tutankhamen leave all his loot? Two to six players take the role of archaeologists who gather treasure and, not as stupid as all those others who have been cursed by countless mummies before them, make sure to pay homage to Tut by giving him their money.
The object of the game is to be the first player to give up all his coins.
The game is played on a long, meandering strip of tiles that lead up to a pyramid. Each tile shows a treasure, with the number on the tile indicating how many tiles are in that set and how much that set is worth. Along the way you can also gather bags of gold and pharaoh tiles, and sitting atop the pyramid is the King Tut tile. Players start their pawns at the end of the path, going toward the monument. You begin the game with tribute coins -- the more players, the fewer coins you'll have to get rid of.
Movement isn't random. Your pawn may go to any point in the path, and the player collects the tile he lands on and places it in front of him. He may not backtrack, so any tiles he passes up are lost to him. Those coming up behind him may still land on unclaimed . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: May 27, 2005
Copyright © 2005 by Steve Jackson Games. All rights reserved. Pyramid subscribers are permitted to read this article online, or download it and print out a single hardcopy for personal use. Copying this text to any other online system or BBS, or making more than one hardcopy, is strictly prohibited. So please don't. And if you encounter copies of this article elsewhere on the web, please report it to webmaster@sjgames.com.