Game: Nefertiti

Thread: Re: Nofretete - the possible strategies

Osidarta — 2008-11-18T12:07:26+00:00

Franckenstein wrote:
In our game only the top two markets were used until the very end of the game. I would be interested if others found this to be the same. The bottom market Abou-Simbel has a closing condition of 17+, so why would you go there early when the top two markets can close for less money. Gizeh can close with 13 and Akhet-Aton can close with 3 if you like. Once Louqsor opened the 2 players who went there over the next few rounds rolled only 4's, 5's and 6's each time so the market never closed until after the Ecknaton card appeared to start the end game.

Concerning strategy, I'm trying not to participate too much but I'm eager to read people perspective (like the strategy article by Osiris Ra).

From a design perspective, all markets have a slow and fast stalls:

- Gizeh: slow (left "4 connected" - 4 people minimum, if connected) and fast (right "colors" - 3 people if 3 colors, 4 otherwise)

- Akhet-athon: slow (left "pyramidal" - 4 people minimum, if one by line) and fast (right "tictactoe"- 3 people if successful tic-tac-toe)

- Abu-Simbel: slow (right 17+ - 4 people minimum, and average 4 or 5 if 6 and 7 spaces are occupied, with one exception: possible with 2 people only using the 12 space) and fast (left 11/14/17+ - minimum 3)

- Louqsor: a bit different since it can close with one with luck, but still slow (left "2 dices" - when placing 4 servants between 1 and 6, around 45% chance closing) and fast (right "one die" - when placing 3 servants connected, 50% chance closing)

Note that behaviour towards markets greatly depends on the Gift cards on them and can change the face of your session (it is Gift oriented by purpose). And the beginning of the game can also be affected if all markets are on the fast stalls (right into the action - characters strongly advised) or on the slow stalls (slow motion but more predictable), or any combination of them.

For the 17+ market, my personal (partial) view:
- if gifts are good and in my personal interest, place on 7 and see what happen: if nobody helps you, go elsewhere to collect deben and reach 12, then close with 7-12, get money with second servant (as said above); if somebody comes to help me (on 6 or 3...) then I can close it more easily.
- if gifts are good but not my interest, place on 6 and hope for someone else going on 7
- if gifts are medium, place on medium to get debens
- if good are really low, then just 1 to get the opening deben, or 3 to get 2 deben (if possible of course), and then forget about your servant: even if nobody comes during the game, at game end this servant will participate to the final (unique) closing of Abu-Simbel. Note that when doing so, you'll play with only 3 servants during all the game and have a potential threatening power of closing markets unexpectely if placing all your servants (if you use it well, you'll see people help you to close markets :P).

To close markets, you have sometimes to get tacit agreements with other players and cooperate: for example, it could be a good idea on the 17+ with 2 debens, not to get all the money by going on the 3, but go on the 6 or 7 space (get the opening deben) and let an attractive place (3 with a deben) for someone else.

Sorry if I tell too much. End of speech

Thread: Re: Nofretete - the possible strategies

Phrim — 2008-11-17T14:34:18+00:00

Thread: Nofretete - the possible strategies

Franckenstein — 2008-11-17T13:30:50+00:00

Played this at Essen, and found it to be a quick, less than 1 hour game, suited to family gaming situations. Since I like area control games I was keen to see if the worker placement to win control of the available markets (areas) had many tactical possibilities.

There are four markets in the game and three are available at any one instant, to put your workers on. Each market has different closing conditions and then the goods from this market are chosen by the players there in rank order, strongest bid to weakest bid. The winner can take two items or one item and a Seal, which later allows you to draw a Personality card which then lets you do something extra on a turn.
In our game only the top two markets were used until the very end of the game. I would be interested if others found this to be the same. The bottom market Abou-Simbel has a closing condition of 17+, so why would you go there early when the top two markets can close for less money. Gizeh can close with 13 and Akhet-Aton can close with 3 if you like. Once Louqsor opened the 2 players who went there over the next few rounds rolled only 4's, 5's and 6's each time so the market never closed until after the Ecknaton card appeared to start the end game.

In all markets the strategy is to bid the lowest amount for the most reward. This can be tricky because the 3 players going after you can suddenly end the market you just entered and you can end up with very little. The best strategy is to enter a market where there is already a medium bid and put a worker on a medium to high value to scare others off and then on the next turn, place a worker high enough to close the market. You can take two cards with your first worker and half the money with your 2nd. The end result is you get two cards for very little cost compared to what the third player may pay for one card. The other strategy is to try being the lowest bid and get one card for 0 or 1 Deben.
Each market has its different closing point, so this brings some variety to the bidding. The two parts of the Louqsor market are closed by certain dice throws, so this allows for a gambling strategy. If you place one worker for one or two Deben and throw a 1 on the dice you get two cards very cheap.
The Personality cards, bring with them some strategic options. The scribe can add 1, 2, or 3 to the value of your cards, so if you have four of the same card, you get an extra 12 points. The merchant allows you to take one item from two different players, very powerful if you get two rare items to add to the one you already had. The Royal Servant makes all players discard a certain item, so if you pick an item you have four of, you end up with three, but maybe nowbody else has this item anymore and the value of your set goes up. The Priest allows you to place a second worker that turn and this enables you to get the first and second position in a market easily.

What strategies are best when it comes to the set collections? Do you seek the rare items or get a larger number of the lower valued items. Maybe both work equally well, just ensure you get as many of the same cards as you can. So when placing workers always go into a market that has the cards you want. There is no point going into a market where you can get a card cheap if it is not adding to your current sets.

For me the game is very light, but there are definte possiblities in the strategic placement of workers and when to use the Personalities. Jumping into the right market at the right time is the key to success. After several plays the correct options may become obvious and the challenge may go. Hopefully the lower two market places draw the players in, for some reason that we did not see in our first game. Better luck with dice of course would help in Louqsor but the 17+ Deben needed for Abou-Simbel would scare me away.

Thread: Re: Two questions: highiest bidder & using characters

DaRealOdi — 2008-11-01T21:11:50+00:00

Thanks

I was pretty sure about that, but we've had some HEAVY dispute in our gaming group.

Thread: Re: Two questions: highiest bidder & using characters

ackmondual — 2008-11-01T19:56:07+00:00

mevans444 wrote:
1. He doesn't get any cards.

2. A player can play only one seal per turn.Agreed. Furthermore.....

1. which ever bidder is up next, if he pays his bid to take a card, he may ONLY take ONE card! In other words, the privilage of taking 2 cards from the bottom row is no longer available. That was only available for the highest bidder and he forfeited it by having to turn in a gift for lack of funds to pay the highest bid.

2. Remember, if you do want to recruit a character, it must be done before you place a servant.

Thread: Re: Two questions: highiest bidder & using characters

mevans444 — 2008-11-01T12:35:22+00:00

1. He doesn't get any cards.

2. A player can play only one seal per turn.

Thread: Two questions: highiest bidder & using characters

DaRealOdi — 2008-11-01T08:51:02+00:00

1. If the highiest bidder does not have enough money to pay the bid, he discards one of his gift cards. Thats clear. But does he still takes gift cards from the market as normal? (1 gift card&royal seal from upper row or 2 cards from lower row)

2. Does a player can use more than one royal seal in his turn(to recruit more than one character), or just one?

Thread: Re: rules on closing Louqsor

robe62 — 2008-10-14T07:15:13+00:00

Thanks for the fast answers as usual guys,
you are greats

Thread: Re: rules on closing Louqsor

adso_de_melk — 2008-10-13T18:37:48+00:00

I confirm.

Thread: Re: rules on closing Louqsor

ackmondual — 2008-10-13T15:08:38+00:00

GeoMan wrote:
Yes.
I will support that answer

Thread: Re: rules on closing Louqsor

GeoMan — 2008-10-13T08:32:21+00:00

Yes.

Thread: rules on closing Louqsor

robe62 — 2008-10-13T06:54:55+00:00

Hi,

If someone could help me:

if i am the first to put a servant in the right narket on Louqsor,i have to roll the die e if 1 is rolled the market is closed?

that is one servant could be the longest chain?

Thanks

Thread: Re: Underrated Worker-Placement Gateway Game

Gamer_Dog — 2008-10-10T21:56:10+00:00

This is truly one of those great games that flies below the radar.

If it's any consolation, I often lose games when explaining them because I'm paying so little attention to my own position, and making sure the other players understand the game and are having a good experience with it. I think in the long run, you're a better gamer if you can get people excited about playing games.

Thread: Re: Underrated Worker-Placement Gateway Game

ackmondual — 2008-10-10T15:43:15+00:00

The low value items may be worth less, but there are more of them going around. Not so good when trying to keep 'em out of other players' hands, but it does make for more extra bonus points when using the Scribe, esp. the Scribe +3.

AFAI observed, it's helpful to have at least one type of high value item, but diversifying to lower valued items can also help

Thread: Underrated Worker-Placement Gateway Game

selwyth — 2008-10-10T10:44:23+00:00

Near the end of the game night, I had sat down to play Ra, but I saw these 2 new players playing 2-player Munchkrap, so I decided to teach them a simple game to relieve them of their misery. I really like Nefertiti for how elegantly it handles worker-placement and set collection, and it’s easy for newbies to get into. So I left one Egyptian-themed game for another.

A seemed like a natural gamer, while B needed some extra coaching, but he seemed to do fine after a while. I focused on my strategy of trying to get the 2 highest bids in most markets, but made several poor decisions. One, in particular, was when I had to choose which market to close (since I had run out of servants), and I realized a split second after I chose one, that I should have chosen the other, because of the distribution of gifts in each market.

I finished last. I had hoped to do better, especially since I used the Scribe +3. I might have been hurt by going for Chairs and Harps (oops, I just realized they're the least valuable gifts in the 3-player game, doh...), whereas the other two went for the valuable gifts. I also forgot to use my Royal Seals several times, which meant I got stuck with 2 of them at game's end, which was really inefficient.

A was surprised to win. He thought B was in prime shape after he had used the Scribe +1 on his necklaces. He felt that he won by often going for 2 gifts when he was the high bidder, instead of going for the royal seal, so he scored a lot of points despite not having the most original gifts. Also, A often had the most money, which gave him the flexibility of bidding high or low.

B played how I want to play, in making good use of his Royal Seals. In fact, both of them used their royal seals well, partly because I kept reminding them at the beginning of their turn to remember their royal seals, then I'd forget about it on my turn (doh!). B used the Trader x2 to give A and me squat and some consolation money in return for obtaining 2 Necklaces. He also got to use the Treasurer and Scribe +1 for his 4 Necklaces. A got the Vizier and Scribe +2. I used the Scribe +3 (but only on crappy Harps) and a Royal Servant (to rid everybody of Chairs; and my 5 Chairs at the end of the game turned out to be worth squat).

They both really enjoyed the game, so I'm glad I introduced them to life after 2-player Munchkrap. Next time I play, I want to focus on the High Priest, and plan an awesome turn where I close 2 markets simultaneously. I should also stop trying to collect crappy gifts. The only two times I've done that have both resulted in me finishing last.

I'm very happy with the gateway potential of this game. It might not be the easiest game out there, but the sub-1-hour game length and rules that you can explain as they come up (e.g. market closing conditions, reiterate Character cards after somebody gets a Royal Seal etc) make this a suitable choice to introduce people to worker-placement and set-collection. It also packs quite a bit of interesting decisions and action into 45 minutes.

Amusing thing at the end of the game was that we had winners of Amun-Re, Ra and Nefertiti, all of which ended around 30 minutes apart from each other. Too bad there wasn’t enough time for them to duke it out in something like Cleopatra: Society of the Architects to determine who's the true Egyptian god.

A: 130 points
B: 112 points
Me: 98 points

Thread: Re: the Market sheets-Abu Simbel rules

ackmondual — 2008-09-23T14:49:43+00:00

SteveK2 wrote:
No - in all markets you can place your servant on any empty space.

The order of settling is used only to decide the order that servants buy cards (or take cash) when the market closes.Agreed. Furthermore, if you're gonna place a servant and you have a choice between 2 spaces of the same bid amount, may as well make it the bid spot of higher priority. The 5, 6, 7 and the 6, 7, 12 spots will almost always be needed to close those markets, guarantee-ing that whatever spot you bid will NOT be the highest.

The only exception is someone who's got no servants left can close the market prematurely if he's got at least one servant there. OR, as an even bigger powerplay, someone with one servant left (or yourself for that matter) and a Royal Seal to call the High Priest to place the last servant anywhere, then when "placing your next, 2nd servant" close the market.

With the other market, yeah, it's not possible to roll a 7 with just a single die. The rules say BOTH dice must roll to any of the numbers already occupied by the servants.

Thread: Re: the Market sheets-Abu Simbel rules

mocs — 2008-09-23T13:02:32+00:00

My d6 dice only have 1-6 on them

oh...what a shame!
sorry, but I am translate games in italian about 3 days and I'm a little tired.

thanx for all!
Mocs

Thread: Re: Market sheets-Luxor rules

SteveK2 — 2008-09-23T12:40:05+00:00

Answered in your other thread.

Thread: Re: the Market sheets-Abu Simbel rules

SteveK2 — 2008-09-23T12:37:38+00:00

mocs wrote:
thanks Steve, right!

but i have another 1 question:
In the Market sheets-Luxor rules say:"When a player places a Servant in
this stall, they roll two dice. The market closes if the result of each
die corresponds to a number on which Servants are placed. Examples: if the squares 2, 3 and 7 are occupied, the market closes if the player rolls 2-2, 2-3 or 3-3."

but, my question is: following the example above described, the market closes even if the player rolls 2-7, 7-3 or 7-7?

My d6 dice only have 1-6 on them

The market closes if all the spaces with numbers matching the two dice have servants in them. I guess they included the "7" space in the example to show that spaces that don't appear on the dice could also be occupied - but they don't matter.

Thread: Market sheets-Luxor rules

mocs — 2008-09-23T12:17:22+00:00

i have another 1 question:
In the Market sheets-Luxor rules say:"When a player places a Servant in
this stall, they roll two dice. The market closes if the result of each
die corresponds to a number on which Servants are placed. Examples: if the squares 2, 3 and 7 are occupied, the market closes if the player rolls 2-2, 2-3 or 3-3."

but, my question is: following the example above described, the market closes even if the player rolls 2-7, 7-3 or 7-7?

Thread: Re: the Market sheets-Abu Simbel rules and a new question

mocs — 2008-09-23T12:03:34+00:00

thanks Steve, right!

but i have another 1 question:
In the Market sheets-Luxor rules say:"When a player places a Servant in
this stall, they roll two dice. The market closes if the result of each
die corresponds to a number on which Servants are placed. Examples: if the squares 2, 3 and 7 are occupied, the market closes if the player rolls 2-2, 2-3 or 3-3."

but, my question is: following the example above described, the market closes even if the player rolls 2-7, 7-3 or 7-7?

Thread: Re: the Market sheets-Abu Simbel rules

SteveK2 — 2008-09-23T11:04:58+00:00

No - in all markets you can place your servant on any empty space.

The order of settling is used only to decide the order that servants buy cards (or take cash) when the market closes.

Thread: the Market sheets-Abu Simbel rules

mocs — 2008-09-23T10:57:00+00:00

Hi, the Market sheets-Abu Simbel rules say:
"There are several bid squares with
the same value: ties are settled on
each line from right to left."
This means thats it's obligatory to place the servants in this order?

example for Abu Simbel 11/14/17+:
servant on 1(right)-
servant on 2(right) - servant on 2(left, with money) -
servant on 7

It's right?

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Toynan — 2008-09-17T00:37:24+00:00

Internet game add

Thread: Nefertiti - A game of mini auction games

Henkka — 2008-09-17T00:28:29+00:00

Introduction

Apparently there still isn't enough games themed after ancient Egypt. Well, what Nefertiti loses in rather dull and overused theme it gains back with an interesting idea of having not two or three but eight games in one. These mini games (auctions) all have their unique rules for closing.

Inside the box

I guess I don't have to draw you a picture what a game's graphical side looks if it's themed after ancient Egypt. The overall graphical look makes you think that you have seen this all before (and perhaps for myriad times). The mounted board features areas for the four market places, the Nile and lots of sand. The money comes in two cardboard forms for 1 and 2 valued coins. The game, by the way, has closed economy - a bit like in Ra. The four worker pieces look pretty basic, but they're perfectly functional. Lastly there are the special ability cards and different auction item cards. The cards are a bit on the small side, though.

Playing the game

A players turn consists of..

• Using a seal to recruit one of the characters (or whatever they are) for their special ability. If you don't have any seals then you skip this step.
• Place one of your available dudes to one of the open market places (auction areas).

Then see if requirements for closing this market place (auction) are met.

Nefertiti board has 4 different market places where cards are auctioned, though only three auction areas are open at the same time. Each market place has two auction places with different rules for closing. One for example closes if 3 different players have placed one of their worker there or if 4 workers (of any player) are placed there. In other auction area you play a game of tic-tac-toe. In two auction areas the closing condition depends on dice. Overall these mini games are varied enough and do not feel repetitive (like playing Ra might feel). Once an auction closes a new one is opened. There are eight different auction areas in total.

Well, that's great, but what we are trying to win at these auctions? The answer is cards and seals that can then be used to get special abilities. A bit unlike in Ra you know exactly what you are bidding for when you place your worker to one of the auction areas. The auctions are resolved in the following manner.

1) The winner of the auction pays the winning bid to the market place tile and chooses either the top row card with a seal or he can opt to take two cards from the bottom row. Then he takes his worker back to the pool.
2) Then the player with next highest bid has the option to either take half of money in the market place (rounded up) or he can pay the bid he has made and take one of the auctioned cards. If the card with seal is still available he can take it (and the seal of course). Then the worker returns.
3) Next highest bidder repeats the procedure in 2). This is continued until all workers are taken from the auction area.

The whole bidding mechanism feels rather familiar. For it reminds me of how the biding works in Amun-Re. Only that you can have more than one bids in the same place and can't adjust your bid later.

Okay, but what do we get these cards for? The answer to that is set collection.. Indeed, you are trying to get multiples of same looking cards in front of you, interesting and original, eh? But there is a slight twist, as the value of your card(s) goes down if one (and god forbid two) other player has even one of the same type as you. A guest for monopoly this truly is.

You mentioned something about characters with special abilities, didn't you? Indeed, I did. There are a bunch of them, the abilities range from stealing money from markets to stealing cards from closed auctions (if any left, that is) to "stealing" cards from your fellow players to special scoring options to being able play 2 dudes for this turn. Many of these options are quite useful and provide a nice dilemmas to the auction winners. Whether to get more cards (points) or get a seal.

Decisions, decisions..

Although the game is rather simple, you are still presented with interesting dilemmas each and every time it's your turn. Not the kind of brain meltdown type of situations but there are typically 2-4 things to consider.

As the auctions are closed with pre-determined criterias (with the notable exception of the 2 auctions involving dice) you need to decide which of the available auctions is the most important to you, which one(s) are likely to close before it's your turn again and lastly do you bid for the winning or do you want rather take money. The player who can fulfil the closing criteria can usually dictate how the auction resolves. Seldom there are any surprises to be had during auction resolving. This is all pretty tactical and the best course is usually rather easy to see within 30 seconds. The strategic aspect comes from the special abilities and especially from the scoring cards. You'll need to decide which for you aim quite early if you hope them to be still available when you're ready to use them. Though, the strategic depth of Nefertiti is by no means huge.

Nefertiti with bullets

+ It's quick (plays under an hour) and downtime is relatively low.
+ Thanks to different auction areas, doesn't feel repetitive.
+ It's actually fun. For a bidding game that is not something to take for granted.
- The theme is literally old as time.
- Only 3-4 players.

I don't have much bad to say about Nefertiti. It's an innocent little auction game that you can play quickly, before getting to the real deal of gaming evening/night.

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Toynan — 2008-09-14T02:08:25+00:00

Close up on my money during the game

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Toynan — 2008-09-14T02:07:44+00:00

Image

Toynan — 2008-09-07T12:15:39+00:00

Close up on Louqsor market

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Toynan — 2008-09-07T12:11:44+00:00

The inside tray of the box

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diddle74 — 2008-09-06T02:29:31+00:00

playing

Thread: Re: Back of the Box says . . . WHAT?

UnknownParkerBrother — 2008-08-29T16:39:54+00:00

Yeah, what? I don't know what it says, here I thought you were going to tell me.

Ok, hunted it down, no idea what you're getting at. Was he not married? Was he not king? Was he not forgetful about anniversaries?

Thread: Back of the Box says . . . WHAT?

Sagrilarus — 2008-08-29T15:17:16+00:00

    Considering Akhenaton is generally considered the co-progenitor of monotheism I am very surprised at what is written on the back of the box. I appreciate they want flowery speech and an exotic tone to get you to buy, but it is wildly off the mark. Doesn't anyone watch the Discovery Channel anymore?

    The other progenitor of monotheism along with him? Nefertiti herself, who was as much the Pharaoh at the time that Akhenaton was. In the game she apparently is a bit more concerned with jewelry.

    Both their religious and leadership eccentricities proved to not be very popular with succeeding generations.

             Sag.

Thread: Re: Nefertiti: The “Not Ra” game

Ibaimendi — 2008-08-24T18:01:31+00:00

I've been thinking of it as "Not Amun-Re" rather than "Not Ra," myself. The board even looks like Amun-Re!

Thread: Re: Question on initial single Deben on each of the Opening Markets

ackmondual — 2008-08-22T13:35:44+00:00

StormKnight wrote:
Only at the start of the game.

I don't know where it conclusively says this in the rules off hand, but with 4 players there's exactly enough money included to start the game; there wouldn't be any 'bank' for the money to come from to add to the market!I don't think it says so in the rulebook, but either way, after you set up a 4p game for the first time, you realize that all the money went to the 4 players and the 4 markets

Thread: Re: All the Gifts of Egypt

Osiris Ra — 2008-08-22T12:07:42+00:00

Barad_the_dwarf wrote:
I find it very handy to place my servants over all the open markets so I have always something to do. It also is a good idea to make sure you run out of servants to place so you can close one of the markets on that time, perferably a market were almost none of the other players are on.

An excellent way to close Markets is by using the High Priest, especially in the one where a dice roll is required for closing OR in the one that needs the Tic-Tac-Toe pattern. With these, if played right and everything else turning out well, you can be the only one in the Market and leave the other players with nothing to do.

Thread: Re: Rules about the highest bidder discard the gift

Barad_the_dwarf — 2008-08-22T11:34:27+00:00

If you want to block opponents it's more interresting to keep an eye on who of them takes risks. Like who has one of his servants on the highest bidplace but doesn't have the money to pay for it. And than quickly close that market.

Thread: Re: Question on initial single Deben on each of the Opening Markets

Barad_the_dwarf — 2008-08-22T11:28:43+00:00

I agreed on what Brian said. That only in the beginning of the game there was money from laid on the markets. After that all the money is divided, so were would you get you're hands on money to lay in the markets? Get it from other players?

Thread: Re: All the Gifts of Egypt

Barad_the_dwarf — 2008-08-22T11:24:56+00:00

I find it very handy to place my servants over all the open markets so I have always something to do. It also is a good idea to make sure you run out of servants to place so you can close one of the markets on that time, perferably a market were almost none of the other players are on.

Thread: Re: Nefertiti: The “Not Ra” game

Isamoor — 2008-08-20T02:37:28+00:00

Nice review!

I tried Nefertiti the other day, and I have to agree it's "Not Ra". However, I say that because it's not nearly as good as Ra in my opinion.

All the markets close in different ways, but they all still felt "samey". If I wanted to win a market, I probably could.

I understand the whole "characters" added depth. But it also added confusing iconography and annoying rules referencing.

I just much prefer the push-your-luck excitement of Ra

But I'm glad someone enjoyed this game!

Thread: Nefertiti: The “Not Ra” game

Smilinbrax — 2008-08-20T01:33:26+00:00

Upon my first encounter with Nefertiti, I dismissed it as yet another auction game with an Egyptian theme. It was sitting on a pile of Games at Gamefest South, and looked about as exciting as watching ink dry. I couldn’t figure out why someone would theme any auction game Egyptian as it would instantly bring up thoughts of Ra. And few auction games compare well to Ra in my opinion. It would have gone entirely ignored by me but I was convinced to play it by one of my fellow convention goers (Dave Chappelle). I ended up playing two games of it and even bought it while I was there. It was a very fun lighter weight game and was definitely NOT RA.

So what do you get?

The game is broken up into a game board, large market tiles, money, an ankh, wooden “servants” in 4 colors, two dice, seal tokens, and many cards, wooden score tokens in 4 colors.

The artwork is colorful and very pleasing with a nice Egyptian feel to it. In fact, it is much better than Ra. The cards are small and difficult to shuffle but are adequate to the use they have in the game. They have decent artwork which evokes the Egyptian flavor of the items they represent and the information is provided in a clear manner on each. The meeples are on the small side but fit well with the size of the board.

The board itself is also on the small side, which is why the servant tokens and cards are small. However, this appears to be a deliberate choice as the market tiles would have to be huge if the board was made lager to accommodate standard sized playing cards. The costs would also have to go up and many people would probably complain about the game being too expensive for what you get. The symbols on the board are not always obvious and you will need to refer to the rules the first 1-2 times you play to determine what some of them mean.

Overall the bits are adequate for the task and evoke the Egyptian theme well. I particularly like the painting of the Nile delta on the board background. It is simple but a nice addition. On the other hand, Ra, in my opinion, is plain and ugly. The minimalist artwork is serviceable but not attractive.

Theme:

This is an auction game with worker placement. It could re-themed as Ultimate Hopscotch for cash and prizes. If you are looking for complex interactions accurately reflecting Ancient Egyptian History, then this is the wrong game for you. However, if you want to play an auction with a novel bidding mechanic then theme is only skin deep anyway. In this way, Nefertiti is a little like Ra.

Gameplay:

Nefertiti plays very differently from Ra, and I think will appeal more to casual gamers (more on that later). They both, at their hearts, are a “Collect as many cards/tiles of a certain type as you can to score big points” type of game. Both games also have hidden information in the form of tiles/cards that are flipped up to be bid on in a random order. However, where Ra has more of a push your luck component built in, Nefertiti is more a game of maneuvering. You can push your luck in Nefertiti but only in minor ways.

In Nefertiti you are “nobles” trying to come up with the most beautiful gifts for Nefertiti who is tying the knot with Akhenaton. The goal is similar to that of almost any cocktail party. You don’t want to be seen wearing the same dress as someone else. In effect you score points for having items that other players do not have and your items become worth less if they also have them. Mechanically, you are trying to collect sets of cards while keeping them away from your fellow player. This is often not entirely possible but there are ways to steal cards or force others to get rid of them.

In Ra you just buy the stuff and score based on what you get each round. The only player interaction you will see is during the bidding and there is no way to take something from someone else. This is not a bad thing, it just means that Ra is much more focused on one set of mechanics.

So how do you get stuff in Nefertiti? There are four markets on the game board. One starts closed and the other three are populated with 4 face up item cards from the deck, one of which has a seal token on it (each). The markets have two sides to them with a different array of several tents on either side. You use the market tiles to cover one side of a market when it is open and another tiles covers the other side when a market is closed. The tents are all numbered sequentially starting from 1 and one market gets as high as 12.

Each turn, you can play a previously acquired seal token to use a “character” (i.e. a special ability card that is usable once per game) and then place a servant in an open market. Servants are place round robin and then the next set of servants are placed in the same order. Rinse and repeat. Each player has only 4 servants so you need to make them count. Whatever number tent you place your servant on is how much money you are bidding for that market. You cannot place a servant on an occupied tent. Each market has a condition which will cause it to close and resolve bids. A few of these include creating a tic-tac-toe with the servants placed on the tents, the number of the tents with servants on them adding to 17+, or having 3 servants of differing colors on tents. When the condition is met, the market closes and the highest bidder must pay the total amount of his/her bid to the market and can take the item with the seal on it or two of the other item cards. The next highest bidder gets to take half the money in the market or pays their bid and takes one of the remaining cards. This continues for each bid until they are all resolved. All servants on this market are then returned to their owners to get placed again.

The market tile is then moved to the opposite side of the market (remember, each market has 2 different configurations of tents) and the tile indicating that it is closed is placed over the uncovered section of the market. This opens the previously closed market and cards are added to fill this new market. In this way there will always be three open markets that rotate throughout the game and one closed one. As each market has 2 different sides with different requirements to close them, you can go through 8 different markets in a game.

Seals can be very powerful to take as they allow you to use a character on a subsequent turn. These characters take the form of various cards laid out at the beginning of the game including a thief, scribes, merchants, etc. These cards are discarded along with the seal token after use, so some will only be available to one player. The characters and their abilities are:

Thief: take one card remaining on a closed market (1 card)
Treasurer: take 4 money from an open or closed market (1 card)
Vizier: instantly score 2 points for each different item you have (1 card)
Scribe: score one set of you items with +3, +2, or +1 points added to each (4 total cards)
Royal Servant: force everyone to score one item (2 cards)
Merchant: trade 2 or 1 item with another player and pay them any difference in cost (3 total cards)
High Priest: place one extra servant this turn (1 card)

(scored items are removed from the game which can make remaining ones more valuable.)

There are also different types of tents to place the servants on. For example some tents have symbols that reward or punish players who take the space. Each market has a space with a coin on it that allows the player who places a servant thereto take one money from the market. Others penalize you for making low bids by only allowing a player to take one card per bid. A third type of tent allows players who make the highest bid to take an extra card along with their normal 1-2 card choice.

The game has a closed economy. Once the players have their income and the starting money is placed on each market, no more money will get added to the system. This makes it important to try to be the second highest bid when a market closes as you will get first crack at taking ½ the money on the market. Sometimes it is worth it to be first and second highest bid as you can buy items with the high bid and then take half of it back. When a market closes, all money still on it stays there. Thus, players can be very cash poor and the markets rich at times. Players can get paid from the markets by taking the tent with the coin symbol or being the first person to place on a newly opened market (nabbing 1 coin) or both (nabbing 2). Enterprising players can easily gain control of the markets by hoarding money, but this comes at the cost of getting items which will be worth more points at the end of the game.

At the end of the game final scoring is done. All players score the number of points on each item card equal to the number of players who have a copy of that card. For example a player may have a Gold hawk statue card that scores 14 points if only one player has a copy, 10 points if two players have copies and a measly 7 points if 3 people have one. There a few double cards with 2 senet games pictured that score double points as well. After that, every one scores 1 point for every 2 money and 3 points for each unspent seal token. The highest score is the winner.

Not Ra:

When you start to look at the mechanics of Nefertiti, it becomes clear that these games fulfill a very different function in the auction game world.

Ra is a game that is streamlined, doing one thing and doing it well. You have a large press-your-luck component along with a need to carefully evaluate each bid you make and when to call Ra to keep someone else from bidding or force them to bid on less than they wanted. The scoring seems overly complicated for the simplicity of the auction mechanic and this is unfortunate as you need to know how scoring works to properly evaluate a bid. Fortunately you only need to play once or twice to get the basics of game play and it is often fun even if you are not sure about scoring.

Nefertiti is more focused on maneuvering and appears to have more “complex” game play at first. You will spend time trying to figure out when to close a market, and when to scoop someone for a bid. The characters also require you to think ahead so you can use them at an optimum time. There is much more player interaction in Nefertiti. People can steal cards from you and take the character you want before you get to use it. Also, you need to try to guess where others may place their servants to know where to put yours.

Despite its apparent complexity, I feel it is actually easier to teach new people Nefertiti than Ra.. While the auction mechanic in Ra is simpler, The scoring is more straightforward in Nefertiti and you don’t have to worry about what pieces disappear every round and why you can’t score a Nile without a flood. Also there are no negative modifiers in Nefertiti. You will only go up on the track and never down. There is a certain logic to the markets, despite their odd way of closing and it is relatively easy to understand that your servant placement is also your bid. I was able to teach the game to others after one play and it seems intuitive once you grasp the concepts involved.

Summary:

Overall, Nefertiti is a fun game with novel mechanics that really add spice to the auction genre. If you’re thinking, “Not another auction game,” then think again. This games will pleasantly surprise you with a worker placement model and clever ways to directly affect your opponents for fun and profit. When I say this game is not Ra, it is to distinguish it from Ra rather than put Ra down. Both are fine games but I found that Nefertiti was initially more accessible than Ra. In the end I really enjoy both but I am look forward to playing many more games of Nefertiti, so Ra may take a powder for a while.

Higher Primate assessment of Nefertiti (ook factor 1-5):

Bits: ook factor 3.5 (pretty and thematic)Game play: OOK factor 4 (5 if you love to moving little pieces of paper around)
Replayability: ook factor 4 (simple with enough depth to keep you coming back)
Tension : ook factor 2 (not a huge amount unless a market closes unexpectedly and your opponents suddenly have more money than you)
Accessibility : ook factor 4 (intuitive and relatively easy to pick up)
Overall: OOK factor 3.5 (A fine auction game that you can play when you really don’t feel like Ra)

Thread: All the Gifts of Egypt

Osiris Ra — 2008-08-19T17:44:03+00:00

Nefertiti is, for me, a game unlike any other I have played. It takes a number of plays to get your head around its subtle rhythms and strategies. Here is a first attempt at some of things to be aware of when playing the game.

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Placing Servants is the crux of the game.
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1. Being the first to a market can provide you with one (or even two) extra coins. As money is extremely limited -- the game has a fixed economy -- this is never a bad move. What do I mean by a fixed economy? There is a set amount of money, and it is always changing hands. There is never any added to the system. Basically, the game begins with all of the money either in the players' hands or on one of the four markets. Manage your money, then, as carefully as you can.

2. Whenever you can, try and place servants on the Zero and/or One bid spaces. This will give you flexibility when the market is resolved. You may wind up with a decent split of the money in market OR gain an item for little to no money. In a fixed economy game, the latter choice is quite powerful.

3. Close markets when it is to your advantage (I will cover this further below). The best advantages to be had are for players who are first and second in the auction. This provides a superb amount of flexibility for deciding which items to take. Try to arrange it so as to be both first and second when a market closes -- then you control the flow of both the goods and the money.

Closing Markets and gaining Gifts.
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1. Go for monopolies of gifts. That should be obvious, given that the game rewards those who are the only ones with a given grouping. So collect as many sets as you can.

2. When you are in first place in any market when it closes, unless circumstances dictate otherwise (there is only Gift awarded for first place OR you need the one card on top for the set), ALWAYS take two Gifts from the bottom row. You will games because you have collected more items AND you can potentially hurt you opponents' scores by devaluing the items they have been collecting.

3. When you are in second position when a market closes your choices are often good ones. If there is a goodly amount of money in the stall, then taking half of it will help you greatly later on. If, however, your bid is not that high or the item in the top row is one that appeals to you, then grab it and the seal while it is available.

3a. If you were both first and second when the market closed then you can take advantage of both of these options, make it a powerful combination. Often you will want to gain two things for the high bid and then take half the money that is there as your second action, leaving your opponents cursing you. If, however, you take both two items from the bottom row and the one from the top with its seal, you leave almost nothing for the other players to do -- and again they will curse you.

4. If you are not first or second, then play the game by ear. If the person before you left a good amount of money, take half. If the item on the top row with the seal is still available, grab it. As long as you have a servant in a market that has closed you have options.

5. It is often in your interest to collect lots of middling or low value Gifts, while others fight it out for the expensive ones. Quantity can and often will overcome quality.

The Royal Seals & Characters
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1. Use the Seals when you can. Once you summon a Character, no one else can use it. Sure, they are 3 points if you do not, but a timely-played Character can more than make up those points.

2. When you have the expensive Gifts -- Gold Works or Necklaces -- and you are the only one with them, use the Scribe to score them. Not only will you get maximum value for the item, this will also provide an additional +3, +2, or +1 per item depending on which Scribe is left. This makes the Scribes fairly powerful cards.

3. If you are running short on money, the Treasurer can make you solvent in a hurry. Even if you have money, using him to gain extra will give you a lot more options. Use him whenever you see a market not undergoing closing with 4 coins in it.

4. The Thief can improve your game in a hurry. If a closed market has something you need, use him to steal it for you. Even if it does not have something you necessarily want, take the item with the Seal on it and you will be able to summon another Character later -- this also prevents other players from getting Gifts they might need.

5. The High Priest is a great card if you can get it to work right. The two best uses for him are: a) close two Markets where you will be first or secon in both; b) close a single Market where you will be first and second. Make sure, hovever, that you can pay for these.

6. Both the Merchant and the Royal Servant can be useful in creating monopolies of Gifts. However, their use really depends on what other players have (and in the Merchant's case, how much money you hav). Their use is limited, but if you can pull that off you will be well rewarded. In other words, if you can time it well they will pay off. A useful thing to do with the Merchant is to trade away something that devalues a Gift; example: you have 2 Harps and another player has 4, trade one to a third player to hurt the second.

7. The Vizier can provide some extra points, but usually these will not be game breakers. His is easily the weakest card.

Conclusion.
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Nefertiti is a game of timing and monopolies. Master that timing and you will be richly rewarded. Collect as many sets of Gifts as you can and you are likely to win. Break up other peoples' sets of Gifts and you will stay in the game. It is the quick, well-thought out use of the Characters that will help you achieve this. Now go forth to the great markets and return with Gifts. Your Pharaoh and his Queen await.

Thread: Re: Question on initial single Deben on each of the Opening Markets

ackmondual — 2008-08-12T13:24:19+00:00

Barad_the_dwarf wrote:
indeed, were could you get the spare money??? Please elaborate..... there shouldn't be any spare $$. In a 4p game, it's all going between players' hands and the 4 markets. In a 3p game, extras are put back in the box to keep from accidentally being used.

The only bank is for royal seals.

Thread: Re: Question on initial single Deben on each of the Opening Markets

Barad_the_dwarf — 2008-08-12T09:24:19+00:00

indeed, were could you get the spare money?

Thread: Re: Question on initial single Deben on each of the Opening Markets

Osidarta — 2008-08-12T07:42:16+00:00

StormKnight wrote:
Only at the start of the game.
Brian is right (it is in the initial game setup), and if players let some money left on the market, it will be available only when it re-opens (or through the treasurer).

StormKnight wrote:
I don't know where it conclusively says this in the rules off hand, but with 4 players there's exactly enough money included to start the game; there wouldn't be any 'bank' for the money to come from to add to the market!
Right again. It is in "Contents of the box" described as 30 tokens worth 40 deben total (8+9+9+10+4=40) so no money left. At 3 players you can put the money left after initial set up in the box since there is no bank: money flows between reserves and players.

mevans444 wrote:
Also, any player who is the first to place his Servant on a Market, and who also places his Servant on the coin symbol, is only going to get the single starting coin from that Market's Reserve. One of the two bonuses will remain unfulfilled.
Yes you can get up to 2 deben by placing the first Servant on the coin symbol, but the reserve has to contain at least 2 deben to be useful. At the beginning of the game, you're free to place the first Servant anywhere on the market and get the only deben available.

Thread: Re: Question on initial single Deben on each of the Opening Markets

mevans444 — 2008-08-12T06:46:06+00:00

Also, any player who is the first to place his Servant on a Market, and who also places his Servant on the coin symbol, is only going to get the single starting coin from that Market's Reserve. One of the two bonuses will remain unfulfilled.

12
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Thread: Re: Question on initial single Deben on each of the Opening Markets

drbsgold — 2008-08-12T02:32:11+00:00

Brian is right.
You do receive the bonus though, but only if there is a coin to pay it out.

B

Thread: Re: Question on initial single Deben on each of the Opening Markets

StormKnight — 2008-08-12T02:05:47+00:00

Only at the start of the game.

I don't know where it conclusively says this in the rules off hand, but with 4 players there's exactly enough money included to start the game; there wouldn't be any 'bank' for the money to come from to add to the market!

Thread: Question on initial single Deben on each of the Opening Markets

krackelman — 2008-08-12T01:31:08+00:00

The rules state that 1 Deben is placed in each of the Market Reserves at the beginning of the game. After the players have played through a given market and closed it, the next time that market opens again and is re-populated with gifts, does that Market Reserve receive a 1 Deben infusion (because there could alread be Deben there) or does that only happen at the very beginning of the game for the beginning 4 markets and then never again?

Thread: Re: Too hard to fulfill closing the Abou Dimbel market (right stall, 17+)?

Osiris Ra — 2008-08-05T22:27:09+00:00

In most cases, this is a long-term market. A servant placed here will take time to pay off, but it is usually worth it.

Having played the game about a dozen times now what I have found is that this stall's closing condition is greatly affected by what is bid in the other markets. When someone collects a significant number of Deben, they then can close this stall.

Also, Abu Simbel is a great place to "trap" other players by making them discard Gifts -- this has happened more than once, and often to several players. If you fill up the lower cost stalls, they will need to place Servants in the more expensive places, and then watch 'em scramble!

Another good thing to do is place all 4 Servants here (in the lower ranks), then close the market and reap all the rewards. You need to be sneaky to pull this off, and it will only work once with one group of opponents. As was stated above, using the Priest card is a great way to pull this off.

Hope this helps.

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ArtEmiSa64 — 2008-08-05T19:17:09+00:00

Thread: Re: Too hard to fulfill closing the Abou Dimbel market (right stall, 17+)?

ackmondual — 2008-08-05T19:03:37+00:00

Michel wrote:
Remember that a player may close a market (containg at least one own pawn) when he cannot send another servant.

Dimbel?in a 3p game, someone did a nice maneuver to close that stall out early (the one requiring 17+). He had one servant left, so he used a royal seal to call upon the Priest. He placed the first servant on the 3 bid spot. For his "2nd servant", he simply closed that market b/c he had no servants left.

Nice, simple, and sneaky

Thread: Re: Rules about the highest bidder discard the gift

Osidarta — 2008-08-05T10:36:27+00:00

Thanks for nice comments.

drbsgold wrote:
You have designed a lovely game. Both in looks and in playability.

Well we need to be 3 to finish it (and with comprehensive playtesters) Alexandre Roche responsible for the look was very open to all our foolish ideas (both ours and editor) as well as suggesting most

ackmondual wrote:

It's always great to see designers take time out of their busy schedules to give official words on questions and such.

Hmmmm not sure that I have a busy schedule I have been a boadgamegeek addict before being designer and I don't forget that it is a wonderful place to share our hobby

Thread: Re: Too hard to fulfill closing the Abou Dimbel market (right stall, 17+)?

Osidarta — 2008-08-05T10:22:00+00:00

This market is indeed hard to close (each market has a fast and slow stall, and this is the slow stall of Abou Simbel). If there is no attractive Gift but still want to go there for opening bonus, you have several ways to choose your placement:

- long term: you place on the 7 and begin to spare money to reach 12 in other markets (don't place anymore servant there). If nobody comes to "help" you, you will close the market with 2 servants (12 and 7): first one pays and gets either the top card, one seal and a bottom card, or the 3 bottom cards, the second takes 6 debens. So it costs you 6 debens and you still have firepower (meaning deben )

- tempting: you place on the 6 and hope somebody will go to the 7 (so a total of 13, so 2 more servants and it will close), then you get the money as second bidder (we assume that the Gifts were not so tempting). If not working, then you can go yourself on the 7 and will probably attract other people

- safe you go on a low place 1 or 2 just to get the deben and forget about the stall until somebody else go there

Keep in mind that it is often not THAT useful to be on stall with more than 4 servants (total no matter the colors): often with 3-4 servants, every servant will get something useful, with more some will lose their time. So "don't put all your eggs in the same basket" (can we say that in English?) until the situation is pretty clear on a market.

Also after the first few games, you can start at random for the stalls (and so begin sometimes with the fast stall 11/14/17+, or even forced it if you don't like the pace with slow Abou Simbel at start).

Hope that helps.

Thread: Re: Too hard to fulfill closing the Abou Dimbel market (right stall, 17+)?

Michel — 2008-08-05T07:01:12+00:00

Remember that a player may close a market (containg at least one own pawn) when he cannot send another servant.

Dimbel?

Thread: Too hard to fulfill closing the Abou Dimbel market (right stall, 17+)?

pazu — 2008-08-05T05:24:50+00:00

I have just played one 4p game of Nefertiti last week(My first game of Nefertiti). In that game, i surprised that the market Abou Dimbel (Right stall) closed until the "Akhenaten" draw from Gift pile.

Since the closing condition is sum of the offers is large or equal to 17. In case, the Gifts in the markets are not attractive, it is hard to fulfill the closing condition even one of 6 or 7 bid square occupied.

In our game, the highest bidding probably less or equal than 6 in 3 of other markets. So the Abou Dimbel is opened till to end game condition occured.

Thread: Re: Rules about the highest bidder discard the gift

ackmondual — 2008-08-04T16:43:06+00:00

If you have no gifts due to having just used a character card that scores and discards gifts, then maybe. It does seem you'd be better served better helping yourself. Most ideally, you'd be able to outbid your opponent, get first licks at the gifts, and take away what he wanted.

However, I gotta say there is some merit in this strategy. If a player is about to score 2 gold works, keeping him from 14 points may be worth it. You may end up keeping him from 28 points since w/o having the option of getting both of them, he would rather take the gift with the royal seal instead. If he's gonna followup with say a Scribe+2, then that could be an extra 38pts for him right there.

drbsgold wrote:
I think you would rarely find an instance where this strategy was worth it.

(not to mention the bad will you might generate at the table)

thanks for the official confirmation Thomas.

You have designed a lovely game. Both in looks and in playability.

Its great fun when the game starts to speed up mid game. Very fun, great game playing time....I really am glad I bought it.

Eh, at some of my game groups, there are many shades of kingmaking or "screwage factor". This type isn't nice, but it wouldn't be completely unwarranted in some of our books

It's always great to see designers take time out of their busy schedules to give official words on questions and such.

I gotta chime in and agree as well. I'm certainly glad I bought it. It is indeed great. 1) Not super complex, but still enough to make a game fulfilling, 2) nobody else has this game which is always nice plus and 3) it's a relatively short game which is another plus with some of my groups.

Thread: Re: Rules about the highest bidder discard the gift

drbsgold — 2008-08-04T15:40:25+00:00

I think you would rarely find an instance where this strategy was worth it.

(not to mention the bad will you might generate at the table)

thanks for the official confirmation Thomas.

You have designed a lovely game. Both in looks and in playability.

Its great fun when the game starts to speed up mid game. Very fun, great game playing time....I really am glad I bought it.

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brainst0rm — 2008-07-28T19:12:19+00:00

Gizeh Market is closing..

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Toynan — 2008-07-26T13:11:01+00:00

Close up during the game

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Toynan — 2008-07-26T13:06:50+00:00

Close up during the game