Imhotep board game review

Thames & Kosmos | £32.50 | Building | 2-4 players | 40 minutes | 10+ | www.thamesandkosmos.co.uk

Sometimes a game really catches you by surprise. Take Imhotep as a perfect example, with its theme of becoming a builder in ancient Egypt who must transport stone blocks (actually large wooden cubes) to a building site before constructing different monuments in order to score points. It’s not exactly a description that leaps off the page but, you know what, this is a really strategic game.

On your turn you can perform one of these actions: get new stones from the quarry, place a stone on one of your ships, sail a ship back to your site or play one of your market cards. There are four monuments to build: pyramid, temple, burial chamber and obelisk, although each card can be reversed to the B-side, which offers an extra challenge by making it more difficult to score.

Each of the monuments is built in a different way and there are variations in how you score. The Temple, for example, scores one point for any blocks that are visible from above at the end of a round, while the pyramids score immediately depending upon where you place your block, after unloading them from the boat. The great thing is, you’re actually building these structures using the chunky wooden blocks that come with the game, so by the time you’ve finished the playing area will be full of slightly unwieldy monuments.

Tactics come into play when deciding where to unload your stone blocks and what to build – do you opt for creating the largest obelisk? Perhaps you’d be better offer building on top of your rival at the temple to stop them scoring? Or should you flog your stones at the market to get an event card that could help you out? Each round there are plenty of decisions and, although it gets a little repetitive, Imhotep undoubtedly offers plenty of player interaction and tactical choices.

Buy your copy here.

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