Aapep is a wonderful little abstract strategy game from the Cambridge Games Factory.

Background

First off, who or what is Aapep? Aapep was part of the ancient Egyptian pantheon of deities and, to them was an evil demon representing darkness. Based on the hieroglyph for Aapep he was seen as a snake or serpent. He was considered to be the sworn enemy of Ra – the bringer of light – and there were numerous stories of the battles between them. For example, it was believed that the setting sun (Ra) was attacked by Aapep just as it crossed the horizon. As the tag line for the game describes it, it is a “swallow the sun strategy game”.

Components

The game comes in a small plastic box (about 7 inches by 5 inches) and contains a board, rules, 11 tiles (1.5 inch square), 12 glass stones and 6 poker chips.

The board is thin laminated card and is divided into a grid of 4 by 4 squares (i.e. 16 in total). The board is simply, but effectively, decorated with sun and snake symbols.

The rules take up about a page and are reasonably clear and concise. I believe that a new version is being produced at the moment which will make the rules completely clear.

The tiles are the same card stock as the board and are designed to represent pyramids. If you can imagine an aerial view of a pyramid you will see 4 triangles which are the faces or sides of the pyramids. The triangular sides are coloured either yellow (to represent light or Ra) or black (to represent darkness or Aapep). One of the tiles is all yellow (with a sun symbol) and one tile is all black (with a snake symbol). Four tiles have two adjacent sides coloured black, three tiles have opposing sides coloured black, one tile has three sides coloured black and one tile has one side coloured black: all other sides on the tiles are coloured yellow. Therefore, looking at any edge of a tile you will see either black or yellow; this is important to understand when determining the winning conditions (see below).



The glass stones come in four colours: yellow, black, white and red (three of each).

The poker chips also come in yellow, black, white and red with an additional two grey chips.

The components are reasonable quality and make it a good serviceable and very portable game.

Gameplay

Two player

The board is laid out in front of the players, with the tiles laid out face-up next to the board. The players decide who should play as Ra and who should play as Aapep. Ra takes the yellow poker chip and one yellow glass stone. Aapep takes the black poker chip and one black glass stone. The poker chip is used merely to remind players of which colour (or character) they are playing. The glass stone is a player marker used later in the game. One grey poker chip is placed on the top right square of the board and one is placed on the bottom left square of the board. These are known as shadow markers and they prevent a player from placing a tile in the square in which they are present.

The game has two phases: Daytime and Nighttime.

Daytime: Ra plays first and play alternates, with each player taking one of the face-up tiles and placing it on the board in any empty space (i.e. one not already occupied by a shadow marker or another tile). The player then moves one of the shadow markers and places it in another empty space. Once all tiles have been placed then the Nighttime phase takes place:

Nighttime: Aapep plays first and play alternates with each player taking one of the tiles (without a player marker on it – see below) and moving it to another empty space on the board. The tiles may be rotated to enable the black or yellow edges to point in a different direction. The player then places their coloured player marker onto the tile just moved (removing it from the tile it was on previously). Finally the player moves one of the shadow markers and places it in another empty space.

So what is the aim of the game? Imagine that the tiles are little 3D pyramids. If you are sat on one side of the board then you will be looking along four columns (each consisting of four squares). As long as there is a pyramid tile in one of the squares in each column then note the colour of the side or face of the first pyramid you can see in each column. If they are all yellow then Ra has won (and has escaped from Aapep); if they are all black, then Aapep has won (and has swallowed the sun). Note that the shadow markers are ignored in determining the first pyramid tile that can be seen in each column. This winning condition is checked on all four sides of the board after each player’s turn. If in placing a tile both players have gained the winning condition then the player who placed the tile loses.

Multiplayer

The interesting thing about Aapep is that it can be played with 2, 3 or 4 players. This is not usually the case with an abstract strategy game. In a 3 player game the players play as Yellow Ra, White Ra and Black Aapep; in a 4 player game they play as Yellow Ra, White Ra, Black Aapep and Red Aapep. In either case they take the relevant coloured poker chip and player marker. Play is similar to the two player game, with alternate moves, Yellow Ra starting the Daytime phase and Black Ra starting the Nighttime phase. General player order is yellow, white, black (3 player) or yellow, red, white, black (4 player).

But how about multiplayer winning conditions? They are the same as the two player winning conditions but cleverly it can only be achieved on certain sides of the board. In a 3 player game Yellow Ra can only win by getting their full colour on the top or bottom sides of the board, White Ra (left/right) and Black Ra (all sides). In a 4 player game Yellow Ra again wins on the top or bottom sides of the board, White Ra (left/right), Black Ra (top/bottom) and Red Ra (left/right). As a reminder, the remaining coloured glass stones are placed on the sides of the board that the player needs to win from.



Based on these winning conditions the multiplayer game can occasionally create loose alliances of the Yellow and White Ra against the Black and Red Aapep.

Basic Strategy

The first few games begin with a lot of random placing of tiles until the interaction between the Daytime and Nighttime becomes more apparent. It seems that the winning conditions are less likely to be met during the Daytime phase so it’s more of an establishing phase where players will set themselves up for the almighty Nighttime struggle. As Geosphere has suggested in another thread, it is possible to open aggressively using one or other of the solid coloured tiles. Place your own in a corner which gives you two unblockable faces or place your opponents near the middle and then susequently block it.

Remember that Ra will have the last turn in the Daytime phase and Aapep the first turn in the Nighttime phase. Ra must ensure that Aapep cannot win using their first movement; Aapep must neutralise any useful tiles for Ra, preferably by moving them and then placing a marker on them which means the tile cannot be moved until after Aapep’s next turn.

Don’t forget the importance of the shadow markers as these are useful to protect tiles in the second row.

During the Nighttime phase there will only be three spaces available to move your tiles (and shadow marker) into, so orientation of the tile is often key to your strategy. Limited placement opportunity also allows you to anticipate, to an extent, your opponent’s best moves.


Conclusion

In conclusion, this is a superb abstract game, with a simple rule set, but deep, deep strategy. I anticipate this will attract a very strong following in 2008 on BGG. Additionally, it is begging for a computer version to be created.

Theme

You may have noticed, however, that I haven’t touched on theme. Unfortunately it is as thin as the card stock that the board and tiles are made from. Despite the pyramid tiles, the game is merely yellow versus black. As previously mentioned, the production quality of the game is fine and is well produced by CGF but I feel that it lacks any wow factor. This may put it at a disadvantage compared to other, similar, abstract games.

I am a massive fan of Hive (I rate it a 10) and it is visually very attractive, particularly the latest Bakelite version. Aapep could easily achieve the same heights with its simple rule set and ability to accommodate up to four players.

My suggestion would be as follows. Create small 3D Bakelite pyramids - their faces obviously coloured the same way as the tiles. This gives a greater visual impact, adds to the theme and makes the achievement of the winning condition more obvious. If each pyramid is missing its capstone then each player can have a capstone in their character colour which enables them to indicate (by completing the pyramid), which pyramid they have just moved. The shadow markers and player character indicators could take the form of small Bakelite snakes or suns or combination of the two. The pieces could come in a drawstring bag with the board printed on it (in fake papyrus), together with subtle, stylized hieroglyphics to indicate the sides of the board and the colours that win on those sides in a 2, 3 or 4 player game.

But to get to that stage of production, I guess CGF need some idea of interest and feelings about the game. I have rated it a 9 and would urge those of you, like me, who have received preview copies to give it a try. Those of you who like simple but deep abstract games like Hive should certainly consider purchasing it.

EDIT: I posted this before I saw the images of a giant demo version of the game using 3D (cardboard) pyramids - much more effective than 2D tiles...

Thank you so much for such a glowing review.

That 3D version you speculate about is obviously a dream for us, but we can all dream, can't we?

Sometimes dreams come true ...