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Game Info
Year
2007
Collection
Mechanic profile
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Description
Thebes is a game of competitive archeology. Players are archaeologists who must travel around Europe, northern Africa, and the Middle East to acquire knowledge about five ancient civilizations -- the Greeks, the Cretans, the Egyptians, the Palestinians, and the Mesopotamians -- and then must use this knowledge to excavate historical sites in the areas of these civilizations. Through the course of the game, expositions are revealed, and an archaeologist who has treasures from the requisite civilizations may claim the prize (this is a change from the first edition's handling of exhibitions). The archaeologist who learns the most about the civilizations, claims the greatest-valued artifacts, and collects the most exhibitions will win out over his or her colleagues.
The key element to the game is that it is played out over a period of two (or three) years, and each action a player performs takes a certain amount of time -- traveling is a week between cities, gathering knowledge takes time for the level of the knowledge, and actually digging at a cultural site takes time to yield a certain number of artifact tiles. The game uses a novel mechanism to keep track of this. There is a track of 52 spaces around the outside of the board. Each time a player moves and takes an action, he or she moves their player token forward in time. Players take turns based on being the one who is furthest back in "time". So, a player can go to an excavation site and spend 10 weeks digging for artifacts, but that will also mean that the other players will likely be taking several actions in the interim while that player waits for the "time" to catch up.
In addition, the artifact tiles for each civilization are drawn from a bag that also contains dirt. When a player excavates a site, that player pulls tiles from the bag, but some may only be worthless dirt instead of valuable treasure. That dirt is then returned to the bag, making the first draw more likely to provide useful tiles.
This is the new entry for the Queen printing of Jenseits von Theben. As the new game changes several mechanisms of the original, and is available in a much wider release, the two games should be regarded as separate entities.
Re-implements:
Jenseits von Theben
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All mentions
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 7
This page: 7
Sentiment:
pos 4 ·
mix 2 ·
neu 0 ·
neg 1
Showing 1–7 of 7
Video jQgNXDUur3I
Top List at 0:00 sentiment: negative
video_pk 69301 · mention_pk 165741
Click to watch at 0:00 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
negative
Pros
- Love the theme of being excavators going around the ancient world pulling up ancient artifacts to score points.
- Like some of the mechanisms on paper, specifically being a forefather of the time track system.
Cons
- Drafting pools are very small, often leaving players with nothing they want or gifting desired cards to the next player.
- Wasting time traveling across the board only for a desired card to appear where you just were.
- High luck factor in drawing tokens from bags (black sand tokens vs. point tokens).
- Balancing act between excavating earlier with less knowledge vs. gaining proficiency but finding areas already picked over.
- Time scales can take too long, leading to wasted time or extended periods of not taking a turn.
- Lots of downtime.
Thematic elements
- excavators pulling up ancient artifacts
- ancient world
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Bag Building/Drawing — Involves drawing tokens from bags, with knowledge gained through cards increasing efficiency.
- card drafting — Relies on card drafting where collected cards make players more proficient at excavating regions.
- Time track system — One of the forefathers of the time track system where different actions take different amounts of time, and being furthest behind allows more actions.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- this one hasn't aged well
- the luck factor is simply too much
- would love to see a reimplemented version of this or a second edition because I do think the framework is there
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video JL9babCDIhE
Review at 0:10 sentiment: mixed
video_pk 67026 · mention_pk 162931
Click to watch at 0:10 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
mixed
Pros
- Offers deep combo potential for rewarding turns.
- Provides strategic depth with multiple paths to victory.
- Chunky wooden tiles and dice feel good and fit well.
- Variety in military dice keeps the game fresh.
- Can be engaging for players who enjoy complex Euros.
- Multiple boards allow for some table space customization.
Cons
- Uses unfamiliar thematic language that acts as a barrier.
- Requires significant table space.
- Turns can be very long and induce analysis paralysis.
- Iconography can be a learning curve.
- The two-player experience is noted as less impactful.
Thematic elements
- Rebuilding Thebes
- Thebes during the Bronze Age after the reign of Oedipus
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- action selection — Players choose actions by placing dice and moving their Archon on the city board.
- dice placement — Players place dice on their player board or the city board to take corresponding actions, with die values influencing action strength.
- End of Round Events — Events occur at the end of each round, sometimes providing bonuses and sometimes triggering battles.
- Resource management — Gathering and exchanging resources is necessary to fulfill contracts.
- set collection — Fulfilling contracts contributes to set collection, which is a method of scoring points at the end of the game.
- Track advancement — Players can move up devotion tracks (Dionysus or Ares) to gain bonuses, level up dice, or acquire new actions.
- Variable player powers — Player boards start with limited spaces that unlock as tiles are removed, allowing for different strategic focuses.
- worker placement — The Archon pawn moves around the city board to take actions on specific spaces.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- So, I think really who this game is for is folks who do like a big chunky Euro game and who like to have those really combo full turns because you are definitely going to have some of those like 10-minute turns in this game.
- And so, you're definitely going to have some AP brain burnery turns.
- But I do appreciate that the theme is there, and it's a theme that I enjoy.
- But the tricky with the city board is, well there's a few things. One of them is you really want to do two actions and so you need to spend money to do the actions on both sides of you but that's a bit tricky for a few reasons.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video 9s_i7jRdDSo
Review at 0:11 sentiment: mixed
video_pk 66794 · mention_pk 162601
Click to watch at 0:11 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
mixed
Pros
- Fancy, screen-printed wood Cadmea tiles.
- Distinguished resources.
- Superb use of wood components.
- Nice-looking production overall, fits most tables.
- Immense setup variability and player-driven differences.
- Meaningfully interactive gameplay.
- Participation in battles doesn't result in overly harsh penalties.
- Enjoyable individual systems and moments of cleverness.
- Flexibility in completing contracts.
- Cool commander powers.
- Contracts are a favorite part for some players.
Cons
- Weird standees that are hard to see and cover numbers.
- Complex setup for commanders and tracks.
- Pipping up dice can be confusing without arrows.
- Resetting dice is a chore.
- Player boards are large.
- Lack of available actions due to dice placement or board state.
- Turns can be long due to complex calculations.
- The restriction of actions and limited turns to enjoy different things.
- Not being able to do desired actions due to dice blocking or unavailability.
- The two-player mode is not well-regarded.
- The game doesn't stand out thematically or gameplay-wise.
- It's easy to miscalculate and not achieve the intended action.
Thematic elements
- Victory points
- Thebes during the Bronze Age
Comparison games
- Voidfall
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Area Control — Mini area control games occur over battle lines.
- contract fulfillment — Players can complete contracts by having the necessary resources.
- dice manipulation — Dice are pip-up or pip-down using the Arkon, and never rolled.
- dice placement — Citizen dice are used to take actions on the player board or in the city, and can be upgraded.
- Movement — The Arkon moves around the board, interacting with dice and spaces.
- set collection — Contracts are collected for set collection at the end of the game.
- Track advancement — Players can move up on tracks that determine player order and benefit Hippolyta dice.
- Variable player powers — Each player color has a different set of tiles with different actions.
- Worker placement (implied) — Citizen dice are placed on action spaces on the player board and in the city.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- I think that Board & Dice is doing many things correct. One is that the resources are more distinguished from each other. I think that they're their use of wood in stuff like this is superb.
- But I I think that it overall feels kind of too restrictive for me.
- And that is what feels restrictive to me is that the things that I want to do, I can do them once.
- I enjoy so many aspects of it, but there's not much time. There's not many actions in the game to enjoy the different things.
- Brilliant, and yet I don't like how restrictive it is.
- It's not the best dice placement game that I've played.
- but it's it's it's almost exhausting by the end of the game for me.
- So, it's a six for me. It's one that I'm not recommending, but it's also not a bad game at all.
- the whole ensemble just doesn't really sing. So, there you go. 6.5 for me.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video BbAqswcVrhw
watch it played Rules Teach at 0:24 sentiment: positive
video_pk 65108 · mention_pk 158739
Click to watch at 0:24 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Fun bluffing and deception
- Fast playtime, good as a filler
- Simple to learn and teach
Cons
none
Thematic elements
- looting a bank
- inside a bank vault
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- bluffing — Players conceal the true value of their loot, including zero-value cards, to mislead opponents.
- hand management — Players draw cards and decide whether to play them into their own stash, an opponent's stash, or use special action cards.
- Push Your Luck — Players risk accumulating more loot, which could lead to being caught by the police during a raid.
- set collection — Players aim to collect loot cards of various values.
- take that — Players can play cards onto opponents' stashes to try and frame them or increase their perceived loot value.
- timer deck — Getaway cards are drawn, and when a certain number are revealed, the game ends and scoring occurs.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- hey everyone welcome to watch it played
- I love having you back because you always bring a game with you
- you're going to try to screw a neighbor
- grab as much loot as you can and get to the getaway car right before the cops come
- the getaway card is actually a timer for the game
- the zero card is a is a bluffing card right you had that in there to make me think maybe you were a little higher than you really were
- the game will it plays really really fast so you're looking at a 10-minute uh round
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video 7RcUwWZlUP0
Let's Table It Rules Teach at 0:16 sentiment: positive
video_pk 61978 · mention_pk 154602
Click to watch at 0:16 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- area majority hand management with clear scoring via locations
- city cards add variety and replayability
- variants (officer, New Orleans siren tokens) extend play
- thematic integration with infiltrate/redeploy/patrol actions
Cons
- rules are complex and can be easy to lose track of turn order
- opening setup and multiple steps per round may slow play
Thematic elements
- infiltration, area control, and mole mechanics
- Chicago-based city with crime, police, and mob infiltration
- instructional/tutorial
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- area majority — Strength at each location determines which player scores the location’s tokens at the end of scoring.
- city card-driven actions — City cards (e.g., Chicago) define how actions and token placement work and can alter rules each game.
- hand management — Players start with seven agent cards in their color and choose one to play each round, then reveal and deploy via the office/hidden area mechanic.
- Hidden deployment — Cards are placed face down in the office and later moved to the Hideout before activation, acting as moles.
- hidden deployment and reveal — Cards are placed face down in the office and later moved to the Hideout before activation, acting as moles.
- Multi-use cards — City cards (e.g., Chicago) define how actions and token placement work and can alter rules each game.
- scoring and arresting — After seven rounds, arrests and scoring determine each player's points; tokens and jail colors contribute to final scores.
- special agent activation — Some agents have special actions (infiltrate, redeploy, patrol) that can be activated when moved to the field.
- turn structure and round length — Seven rounds total; each round has four steps with simultaneous selection, then deployment and activation phases.
- variants and asymmetrical play — Variants include an imaginary officer player and New Orleans siren token rules that modify play and scoring.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- it's an area majority hand management game
- the location card will explain how to place the utility tokens
- the game lasts seven rounds and each round has four steps
- the player with the most strength at that location wins the token and scores its value
- an imaginary third player named the officer who takes turns with you
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video jhcY23VUILc
Tabletop Tolson Review at 0:00 sentiment: positive
video_pk 59728 · mention_pk 152261
Click to watch at 0:00 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- High replayability across player counts (2-4 players).
- Clever pairing of simultaneous action selection with programming and turn-order deployment.
- Engaging hidden-information/mole mechanic.
- Compact small-box design with efficient components.
- Color-blind friendly symbols on player cards.
- Double-sided board and scoring provide economical setup.
Cons
none
Thematic elements
- covert law-enforcement operations, arresting criminals, hidden mole intrigue
- Urban crime operation across multiple U.S. cities with FBI involvement; locations include clubs, restaurants, docks, and warehouses
- procedural, compact/engineered gameplay with simultaneous planning
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- area majority — Locations are resolved by the total strength of players' agents; strongest takes tokens and criminals at that location.
- Area majority / power dynamics — Locations are resolved by the total strength of players' agents; strongest takes tokens and criminals at that location.
- City variability for replayability — Different cities (e.g., Detroit, Houston, New York, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Washington DC) provide varied scenarios.
- Compact storage design — Small box with a bag for pieces and color differentiation; components are designed for easy, economical setup.
- Double-sided components — Board and player cards are double-sided, offering different scoring on the backside and enhancing replayability.
- End-game scoring via utility tokens — Utility tokens placed at locations drive priority and contribute to final scoring when resolving arrests.
- Endgame resolution by location and token flips — After all cards are played, remaining moles/things are resolved by flipping cards and tallying location-based scoring.
- Hidden information / mole mechanic — A mole mechanic introduces hidden identity and strategic tension, affecting later scoring and play order.
- Programmed deployment and placement — Agents are placed into board corners to set up future resolution and to influence outcomes.
- set collection — Players collect sets of colored figures, with tokens determining priority and end-of-round effects.
- Set collection / color-coded figures — Players collect sets of colored figures, with tokens determining priority and end-of-round effects.
- Simultaneous action selection — All players secretly choose an agent to deploy; actions are revealed together and then resolved in a specific order.
- Simultaneous Actions — All players secretly choose an agent to deploy; actions are revealed together and then resolved in a specific order.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- it's a master of the small box absolutely solidifies my impression it's a strong game it's a clever game and I like those mechanics that are paired together it works incredibly well
- I love that there's the bag you keep all the figures in
- it's really clear and uh easy to use
- the dynamic with two, three and four players is super different and I think it works really well
- it's a really clever 30 to 45 minute uh small box Dr Steve fin game
- check out the feds if you haven't
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video leM4unzWvyc
Fabulous Games Discussion at 12:40 sentiment: positive
video_pk 13741 · mention_pk 105325
Click to watch at 12:40 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- great family gateway game
- fun time-management element
- engaging and replayable for groups
Cons
- can feel average in weight for some players
- the time wheel mechanic may be a bit abstract
Thematic elements
- artifacts, exploration, and time as currency
- Ancient cities and excavations with a thieves’ twist
- playful, competitive
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Push Your Luck — Players collect artifacts or dirt with various probabilities, influenced by timing.
- set collection / push-your-luck — Players collect artifacts or dirt with various probabilities, influenced by timing.
- time management / time wheel — The wheel of time acts as both timer and currency to pace turns.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- every game deserves a second chance
- it's a good game, it's a middleweight game
- the components are cheap
- we're not fans of real time games though but you know what we're going to try it
- we always have fun and try to play with family
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
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Showing 1–7 of 7