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The oasis-like basin Faiyum was artificially built 3,900 years ago by enlarging the Bahr Yussef channel that connected to the Nile to create a regulated flood plain. During the Middle Kingdom of Egypt, this swampland was slowly changed into farmland under the aegis of pharaohs such as Amenemhet III and Sesostris II. They ordered their advisors to build a system of canals and dikes to reclaim the land surrounded by desert and inhabited by crocodiles to turn it into a granary for Egypt.
Now, during the reign of Amenemhet III, you are the pharaoh's advisors, commanded to harvest goods, build roads, found settlements, and do much more for the good of Faiyum! You are being supplied with the necessary manpower, resources, and money, which means that if another advisor needs to use "your" roads, farms, and other buildings, they may do so since everything you build is owned by the pharaoh. The only thing you will own is the only thing that matters: the respect of the pharaoh.
Faiyum is a strategic game for enthusiasts of planning games. The basic rules are simple: Play your cards one by one on your personal discard stack. After playing some or all of your cards, you take them back into your hand in "reverse" playing order, so playing cards in the best order is important. Newly purchased cards go directly into your hand, so the timing of getting and playing them is important, too. Each of the individual cards has easy-to-understand actions, but only by creating the best combined "engine" will you be a master advisor of Faiyum.
This game features a card mechanism reminiscent of deck builders and the market mechanism successfully used in Power Grid. Gain more and more valuable cards, and use the structures built on the game board to your advantage — in other words, for your reputation. In the end, the most cunning advisor who creates the best card combinations will win Faiyum.
Tiletum - How to Play Board Game
- quirky mechanics and interesting card flow
- map is neutral with player-owned cards as development
- deck-building with unique hand management
- ancient Egypt/pharaoh theme
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- deck-building with hand management — your hand acts like a deck; you can pull top cards back into hand from the discard in a controlled way
- no reshuffling of discard — you do not reshuffle the discard pile; you access cards from the top
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
References (from this video)
- merchants trading, cathedral construction, fairs, and kingly favor
- Renaissance Era Western Europe
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Action point economy — The die number informs resources and action points; action points are spent to perform actions on the wheel.
- Action Points — The die number informs resources and action points; action points are spent to perform actions on the wheel.
- Architect action — Architect actions move the architect, pick up bonus tiles, or place a pillar to contribute to cathedral construction.
- Cathedrals and pillars — Pillars unlock cathedral construction; cathedrals have variable costs and score when built.
- Character, contract, crest tiles and actions — Different tile types drive actions and scoring; characters, contracts, and crests interact with houses and scoring.
- Dice bag setup — A dice bag is prepared containing one die per color per player.
- Dice Drafting — A center action wheel holds dice and players draft dice by placing them in wedges, forming a drafting mechanic around the wheel.
- End-game and round-based scoring — Four rounds with intermediate fares; end-game scoring aggregates points from various objectives.
- Free actions (tasks) — Free actions called tasks can be performed at any time to produce points or bonuses.
- Joker action — Joker provides a wild action that can substitute for other actions using the joker’s number of action points.
- King action and king track — Advance on the king track to gain points or bonuses; the king track influences turn order and scoring.
- Merchant action — Merchant actions move along a path, pick up bonus tiles, or build trading houses.
- Resource generation by die color — Resources (food, gold, iron, wool, stone) are gained according to the color of the die chosen.
- Tile storehouse and resolution — Tiles gained must be moved to a storehouse and resolved to gain rewards; they cannot be discarded at will.
- Track Advancement — Advance on the king track to gain points or bonuses; the king track influences turn order and scoring.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Latinum players are merchants in Renaissance Era Western Europe spreading their influence to earn Fame favor fortune and ultimately victory points
- the player with the most points over four rounds of play will win the game
- the board is going to be extensively seated with a number of these square tiles
- in the center of the action wheel is a randomly rotated disc showing different die faces
- you can wrap a six around into a one or vice versa
References (from this video)
- easy to learn, quick to play
- potential for mastery and high replay
- compact and portable with strong solo appeal
- can be challenging to beat all doors before deck runs out
- some players may find it frustrating when setbacks occur
- mystical dreamworld exploration
- dreamscape with doors to escape
- flair of mystery and fantasy
- Oniram
- Castellion
- Sylveon
- Nocttilion
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- card line-building / exit doors — play cards to build lines and approach eight doors while avoiding nightmares
- Deck Manipulation — draw and discard to overcome nightmares that block progress
- deck-management / nightmares — draw and discard to overcome nightmares that block progress
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- It's a nice casual little tile placement game.
- I fear that this game would be very, very analysis paralysis inducing when playing multiplayer.
- This is a cute little compact game that I can play solo and two-player with friends.
- This one is a banger, guys.
- I think I might come back to this again and again.
References (from this video)
- Simple rules
- Deep strategic gameplay
- Rewarding engine building
- Can get stuck in a 'loop of misery'
- City Building
- Ancient Egypt, Swampland
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Card Engine Building — Playing and recycling cards to build an efficient strategy
- Discard Pile Management — Strategically playing cards to optimize future turns
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- maybe there is a new game for you to discover