/pic3711759.jpg)
/pic6746812.png){kind=small}
/pic8284825.png){kind=small}
/pic533845.jpg){kind=small}
Another challenging game of Gods, men, and their monuments from Reiner Knizia!
The game spans 1500 years of Egyptian history. The priests of Ra seek to extend their power and fame. They do this by directing farmers, warriors, merchants, and scribes. They cause others to build granaries, fortresses, markets, and libraries. And they erect a gigantic pyramid for the glory of the Sun God Ra!
This game is a rework of Ra, with most of the same rules but completely different scoring tiles that come up for auction, some of which are two-sided, requiring players to choose which side they will make available for themselves... and for their opponents.
Board & Pieces: The Board has 2 tracks, effectively time and auction. Also there is a space between the two track for a spare bidding tile. In a bag are all the Collectible tiles, some double sided, consisting of Sun of Ra, Priests, Plagues, People, Buildings & Pyramids. Bidding Tiles, used to win auctions. Auction Token, used to show active player to maintain play order.
Play: The game is played over 3 epochs (rounds). Each round ends when the Sun of Ra (time) track is filled.
Any non Sun tile is placed on the Auction track, in the case of double sided tiles the active player decides which side to use. Auctions can either be called by a player (instead of drawing a tile), or automatic when the auction track is filled. Each player may make one open bid, or pass. The winner takes the tiles in the auction track and swaps his bidding tile with the one in the middle. If all players pass (for example to avoid Plague tiles) then these tiles are taken out of play.
Scoring: At the each epoch VPs, or Ankhs, are awarded for most of a type or a variety of People & Buildings. Penalties are awarded for Plagues (which can be offset by a number of Priests). People and Priest tiles are then taken out of play, Buildings, Pyramids & Plagues are carried over into the next epoch, so can be scored again. At the end of the 3rd epoch, Pyramids are also scored by construction height and tiles used. Ankh collections are now converted to points. Finally a bonus & penalty is also awarded depending on a players bidding tiles.
Part of the Ra family — see Ra for the combined view.
/pic3711759.jpg)
- Fun game
- Fast-paced
- Has strategy
- Different from other bidding games
- Nice production quality
- Not a big fan of bidding games in general, but this one is fun.
- Collecting same-color tiles to score points
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Auction — the bottom half is the auction Shrek... if you decide to call auction you say raw and place raw in front of you the player to your left starts the bidding
- bidding — Priest of RA is a bidding game where players are trying to collect same color tiles to score points.
- Set Collection — players are trying to collect same color tiles to score points
- tile drafting — you can do one of two actions you can draw a tile from the bag or call raw and start an auction
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Priest of RA is a bidding game where players are trying to collect same color tiles to score points.
- It's a fun game fast-paced and has some strategy to it
- I'm not a big fan of bidding games but this one is a different and a lot of fun
- The production quality is nice and we're giving it a 7.5 on 10
References (from this video)
- More family-friendly than Ra
- More accessible
- Really like the way it looks
- Only played once a long time ago
- Auction-based civilization
- Ancient Egypt
- Thematic
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Auction — Bidding with limited tokens
- Set Collection — Collecting sets for scoring
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- It wasn't just the hundred sort of best designed games this was the hundred games that I feel that I'm particularly sort of connected to
- The games that have a place in my heart really games that I've got a lot of nostalgia for
- It felt a bit like doing a roll and write game but without all of the sort of convenience
- I wish I still had castles of burgundy and notre dame
- The main thing that got in the way for me was all the iconography
- I do use board games as an escape from screens and technology
- I really like the production of cockroach poker
- I found it was a game where I could see the ending coming and then someone would just go and there we go we've got another 20 minutes now
- It feels like something other than a board game
- The decisions you make in the game are very very slight
- Right up my alley
- I do really like push your luck
- That's my favorite game
- Abyss is my second favorite game
- I love pekka pig
- I just think it's ugly
References (from this video)
- Classic auction tension
- Elegant reuse of Ra mechanics
- Ra
- High Society
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Auction — Bidding on auctioned cards/resources; value-based decision making.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- This list is all about hopefully it'll give you some ideas of games that you might want to pick up yourself.
- Auctions are challenging; the more you play, the more you start to feel how much those power stations are worth.
- Not everybody is going to have totally accurate general knowledge and it welcomes players in to just have a go.
- I split you choose is a mechanism that could be used more broadly; it creates delicious tension and stress at the table.