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 Das Labyrinth des Pharao, players are graverobbers who want to go as deep inside a pyramid as they can, preferably discovering chambers that contain treasures along the way. Each player starts the game with 28 identical tiles and a 5x5 grid representing a pyramid.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Read the full game description
In Das Labyrinth des Pharao, players are graverobbers who want to go as deep inside a pyramid as they can, preferably discovering chambers that contain treasures along the way. Each player starts the game with 28 identical tiles and a 5x5 grid representing a pyramid. Players each add the same tile to the grid each turn, slowly creating (if all goes well) a winding labyrinth inside the pyramid. When a player places a tile that shows one or more scarabs on it, he can choose to place a treasure marker on one or more scarabs. By the time that the third tile is placed, each player must decide which entrance to the pyramid his figure will take. The game ends once the 5x5 grid is filled. Each player counts the length of the corridor that extends from his starting point, scoring one point for each space in this path. In addition, the player scores two points for each treasure that's surrounded by four walls as long as at least one of those walls abuts the corridor walked by the graverobber. Whoever has the highest score wins! Das Labyrinth des Pharao includes rules for solo play as well as an advanced variant in which treasures are worth 1-3 points depending on their color, with this point value then multiplied by 1-4 depending on where its shared wall meets the corridor. The deeper the treasure along the path, the more points it's worth.