Designer: Reiner Knizia

Artist: Jacqui Davis

Publisher: 25th Century Games

25th Century Games has been remaking some solid but older Knizia titles such as Amun Re, Ra and soon, Razzia. They have also produced a couple of brand new titles such as Longboard. Tutankhamun which was re-titled from Tutankhamen belongs to the former group of games that was published some 30 years ago. That a game this old gets reprinted by a new-ish company is something to be celebrated. Still, as much as I cheer on 25th Century Games, I am a little perplexed at the choice to reprint this game. Tutankhamun is at best, a “fringe” game that did not really capture the imagination of the crowd when it first came out, and certainly failed to do so now as well. That said, a new reprint usually comes with tweaks and changes to the core game. The question is whether these changes improves game play or make it worse.

There is no fixed board in Tutankhamun, just a series of river tiles to be picked up for set collection.

Tutankhamun’s game play is reminiscent of a recent game called Bites, which itself is a remake of Big Points. In both games, a series of tiles are randomly laid out – single file, so that they stretch out end to end like a meandering river. Players start from one end and move individual pawns on the track, picking up tiles as they go to score points. In Tutankhamun, Knizia wants players to carry out set collection of tile for scoring points. Thematically, the stretch of tiles that curve around the table symbolizes the Nile and as players navigate the river, they will pick up artifacts that will eventually be entombed with King Tut. In the process of delivering the priceless artifacts, players will cleanse their souls and purge away their “soul points”. In gaming terms, each player is allotted a certain number of points based on player count and victory is achieved by being first to deplete all the points. However, King Tut is quite fickle and will only accept completed sets of artifacts collected from the Nile. As soon as all the tiles of the same type are claimed, players will assess majority and score points. If there is a sole majority, then the players will scoop up the full score while tied players share half the value. Tile sets have a diverse spread of point values and these points also denote the number of tiles in the set. Hence, the higher the point value, the more tiles to fight over and the more protracted the battle to claim majority.

The key angst factor for Tutankhamun – and there is one in each Knizia design – is the freedom to decide how far and fast to go up the Nile. There are no restrictions in forward movement and presumably one can sail the boat all the way to the end of the Nile in the first turn, and thumb your nose at King Tut. Of course, this defeats the purpose of playing the game. But in setting up this rule, Knizia allows players complete freedom to decide the pace of collecting tiles. Because tiles are randomly distributed and scoring can only be done when all tiles in a particular set are claimed, the rate of forward movement will differ between players as each must prioritize set collection. Of course, since the winner must purge all their soul points, collecting a single set is not adequate. Instead, players are forced to compete for multiple majorities and even if one falls short to win outright majority, sharing the spoils for half the amount of points is crucial. There is a constant push-pull between playing aggressively and defensively. Each one wants maximum points while denying others the same. This is what makes Tutankhamun a deceptively simple filler. Because of how the game unfolds, it is impossible to come into the game with a preconceive path to victory. Instead, one has to react to the ever changing configuration of river tiles and figure out the best way to maximize scoring. Tutankhamun may seem like a pleasurable romp in the river, but is in fact a deceptively brain burner exercise that requires both collaboration and competition.

The new edition of Tutankhamun introduces God tiles with special powers that breaks rules and allow pick up of discarded tiles.

Now, there are quite significant tweaks made to Tutankhamun that stands out from Tutankhamen. In the newer edition, the tile distribution differs from the older version, with more tiles added to the river to accommodate a higher player count. I think this is a benign change. New tiles come in the form of Scarab beetles worth one point each, but then score a majority bonus of five points when all are claimed. This is not a bad addition either. I like it. However, the more controversial addition come in the form of Egyptian God tiles that bestow special powers. In total, there are 10 god tiles, each showcasing powers from five gods. We have seen this type of tweaks in numerous other reprints – the introduction of special powers or rule-bending benefits that warp the rules and allow players to execute special maneuvers. Naturally, this has courted some flak from veterans who generally enjoy a pure, unadulterated version of the game as originally intended by the designer.

The introduction of the God tiles also resulted in the creation of the Underworld board where tiles discarded from the river are not completely out of the game, but are instead placed in the underworld. In the original game, any river tiles left in the wake of the lagging boat will be removed. In the new edition, these tiles will be sent to realm of the dead, thematically a little odd. During the course of the game, certain god tiles allow you to pick up the discarded tiles from the underworld, while others will allow removal from the Nile. Additionally, God tiles also allow players to swap position of river tiles, to pick up tiles out of turn or to simply reposition the boat at one end of the Nile. All of these powers tend to change how the game is played. Instead of a simple, straight foward path, these special powers end up providing more options. Players can now chain up god powers to trigger a cascade of actions. For some, this will be a huge negative as a simple strategy is needlessly cluttered with more pieces. There is a simple elegance to the 30 year old game that is lost in the new version. For others who welcome complexity, the God tiles will provide more variation and variety to game play, even if it comes at a cost of injecting more chaos in decision making. Ultimately, there is no right or wrong here, just a preference for the different types of game play.

The art work in Tutankhamun is too garish and over the top that it impedes game play.

Regardless of whether you fall on one side of the camp or the other regarding the tweaks, I think many will find the artwork excessive to the point that it hampers game play. The original Tutankhamen from Out of the Box spots a very simple set of high-contrast tiles with basic colors that allows it to stand out from the background. In the new edition, the artifact tiles are gaudy, over saturated with colors that are too similar between the different sets. Practically every artifact is a different shade of gold. To top it off, the drawings are superimposed upon a dark blue background that is low contrast and tough to differentiate. The end result is a mish-mash of colors on all the tiles such that when laid out, it takes a lot of extra effort to survey the entire state of the river and pinpoint where all the similar tiles are located. This is a big mistake and one that has rightly courted indignation from many players. Simple colors would suffice here and it would make the game more functional. To make matters worse, the God tiles are also incredibly hard to distinguish and there are no symbols to indicate the special powers that come with the tiles. To rectify this, the game comes with player aids that copies from the rulebook verbatim. It is wordy and frustrating to use, the anti-thesis of what a player aid is supposed to do. I have played this game a handful of times and each time I refer to the player aid and faced with a wall of text, I cannot distinguish nor remember the godly powers. All of this dampens my enthusiasm of trying out the god tiles and makes me yearn for the simplicity of the original game. This is such a big miss for the publisher and honestly should not happen. I am sure play testing would have revealed this big flaw. Why make it harder to play the game?

Final thoughts

Despite the numerous misgivings I have of the new edition, I am still of the mindset that a reprint is better than no reprint. The game, despite all its flaws, is still playable and 25th Century games should be given credit for taking the plunge to publish an older title. Give credit where credit is due. In fact, with some tweaks, players of the new edition can also play with the original rules. However, I had hoped that the publishers took steps to include the original rules as well as some of the components to play the original Tutankhamen. I do not think that will distract from the new edition, but will only enhance the reputation of the publisher for looking out for players that want a simpler game. Ultimately, Tutankhamun’s game play is classic Knizia. It is so very simple – move on the river and pick up a tile to form a set. However, hidden in plain sight is the underlying depth of each decision to contest a tile for set collection. It is a perfect information game with no luck as you can see what is ahead of the Nile as well as the sets every player is contesting. Replaying the game after such a long hiatus reminded me of why I love Knizia the designer and why Tutankhamun remains an amazing filler with enough depth to draw in hobby gamers and easy enough for first timers to jump right in to play.

Initial impression: Good