Thebes: What's in the Box?

I recently acquired a couple new games, one of them being Thebes. I have been looking forward to playing this game for a long time. I debated the purchase for several months and finally decided to give it a try. I have not been disappointed.

So, one thing you might wonder is: "How big is the box?" Take a look below.

The box is big. It's long and thicker (up and down) than a TTR box, but not as wide. Here's what you find inside (minus one time wheel which our 21-month-old son managed to hide very well).

You can see in the picture:

• Box interior with slots for all the bits to easily fit. Not as form-fitted as some boxes, but good nevertheless.
  
• Board depicting parts of Europe, Africa, and Asia
• Instruction manual
• Player reference / treasure details sheet
• 5 cloth bags with colored trim to coordinate with their dig sites
• Pile of multicolored excavation permission tiles
• Deck of small cards (Thurn & Taxis or Ticket to Ride size)
• 4 colored meeples, 4 time track markers and 1 year marker
• 3 time wheels (the game comes with 4)
  

One of the features I like most about this game is the art. As I've mentioned before, I'm a big fan of Michael Menzel's artwork. Besides Jambo, this is the only Menzel game I have at this point. Check out some of the tasty artwork on this board:

Here you can see most of the cities where you do research:

Here you can see most of the excavation sites:

The design is very pleasing to the eyes. Everything is laid out tastefully.

Here's a close-up of one of the meeples. Each player has one of these to represent their archaeologist:

Here's how the table looks at the beginning of a 2-player game:

One thing I discovered that I instantly loved about the game was the collecting feature. I can't think of any other game I've played where collecting lots of stuff is such a big part of the play. Here is what a player's area looks like late in the game:

And here's how the table looks at the end of a 2-player game:

Clearly, there are lots of pretty components in this game. One thing you may not notice in these pictures is the box cover art design. The blue which paints the sky is stunning, making this box one of the most attractive I've ever seen. The picture displays some archaeologists uncovering and documenting artifacts in Egypt. I love looking at the box cover. While looking through my game collection, all stacked on shelves, Thebes really stands out with its vivid cover art - "Play me! Play me!!"

The manual at first seemed confusing. The rules seemed much heavier than they are in practice, and I think this is a result of poor manual layout design. The rules make the game sound daunting, but once you play, you realize just how easy the game is. My wife and I felt comfortable with the game very soon into our first play. It flows well, and the theme touches every aspect of the game. You travel around researching. Then, when you feel like you've gathered enough information, you go and dig. Every once in a while, certain cities will put on exhibitions, and if you have the right types of artifacts to show, you can gain points from those exhibitions. But the exhibitions come and go, so you have to time them just right.

Everything in the game is time-based. It's like an action point system. You can do as much stuff as you want, as long as you're last on the time track (which looks like a scoring track around the edge of the board). Everything you do costs time. The game lasts either 2 or 3 "years", depending on the number of players.

You gain points for artifacts you dig up, for knowledge you acquire in your research, for congress meetings, and for exhibitions. So there are a few ways to strategize when storing up your victory points. But I think that you certainly have to dig a lot if you want to win. Artifacts are very important.

Thebes plays quickly with 2 players. My wife and I have thoroughly enjoyed it so far. The biggest complaint gamers make about Thebes is that there is too much luck. I agree that there is a lot of luck, but it fits the theme. Sometimes, when you dig, you don't find anything. But pulling from the bag, hoping for the best treasures, is quite fun. It's also fun to watch other players pull from the bag - and at the same time agonizing to watch them draw the artifacts you wanted.

The game is similar to Ticket to Ride in terms of weight. As in TTR, I can see a first-timer winning the game. There is luck, and there is strategy. The overall flow is very comfortable. This should sit well with non-gamers and families.

I am really looking forward to playing more Thebes in the coming weeks.

Portobello Market - now available!

A few days ago, Portobello Market , a board game designed by Thomas Odenhoven, was finally made available for purchase at online U.S. game stores.

This game was released in February of 2007, published by Schmidt Spiele for the European crowd. The game caught the eye of Playroom Entertainment who published it state-side this summer. I have been watching and researching this game for a few months, wondering how good it was and if it was worth buying. Thoughthammer was showing “Pre-Order - August” for a long time. August came and went, and then it finally arrived in early September. By the time I saw this, the game was sold out. So in pre-order phase, it must have been fairly popular.

What piqued my interest?

This game has art by Michael Menzel. He's probably my favorite game artist - every game he paints for ends up looking great. For an example, look at pictures of the game board for Pillars of the Earth. I love realism in art, and Menzel uses it well. He also has a wonderful sense of lighting and shadows. To look at his art for various games, check out his website.

So, in the case of Portobello Market, the art was admittedly the main draw for me. It just looked fun to play. In addition, there are colorful wooden bits, which are also quite attractive to me, even down to the pattern in which they're placed on the board.



Next, I read some reviews and comments from early owners of the game, which were generally positive. One reviewer called Portobello Market “a gem of a game,” which caught my attention.

And so, I decided to keep my eye on the game, watching for new reviews and comments once the English version was released. That's where I am now. But...

What diminished my interest?

Whenever I'm considering a new game buy, I consult my wife. After all, if she doesn't like the game, who will I ever play with? Sure, I play with the guys at work, but my wife is my primary gaming partner. So, I typically try to get her to show interest before a buy. She researches the game on BGG, reading reviews, and looking at personal comments and pictures.

After looking at Portobello Market, her interest was low. She read that the game was similar to Ticket to Ride and Masons - two games we already own. Other people say that the game is nothing like Ticket to Ride, so that just creates confusion. At the end of the day, my wife just didn't see anything that stood out to her. The game looked boring.

As I continued reading through comments, I was turned off by phrases like “abstract” and “brain-burner” and “no luck”. I tend to avoid brain-burning games because they require more energy and competition than I like investing. If I'm going to play an abstract game, I like it to be light, with somewhat easy decisions (like Through the Desert or Hey! That's My Fish!). The game looked like it had a fun theme, but it started to sound as if it's not necessarily important to the game. I am trying to buy mostly games with clever or seamless theme integration because those seem to be the games we play most, and the type other people request.

So, I'm not going to buy the game for now. But I'll keep looking for reviews and hoping for a chance to try the game someday. It still looks attractive, and I wouldn't pass up a chance to get down all close to the board and admire the detail in Menzel's artwork.