All of my 'Light Reviews' aim to offer a brief overview that allows people to get a good feel for what the game may offer them, the options involved and general flow of play.

Summary

Game Type - Card Game
Play Time: 10-20 minutes
Number of Players: 2-4
Mechanics - Set Collection, Card Drafting
Difficulty - Pick-up & Play (Can be learnt in under 10 minutes)
Components - Good


Image Courtesy of Phil81

Overview

Archaeology: The Card Game (AcG) uses a timeless theme to frame its game play - Egypt and the quest to uncover ancient artifacts. This may have been used many times before but AcG features a set of mechanics that fit and support that theme quite nicely.

Whenever I come across a game that has subtle strategy, can play in the 'filler' game time frame of 10-30 minutes and has mechanics that support the theme - I get fairly excited.

The Components

AcG is a Self Published title by fellow Australian Phil Harding, under his Adventureland Games Company. Immediately we fear that the components are going to be sub-standard but in actual fact they are quite good.

The Cards - Not surprisingly it is the 87 cards that feature in the game that are the key components. They are rectangular in shape (think Lost Cities) but are smaller - being slightly smaller than a Ticket to Ride Card. Actually this neat picture serves as a better comparison.


Image Courtesy of TVis

The Artwork on the cards is functional without being stunning, but it certainly conveys what each card is meant to represent.

There is no matte (or linen) finish on the cards and this may see them travel poorly past the 50th play or so but they are notably thick. I did notice that Phil hopes to release a future print run at some point that would feature a linen finish.

It is not unusual (or surprising) for a self-publishing designer to be faced with limitations when it comes to production quality (and AcG still surpasses many other SP titles I have seen). But what must be present in a card game is good card design. AcG does a great job with the card design. The artwork is central to the card, which serves to draw one's eye to each card. The artwork also serves the secondary purpose of clearly identifying what each card represents, although the name of the card also features at the top.

At the bottom of the card a series of numbers are featured, which represent the points that can be earned by selling 1-5 of that card type to the Museum. This is very 'Bohnanza-esque'. Finally at the top of the card, the card name is flanked by the value of the card, which is important in the Marketplace.

The final key piece of information is how many cards are available in each set of Treasures. This number is clearly printed in the bottom right hand corner of the image panel and is constantly referred to when each player tries to weight up the probability of doing well by collecting any given Treasure type.

In short the cards are functional and avoid being overly cluttered. here.

Let’s take a closer look at the make-up of the deck.

Treasure Cards - There are 72 Treasure Cards in all and of course these are the prizes that everyone seeks. There are 7 different sets of Treasure Cards and each set varies in number. The number of Treasures in each set has a direct impact on the values that will be paid when they are sold to the Museum. Players of Bohnanza will feel right at home here.

The Treasures themselves include; Pot Shards, Parchment Scraps, Coins, Talismans (think Ankhs), Broken Cups, Pharaoh's Masks and Maps.


Image Courtesy of Phil81

Special Cards - There are then a further 15 special cards. There are 8 Thief Cards, 6 Sandstorm Cards and 1 Pyramid Card. More on these in the game play section.

Rules - The rules are high quality. Featured on a double sided page, they are well written and explain everything in a logical fashion. Pictures are included to clearly identify the features on the cards and I'd almost defy anyone to not learn the game in 10 minutes.

Tuckbox - All this gaming goodness comes in a neat little tuckbox.


Image Courtesy of TVis

The Set-up

There is a little bit of set-up, mainly due to the fact that the Special Cards and Maps are not to be dealt to players for their starting hands or feature in the Pyramid. For this reason I always pack the game away by placing those 21 cards together so they can easily be set aside on the next play.

Staring Hand - Each player receives a starting hand of 4 cards.

Marketplace - Five cards are then dealt face-up on the table. These represent the Marketplace and are open for trade on a player's turn.

Pyramid - The Pyramid Card is then set to one side. It features an illustration of a Pyramid with 3 chambers and these are key to the game. Each chamber represents a Treasure Trove of goodies that can be discovered by the players. So cards are dealt face-down around the Pyramid just waiting to be plundered. Three cards are dealt to the right of the Pyramid Card, 5 cards above and 7 cards to the left.


Image Courtesy of Phil81

Assemble the Draw Deck - The Thief, Map and Sandstorm Cards are now added to the remaining cards to form the Draw Deck for the game. It should be noted that for game balance some of the Sandstorm Cards may need to be removed. With 2 players all 6 cards are used. One Sandstorm Card is removed with 3 players and 2 are removed when 4 players are together.


Image Courtesy of Phil81

The Game Play

For me the secret to any good card game is that the player has several options at their disposal and a simple process or series of phases are used. AcG meets both these criteria and each player on their turn follows the following process -

Dig for Treasure - It's a mechanic as old as time but if you can't draw cards then the game goes nowhere. In AcG it is referred to as 'digging for treasure'. This not only allows a player to draw a card but it supports the theme as well.

On most occasions, a player will draw a Treasure Card and add it to their hand. However, drawing a Thief or Sandstorm will see that card removed from the game and an action taken. Drawing a Thief Card allows the active player to draw a card at random from any other player. Should all other players have no cards, then nothing is gained.

Drawing a Sandstorm is even more dramatic as it results in all players being forced to discard half of their hand (player's choice), rounded down. These cards are discarded to the Marketplace where they are up for grabs by all.Because the active player doesn't actually gain from a Sandstorm Card, they can draw another card.

Digging for Treasure is mandatory but after this step the active player can engage in any of the following options -

Trade at the Marketplace - The active player is allowed to trade cards from their hand with cards located in the Marketplace, provided that the cards taken are of equal or lesser value.

This is a very neat mechanic as it allows for considerable 'indirect' player interaction. Each player must carefully weigh up what they stand to gain from trading with the Marketplace, compared to what their opponents may gain by collecting the very cards that you have traded away. In the context of a 'set-collection' game, this trading mechanic is very engaging.

The Marketplace also takes on a new dimension with the effects of Sandstorm Cards. At times the Marketplace can fill to the brim with Treasure Cards and the turns that follow can become a mad scramble to pick up the finest (most valuable) pieces.

Explore the Pyramid - This option is always a key goal and really underpins the theme of the game. But it is no easy task as to access one of the Pyramid's three chambers, Map Cards must be found.

Playing 1 Map Card grants access to the chamber containing the 3 Treasure Cards, 2 Maps are required to access the 5 card chamber and 3 Maps are needed to plunder the 7 card chamber. With only 6 Map Cards in the game it is often the case that all 3 chambers are not penetrated as played Map Cards are removed from the game.

What can then occur is a cat and mouse game. Some players will quickly trade in a found Map to be the first to grab the 3 cards in the small chamber. But other players may take the risk of keeping a Map Card in the hope of finding a 2nd and maybe even a 3rd Map to access the greater wonders that lie within. I say risk because a Thief or Sandstorm may result in the loss of Map Cards. In this way AcG also incorporates a 'push your luck' element into its play.

Sell to the Museum - The final option is to Sell any collections (sets of treasures) they have amassed to the Museum. This mechanic serves as a means to 'cash in' on your efforts and secure points towards your total for the end of the game. It is possible to sell single cards and the most that can be sold for some Treasures is 5. Ultimately though it is the rarity of the Treasure (how many that are present in the deck) that dictates the value to a Museum.

Thanks to the card design the values for the sale of a set of Treasure Cards is clearly printed on each card. Each set should be fanned in a vertical fashion so all players can see how many are present and the Museum area is simply the playing area in front of each player.

The key rule regarding the sale of Treasures is that each set is kept separate. Therefore if a player sells 3 Coins, they cannot add to that set in the future. Any additional Coins that are collected must be sold as a new set. In this way the players are constantly weighing up the benefits they could gain by not selling and collecting more as opposed to the risks of being hit by a Sandstorm or Thief.

The decision to sell early for less reward, versus holding out for a big 'pay-off' is central to the play of Archeology: The Card Game.

Pass - Once a player no longer wishes to take any actions they simply pass and the play moves to the next player in clockwise order.

Game End and Scoring - The game end is triggered when the last card from the Draw Deck is taken. Each player in turn still has the opportunity to take another turn in order to Trade with the Marketplace and Sell any Treasures, but this process is managed rather quickly.

Scoring is then completed by each player adding up the total of all Treasure Sets they have sold. Generally speaking each player's total is all but known just prior to the end o the game as each player is constantly calculating the scores around the table. This is fairly easy to do, but is vitally important, as the players will usually want to target the leader with cards like the Thief.

The Final Word

Archeology: The Card Game is a highly enjoyable game. The choices on offer are purposeful and more importantly the different options are interwoven so that one decision is likely to affect another.

AcG is also a great example of a game that is more than the sum of its parts, as it effectively does nothing entirely new and uses many mechanics seen elsewhere (Bohnanza, Ticket to Ride, 'Push Your Luck' Games). But it works really well thanks to how those elements interplay.

The final clincher is that the game doesn't outstay its welcome, which usually results in players asking to play again instead of looking at the box and saying they've had enough.

Perhaps the biggest praise I can give AcG is that I have 2-3 shelves full of 'filler' style games and that means I really look at new titles in this genre very critically. With that in mind I am very happy to have picked up a copy of AcG and expect it to hit the table regularly.

More valuable than my endorsement I'm sure, is the fact that Archaeology: The Card Game won Australian Game of the Year for 2008. It may be tricky to find but I recommend taking a look.

Even though the pictures aren't showing up at present, this is a lovely clear review. Thanks.

Thanks Wulf - I assume the pictures thing is a current bug?

Seems to be

Boy that was quick...interestingly I can see the images on my screen though as we speak.

Good review, I am pleasantly surprised at this little game that caught my surprise- cheap, simple, compact and elegant. This helps me feel better about z-man, and redeems them for the poor print quality I experienced with Genji and Middle Kingdoms.