Up Here

Aton (Queen) is a 2-player (only) game where you try to outwit your opponent. I like the anticipation that comes just after both of you have laid down your cards. "Did I play high enough to get a few points right off the bat?" "Did I play low enough to have the first go?"

Artwork, artwork, everywhere! Even on the outside of the box bottom. Nicely done is hushed tones; nothing gaudy about it.

Thank you, thank you, for the extra plastic storage bag.

The game board is nice and thick. There won't be any warping here. I like the jigsaw style. A multi-fold might have worked, but if not done well, it could have broken apart in time. This way it's already purposely "broken".

Most boxes could do without the inner cardboard dividers (Aton included), but they do make it more appealing, especially the first time you open it up. Did I mention there was artwork everywhere? Yes, even on the inner cardboard. Combine the 6-piece jigsaw board with the small (Ticket to Ride-size) cards and relatively few markers and you can get a nice compact box to hold it all.

Directions now come in 4 languages: English (with a hint of British), Spanish, German, and French.

The visual scoring clues on the game board are wonderful. Beetles always refer to scoring. Disks refer to your priestly pieces. Coloration, arrows, and math symbols allow you to figure out most of the scoring methods without even reading the rules. The scoring track has every fifth beetle (as well as the first one) numbered for easy counting.

I was afraid the card placement would lead to analysis paralysis, but so far that hasn't been the case. Rather, play is quick, even during scoring and priest removal.

I like games with multiple paths to victory. Aton has 4 such paths. In my few plays, only the VP path has been used, but it's the threat of those other paths that's important. You must spread yourself around a bit to prevent your opponent from going too far down any one path.

Down There

Why did the original packaging of the cards have to be just one deck of alternating red-blue-red-blue...? Wasn't that more work than keeping the reds separate from the blues? It's only a problem once, but still!

Did I say red cards? The blue cards are blue, but the reds aren't really red. Why not?

I think the extra plastic bag was intended to keep all the cards. Not in my box. Add a red and a blue rubber band for each deck of cards. Put the red bits and one white in one bag and the rest in the other.

The box, while compact, is about an inch too high. They should have given that extra cardboard to the folks who made the too-thin Castle box.

When you find the ambiguous rules or have unanswered questions when reading the English version, look for your answers here in the Aton forums or translate (if necessary) the German rules which are said to be more precise and explicit.

I fear the non-VP paths to victory may too often be unobtainable, but I'm determined to purposely attempt them from the start of a game sometime.

Neither Here nor There

The Egyptian theme was pasted on (or so it seems), but I don't mind that at all in an abstract.

After just a few plays, I've rated this an 8. I think I like it better than Carcassonne: The Castle which I've given a 9. So I may be raising this rating later on.