Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
In a medina on the borders of the kingdom thrives a dishonest merchant with excessive wealth. Gold coins, fabrics and carpets pile up in its hidden and well-guarded den.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Open Drafting
Select cards or items from a shared face-up display.
Pattern Building
Place elements to create arrangements that satisfy scoring or action patterns.
Push Your Luck
Choose whether to secure current gains or risk them for a larger reward.
Memory
Remember previously revealed information, positions, or sequences.
Take That
Direct negative effects at selected opponents.
Read the full game description
In a medina on the borders of the kingdom thrives a dishonest merchant with excessive wealth. Gold coins, fabrics and carpets pile up in its hidden and well-guarded den. In the middle of his treasure are nine bluish sapphires of great purity. Nine precious stones that make you dream. In the city, looters, thieves, and other rogues start a challenge: Whoever steals the most of these stones this night will be crowned king of thieves. Will you answer the call? Will you brave the forty thieves who keep the loot? The Gameplay: The game is made of 40 thieves cards and 20 special cards. Each card has a color and a symbol on the back, but only one is true. Players have to use deduction, memory and push their luck to arrange suits of symbols or colours to steal a sapphire. Place 16 cards into a 4 x 4 grid face down. The Sapphire gems are placed into the gaps between the cards. Each player turn has four phases; 1: ‘make a hand’ phase where the player ensures they have a hand of three cards drawn from the pile 2: ‘glimpse’ phase, when they can peek at a card on the grid without showing others what it is. 3:‘action’ phase, where the player can play card or do action on card from the grid. 4:‘attempt a steal’ phase, where the player managed to arrange suites of symbols or colours to steal a sapphire. Once all the Sapphire gems from the grid have been taken, the game ends. The one with the most Sapphire gems wins.