Building the Great Pyramids
Ever since I saw Terra Pyramides at the booth of Korea Boardgames last SPIEL, I have been excited to get my hands on it. I love Egyptian themes, so a game about building pyramids is awesome. 😊 It is also a game by Michael Kiesling and Wolfgang Kramer, creators of many great games, e.g. Tikal. 🥰 Terra Pyramides is similar in a way: light on rules, but with a fun and engaging decision space!
It’s all about laying tiles, but in a pretty cool and unique way. But first a word about the components: every cardboard component is super thick and chunky, making them satisfying almost like acrylic tiles. As the whole experience is so tactile, this adds to the fun! 🤩
Okay, back to gameplay! 🧐 You play on a shared game board that has empty desert spaces and building sites. Basically each turn you will place a tile down on the board, then activate tiles in a horizontal, vertical or diagonal row next to it. These rows are broken by pyramids and sites so at most they are 4 long. As you activate you will get different things:
🔨 Place out worker discs for worker icons
🧊 Collect stone of the depicted colors
💰 Collect a coins that can be used for multiple things
(Additional modules will introduce more icons)
Workers you put out on the tiles have to be moved to pyramids or building sites in a straight line, so suboptimal placement could mean you lose some. Whenever you have 3 workers on a site, you can build a pyramid level - ☝️ the first level costs 1 stone, and you decide which color to spend. This defines the color of the pyramid from that point on, so subsequent levels can only be built with that color. Higher levels cost more stone, but are worth more points.
After your turn you take another tile, so you can start planning your next turn.
That’s basically it: 👉 optimally placing tiles to gather things and claim building sites, to build more and bigger pyramids than your rivals. Gameplay is really tactical, as tiles are continually added. I have to add that in 2p you sometimes keep setting up the other player to do better combos, so I think playing with 3 or 4 players would be more ideal. I do think that the game is very fun though! 😊
