Cleopatra and the Society of Architects
- Designer: Ludovic Maublanc, Bruno Cathala
- Manufacturer: Days of Wonder
- Artist: Julien Delval
- Year: 2006
- Players: 3 – 5
- Time: 60 minutes
- Ages: 10 and up
Cleopatra & the Society of Architects is a fun and engaging family game that includes a true, three-dimensional palace that players compete to build. Players strive to become the wealthiest of Cleopatra’s architects by constructing the most magnificent and valuable parts of her palace.
Players, however, will be tempted to deal with shady characters and trade in materials of dubious origins in order to help them build faster. While these corrupt practices might allow an architect to stay a step ahead of the rest, they come with a high price – cursed Corruption Amulets honoring Sobek, the Crocodile-god. When Cleopatra finally strolls into her new palace, at the end of the game, the most corrupt architect (the one with the most amulets) will be seized and offered as a sacrifice to her sacred crocodile! Only then will the wealthiest architect, from among those still alive, be selected and declared the winner of the game.
My thoughts:
What’s really cool about this games is that you do build a 3-D temple, one level is even built on top of the box. It’s just a really good-looking game, which makes it enjoyable to play. I love that about Days of Woner. They’re games are just gorgeous. The rules aren’t tough and you can find just about everything you need to know on the cheat sheet and there’s one for everyone. It’s not one we’ll play every week, but it’s definitely worth the $20 price tag.
When we played last week, we actually had two people who ended up being sacrificed to the crocodile. I forget who won, but I think it was fairly close.
Have you played any fun games lately?
We played Munchkin on Friday night. It was our first time playing. I won once and my wife won once, which was amusing to our friends, given our stature. It’s a cute, not terribly strategic game that’s quick to learn, humorous, and fun. I wouldn’t want to play it all the time, but it’s a good filler game. There are tons of themed offerings, such as the Good the Bad and the Munchkin (cowboys) and Munchkin Impossible (spys) if the elves and wizards theme doesn’t suit your group/family.