Pharaoh
Pharaoh | ||
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Andrew Looney | ||
Players roll dice to claim the title of the King of The Pyramids | ||
Players: | 2 - 4 | |
Length: | Fast | |
Complexity: | Low | |
Trios per color: | 1 | |
Number of colors: | 1 per player | |
- - - - - - Other equipment - - - - - - | ||
Volcano Board, six-sided die | ||
Setup time: | 1 minute | |
Playing time: | 1 minute - 15 minutes | |
Strategy depth: | Medium | |
Random chance: | Medium | |
Game mechanics: | Dice, King of the Mountain | |
Theme: | Egypt | |
BGG Link: | Pharaoh | |
Status: Complete (v1.0), Year released: 2010 | ||
Pharaoh is an Icehouse game designed by Andrew Looney.
Pharaoh uses 1 Treehouse set (Rainbow or Xeno but not Pink), plus a regular D6, and a slightly modified Volcano board. Pharaoh is a very easy, quick-playing positional strategy board game. It can be played with 2-4 players.
The rules for Pharaoh were released in late November 2010 as a file download from the Looney Labs web site. It is the Looneys' 2010 Holiday Gift.
The 2012 reissue of Treehouse includes printed Pharaoh rules and a nice cloth Pharaoh board.
Rules Summary[edit | edit source]
Each player gets a small, medium, and large pyramid of one color. They may only move their own pieces.
The board is a 5x5 grid with the corner squares blocked off. A Volcano Board with 4 little black squares would be ideal for this, but any old grid scribbled on a piece of paper should work just as well.
Players setup their pieces on opposite sides of the board, and then roll a 6-sided die to see how many "actions points" they get. Small pyramids need 1 action point to move, mediums need 2 action points, and larges need 3 action points.
Pieces start the game off the board, taking the correct number of action points to move onto the board from the player's side. Pieces can move in any direction once they are on the board, although diagonal moves require twice as many action points. Pieces may never stack, however a larger piece can always bump a smaller piece off the board entirely, by landing on it.
Game End[edit | edit source]
The Goal of the game is to land all 3 of your pieces (in any order) on the 3 goal spots on the center of the board. The location and quantity of goal locations varies depending on the number of players. Pictured above is the configuration for 2 players.
If one player is very lucky, the game might last a minute or less. More likely is that the game will last about 5 or 10 minutes. Aggressive game play (in which players bump each other off the board actively and often) will probably make the game run a little longer.
External Links[edit | edit source]
- Looney Labs Pharaoh page with rules PDF at [1]
- Original directions at Wunderland
- Sample game on YouTube
Featured in Pyramid Primer |
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IceDice · Treehouse · Pharaoh · Pikemen |
Launchpad 23 · Black ICE · Zark City · Caldera |
Martian Chess · Martian Coasters · World War 5 |
IceTowers · Homeworlds |
Featured in Pyramid Arcade |
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Black ICE · Color Wheel · Give or Take · Hijinks |
Homeworlds · Ice Dice · Ice Towers · Launchpad 23 |
Looney Ludo · Lunar Invaders · Martian Chess · Petal Battle |
Petri Dish · Pharaoh · Powerhouse · Pyramid-Sham-Bo |
Treehouse · Twin Win · Verticality · Volcano |
World War 5 · Zark City |