Thames & Kosmos - "Imhotep: The Duel"

Photo above is property of Thames & Kosmos

Company: Thames & Kosmos

Game: Imhotep: The Duel

Country: USA 🇺🇸

Language: English

Type of Game: Tabletop Games (Card Game) 📬

Genre: Strategy, Worker Placement

Date Played: April 14, 2024

Difficulty (based on 2 players): 4/10

Size of Team: 2 Players

Time: Approximately 30 Mins.

Price: $19.95

🆃🅷🅴 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈

"Imhotep: The Duel" is a two player only version of the slightly older base game, Imhotep. In this game, players take on the roles of Nefertiti and Akhenaten, one of Egypt's most famous royal couples, but here they/you are competing against each other to build the tallest obelisk, the most opulent temple, the biggest pyramids, and the best-connected tomb. Your buildings will generate points and the player with the most points wins.

Photo above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

🆃🅷🅴 🅶🅰🅼🅴 🅿🅻🅰🆈

The game is focused around a 3x3 grid, which represents an ancient Egyptian harbour. Around the outside of the harbour we find the moorings for six boats; each bringing different resources to the city.

Players take it in turns to perform one of three basic actions:

• Place a meeple onto the board

• Unload one boat (must have at least 2 meeples in the row/column)

• Play an acquired action token

Each boat carries three resources and it is by unloading boats that players receive the necessary resources to build their monuments. Each monument has its own board that details how they individually score.

In order to determine which player(s) receive resources, meeples are placed one by one onto any of the nine occupied spaces of the harbour, until someone choses to Unload. Once a player declares to unload a boat the meeples located in that same row or column receive a resource token according to how the are positioned; the player closest to the boat receives the token furthest from them, the meeple in the middle receives the middle token, and the meeple furthest from the boat receives the token closest to them. If any harbour space remains unoccupied then the corresponding token remains on the ship.

Once unloaded the meeples who just received resources are removed from the board and the boat is refilled with new tokens.

The newly acquired tokens are placed on the corresponding monument board for end game scoring.

Playing a blue action token is the third option players can make on their turn. These tokens provide strong one-time abilities which are often the equivalent of taking two simultaneous actions, such as place a meeple and unload a boat, or place 2-3 meeples. Opting to take these tokens from a ship won’t help your end of game score, but it might help you later on.

Play continues until all of the goods are gone and all but one of the boats has been unloaded. At that point, players add up their points, and whoever has the most wins!

Photo above is property of Thames & Kosmos

🆃🅷🅴 🅼🅴🅲🅷🅰🅽🅸🅲🆂

Set Collection – At the heart of it, this game is all about set collection. There is definitely a good amount of strategy to figuring out which tokens will benefit your monument construction the best, but not knowing how your opponent will play creates an interesting dynamic that makes the game more exciting than many other set collection games that can often feel like solo experiences.

Take That – Whether you play mean intentionally or not, this is a head-to-head with a tight board that offers limited decision space. Therefore, you will, quite quickly, be making decisions which will frustrate your opponent… and they to you also! Unloading a boat early or placing meeples in disadvantageous places might not benefit you directly, but it can be the right strategy to throw off your opponent’s game and limit their progress.

Kosmos have done a good job working in the Egyptian theme with decent art and scoring that makes sense to the setting. As anyone who knows even the slightest amount of history can tell you, the Egyptians were well known for their monuments and tombs, so this works well here.

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

🅲🅻🅾🆂🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅷🅾🆄🅶🅷🆃🆂

"Imhotep: The Duel" offers a fairly light strategic puzzle that plays in 20-30 minutes; we often play a ‘best of three’ whenever the game hits the table. The game will appeal most to players that enjoy high player interaction and cut throat gameplay. It is definitely not for those who shy away from confrontation in games.

For me, this is another essential Kosmos 2 player game, along with Targi and Lost Cities. In terms of difficulty, it sits somewhere in between these two games, with Targi being the most complex – but by no means a difficult game. Like these other two games, Imhotep: The Duel can be set up and packed away in a matter of minutes and easily taught to others too.

---

Check out our interview with the creators to understand more on the development side of the game:

Video above is property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

---

BUY NOW

(If you do decide to try this game, give us a shoutout or tag us on social media so we know you heard it from "ESCAPETHEROOMers"!)

Disclosure: We thank Thames & Kosmos for providing us with samples of the game. Although a complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.

#RyanDriver #AtHomeGames #TabletopGames #PuzzlesByMail #OneOffs #Strategy #ThamesandKosmos #USA