Its no secret that Cleopatra and the Society of Architects is the pinnacle of boardgame chrome. The game is so elaborately produced that its easy to forget theres a game here at all. This may as well be an Egyptian scenery set because when you first look at it, thats all you see. But true beauty is more than just skin deep. True beauty comes from the inside. True beauty takes something physically attractive and adds a whole additional level to make it more than just something pretty to look at. True beauty can make the ordinary extraordinary. So is Cleopatra and the Society of Architects a true beauty, or just another pretty face?


Rules

Cleopatra is a game for 2-5 players. Each player takes the role of an architect trying to build the nicest palace for Cleopatra. Players will collect cards which will be used to build various statues and other architectural wonders. Some cards will give players corruption points, which may lead to their downfall because the player with the most corruption at the end of the game gets fed to the crocodiles!

You can read the full rulebook here on the Days of Wonder site.


Components

Cleopatra is the queen of eye candy. This game is all about the chrome and there's plenty of it to be had.



In the picture above, you can see all the components that make up the game. Right in the front, you'll see the Corruption Pyramids. Each player gets one of these and 2 of Anubis statues (by the throne) of the matching color. The Pyramids are thin cardboard with printing to look like the real thing. They are adorned with a colored band around the bottom and a large corruption seal emblazoned on one side. There is a slot in which you can insert your corruption tokens. The Anubis statues are small and are made of plastic. The detail isn't very good and this is the one part of the game that pails in comparison to the rest of the package.



The wooden dice of the Great Priest are nice. They're made of wood and lightly coated to have a matte finish. There is a black ankh on one side of each die. I love wood dice, and these are no exception.



The various corruption amulets, Nile Merchants, and talent tokens are all made of the same thick cardboard and coated with a nice textured finish. These counters should hold up really well through lots of playing. Additionally, the corruption amulets have some of the coolest artwork on a small token I've seen.



The plastic pieces that make up the rest of the components are what really makes the game look spectacular. There are two enormous obelisks that tower high above the playing area. The 6 sphinxes stand guard over Cleopatra as she approaches the temple. The 9 Column Walls and the 2 door frames surround the elevated garden area while the queen's throne sits regally atop the garden. Lastly, the Mosaics of the Gods create beautiful designs in the queen's lush foliage. The plastic on these pieces isn't as thick or rugged as you might imagine. While certainly very nice looking, its a bit over the top. The sphinxes are fine as is the throne, but the Column Walls tend to fall over and the obelisk are in the way constantly. The chrome is nice, but it interferes with gameplay a bit too much for my liking.

Most importantly though, Cleopatra is a card game. The entire gameplay revolves around taking cards and then playing them as resources or for their special effects. The cards are good quality made of nice stock and coated with a slightly textured satin finish reminiscent of Ticket to Ride 1910. Mercifully, Days of Wonder has given us full size cards which is important because you will constantly be flipping, drawing, and discarding cards. You will often be holding many cards, so the normal size is nice because it makes them easier to hold.

On the whole, the components are over the top, but they got it right where it counts, which is the cards. I applaud DoW for trying to make something incredibly unique. They succeeded in making an unforgettable presentation, but its really a lot more than is needed to enjoy the game.


Gameplay

There are a lot of small things that combine to make a fun and interesting game. While still quite light in the gameplay, Cleopatra has a lot going for it.

Upside down shuffling - One of the unique concepts in the game is that when shuffling cards, you take half of the amount to be shuffled and turn them upside down. This makes half the deck face-up and the other half face-down. Whenever you place a card in a market, you keep it face-up or -down. This has an interesting effect on gameplay because sometimes you'll know what you're getting and sometimes you don't. This is a great way to minimize "luck of the draw" while still maintaining some mystery in the drawing process. It does look odd when you're shuffling though. I'm used to seeing cards the wrong way and realizing I made a mistake in the shuffle.

Resource collecting - In many ways, this game is like Ticket to Ride. The general crux is that you are collecting cards of various resources to build parts of the temple. This feels like collecting train cards to lay track in TTR. I suppose that means that Cleopatra is a set collection game at its heart, so fans of that genre should find something to like here.

Timing is everything - Timing plays a big factor in Cleopatra for several reasons. First of all, taking cards from the Marketplace can yield large amounts of cards if timed right. Every time another player takes a market, they put one card in each of the markets. Sometimes one market will get huge and you'll want to pounce on it to get all the cards, but if you wait to long, it will disappear. Secondly, you need to time when you build so that you can maximize points. For example, the 2nd, 4th, and 6th sphinxes are worth 5 talents each while 1, 3, and 5 are only worth 2. Ideally you want to time it so you can build the even numbered ones. Additionally, Column Walls are worth bonus points for the Mosaic of the Gods above them, so you want to try to build them wherever Mosaics touch the sides. Lastly, the Door Frames score bonus points for each Column Wall attached to them, so you want to place a Frame when there's a few Walls attached to score points.

The game within the game - One of the palace parts you can build are the Mosaics of the Gods. Each of these tiles is comprised of 5 squares. When you build one, you place it in the palace garden. When placed, you score 1 point for each bush that you cover. The trick is that you can only build the top Mosaic in the pile (unless you use the Scribe). This makes certain Mosaics better than others at different times in the game. If you place a Mosaic in such a way that no other Mosaic could be placed in the space created, you may put an Anubis statue there and create a sanctuary. At the end of the game, you can put one corruption amulet in each space of the sanctuaries you control. In this way, you are playing a sub game, trying to create the best sanctuary while scoring points for covered shrubs. Its an interesting side-game that can have a big consequence on the main event.

A little gambling - Whenever a palace feature is built, the dice of the Great Priest are rolled. Any dice rolled on the ankh side are put on his altar. The remaining dice will get rolled until all the dice are showing the ankh. When this happens, there is a blind bidding phase in which players bid the number of talents they are willing to give up. All players must give up whatever they bid. The winner gets to lose 3 corruption amulets, while everyone else gains a certain number. One of the most interesting things about the Great Priest dice is that its not guaranteed to happen in a game. The bid depends on the roll of the dice. If it was predictable, players could play very differently because they would know for sure that there will be an opportunity to get rid of corruption. But sometimes this never happens at all while other times it happens frequently. I love this feature because it can really throw a monkey wrench in the best laid plans.

Special power - Most of the time, players will just be playing groups of cards to build the palace. There are some cards though who give special powers. The cost of these special powers is corruption amulets, so you need to be careful when you use them and how often you do so as well. It can be very tempting to abuse their powers, but using them too much will result in sure defeat.

The Golden Rule - This is the one rule that takes Cleopatra from an average game to a great one. Certain actions or cards give players corruption amulet. At the end of the game, the player with the most corruption amulets is automatically removed from contention and cannot win the game. This single rule completely changes the way you play the game. Corruption amulets go from just being a burden to being another resource that needs to be carefully managed. Once you get them, they're hard to get rid of. You can only lose them through the Great Priest or through placing them in Sanctuaries that you've created in the garden. Suddenly all those powerful special cards and the tainted resources that provide double amounts don't look quite so good. You start shying away from taking those cards in the Marketplace. Once one player starts playing conservatively on the corruption cards, another player will surely swoop in and start to take advantage of the benefits. Then the cautious players will start to feel safe and they will start taking corruption again. This creates a wonderful flow to the game and also adds a serious "press your luck" element to the game. Without this rule, Cleopatra would be just a simple race game. Its that important to the overall gameplay that the game would be completely lackluster without it.

Hand Management - The part of the game that I really like is the hand size rule. Players may have up to 10 cards in their hand. If they go over, they need to either take 1 corruption amulet and discard down to 10, or keep the excess cards and take 1 corruption for each card. This prevents players from just drawing and hoarding cards. Since you can build multiple palace features in one turn, having the ability to hold cards free of charge would make it easy to blast out several pieces at once. The other plus side is that cards are constantly going back into rotation through the discard pile. This is a big problem with me for TTR so I'm glad to see that it was given some thought in Cleopatra.

Player Interaction - There's not a lot of player interaction in Cleopatra. In many ways, its a racing game as players each try to accomplish goals and score points as quickly and efficiently as possible. The only real interaction comes in the garden where the Mosaics are played. Players will be jockeying for position, trying to create the perfect sanctuaries for the endgame. Other than this, there's not a whole lot of ways to interfere with the plans of another player other than by building a piece they were looking at or building in a location they wanted.

Downtime - Since there's very little player interaction, you would think there's a lot of downtime, but Cleopatra doesn't have that problem. On a player's turn, he will either draw cards from the Market or build. If he's drawind, all he has to do is draw. If he's building, he'll already know what he wants to do because he's been hoping to draw the cards for several turns. Players should already have their cards ready for building when their turn comes, so downtime is kept to a minimum.

Fun Factor - There's a lot of fun to be had in this game. The overall gameplay is pretty light, so you won't get bogged down in deep strategy. Its certainly a lot of fun to put the pieces on the board when you build them because you feel like you're actually building something. The fun factor is high due to these reasons.

Replayability - This one has the same replayability as TTR. No two games are exactly the same, so there's no surefire strategy. The random mix of the cards keeps things interesting and fresh. I think people in my group will want to play this game quite a bit in the future, and I don't see the game growing too stale.


Theme

Cleopatra is not the first game to take advantage of the Egyptian theme. However, Cleopatra certainly does the best job of hammering it home. While all the chrome may be a bit much, it certainly helps players become totally immersed in the theme. I personally am fascinated by ancient Egypt and the idea of getting to build an Egyptian palace sounds great to me. I think a lot of people will be attracted by the theme as well. Ultimately, the theme is tied into the mechanics nicely which really helps make a good total package.


Compare it to...

I've mentioned Ticket to Ride in this review several times, and I think the comparison is a great one. The use of cards as resources works fairly similar in both games. In essence, both games are set collection games while Cleopatra adds a hand management layer. Timing is key in both games and player interaction is at a minimum. Cleopatra lacks the long term goals of TTR's destination tickets, but makes use of the corruption system to add another level of resources management. If TTR is a great gateway game, then Cleopatra is a wonderful second step.


Compare it to...

In the case of Cleopatra and the Society of Architects, beauty is more than just skin deep. The game has a simple elegance that makes for fun gameplay with some light decisions. The true "game" aspect comes from the corruption amulets and without that rule, Cleopatra would be a simple boring race game. Its really remarkable how much difference one little rule can make.

In my collection, I rate Cleopatra a 7/10. I like it enough to play it when asked, but I don't think I'll recommend it too often, unless perhaps I'm trying to engage new gamers. Its a bit light for my gaming tastes, but its certainly an interesting design made better by one simple paragraph in the rulebook.

If you're looking for a great gateway game, or the next step on a gaming journey, Cleopatra would be an excellent choice. It introduces a few mechanics, but nothing that's very difficult. New players should be up and running in no time. The game is gorgeous on the table and it plays fairly quickly. This is a perfect recipe for a gateway game, and Cleopatra really delivers.