GamingReport.com
Wayne Tonjes
June 2005
USA

Tutankhamen™ by Out of the Box Publishing is a new tile game, sort of, for two to six players from ages eight to adult. Unlike most tile games where the goal is to place the tiles in some fashion to generate a winning score, in this game the tiles are randomly placed and then the players try to collect them strategically to be the first player out of coins.

The basic game play is pretty straightforward with a simple goal, quoted here from the rule pamphlet:

“In Tutankhamen players act as archaeologists who compete to collect valuable sets of artifacts. Players pay tribute to King Tut by depositing Tribute Coins into the Pyramid when the artifact sets are scored. The first player to deposit all of his or her Tribute Coins wins Tutankhamen.”

The captivating aspects of the game come in with how players can move and artifacts are scored. Players start at the end of the randomly placed artifact trail and can move to any artifact ahead of them. Furthermore, when all players have moved past part of the trail the end is removed. Jumping ahead to collect more valuable tiles first can win a game, but going too far may leave a player stranded at the pyramid stuck with Tribute Coins.

Each time a group of artifacts is completely removed from play, either by a player collecting the last one or the clearing of a bypassed trail section, they are scored. Each artifact has a value equal to the quantity of pieces in its set, so the green burial masks of which there are eight is worth 8 tribute coins. The player with most pieces out of a set scores the points for it. There are a couple special tiles in the trail that can alter this, though, and there is a rule sheet that details the assorted artifacts and their scoring separate from the play rules. Grabbing the best treasures may not always be enough to score them, but that just adds to the fun.

Tutankhamen™ is conceptually a little unusual, not fitting a lot of the typical game categories. However, it is a quick to learn game even with its two part rules. The game design itself is excellent, with thematic, color tiles and durable playing pieces. The box is nearly as good, although it could have been slightly bigger. The current design requires the internal space divider be removed to get all of the game components out for play. However, that is a very, very minor issue since the internal space divider is designed for it with a surprisingly sturdy construction. At first glance, this may seem a somewhat odd game, but after one play, it will be treasured. So go out and dig up a copy today.

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