Euphrat und Tigris
Euphrat und Tigris is a German board game by Reiner Knizia. Before its publication in 1997, it was highly anticipated by German gamers hearing rumors of a "gamer's game" being designed by the respected designer.
Theme
The game is named after two rivers in the region we now call the Middle-East. The rivers together formed natural borders for an area which harboured several grand ancient civilizations, including Sumer, Babylonia, and Assyria. The Greeks called this area Mesopotamia, which literally means "between the rivers".
The game is ostensibly set as a clash between neighboring states at the dawn of civilization. However, like many of Knizia's games, the theme feels superficial, irrelevant to abstract gameplay.
Gameplay
The game can be played by 2,3 or 4 players. The play offers both tactical and strategic objectives. As with many games, the short term objectives gain prominence when more players participate, as each player's chance to follow up on his or hers previous moves becomes less likely. Luck plays a role, but is seldom decisive. No dice are thrown, cards (board tiles) are taken face down from a stock.
The game starts with ten isolated tiles already placed on the board. Players play tiles next to existing tiles, causing the tiled regions, kingdoms, to grow.
Each player has four figures that can be placed on the board instead of and next to a tile: king, priest, merchant, warrior. Similar figures can not coexist in the same region. A player can contest a region by placing a figure in an area that already contains a figure of that kind. This is called an internal conflict. The position of each figure on the board, in combination with cards each player puts on the table, decide which figure is ousted and who gains a few chips.
Sooner or later tiled regions will grow towards each other until someone places a tile that merges two regions into one. The new region may now well contain several incompatible figures. This time we speak of an external conflict. Now different rules decide who wins.
During the game each player collects tokens in four colors as a result of playing tiles and resolving conflicts. After the final round each player sorts his or her tokens by colour. The winner is the one with the most chips in their smallest category.
For example:
- John has 6 black, 8 red, 12 yellow and 12 blue chips.
- Mary has 9 black, 10 red, 6 yellow and 15 blue chips.
- Kurt has 14 black, 14 red, 5 yellow and 20 blue chips.
Though Kurt has lots of blue chips this is not relevant at all. His smallest set is only 5. Therefore Kurt finishes third. John and Mary both have a smallest set of 6 chips. Therefore the one but smallest set decides the game. Mary wins.
This is one of the novel mechanisms of the game. An inexperienced player is easily seduced to focus on quasi profitable moves which provide several chips in one go, but with a colour that he or she has already in ample supply.
This description of the rules is not complete, but hopefully gives a first impression of what kind of game Euphrat und Tigris is. A player will want to establish and enforce positional advantages and prepare timely takeovers in order to gain points.
Euphrat und Tigris was released in the United States of America by Mayfair Games, under the title Tigris and Euphrates.
It was originally published in Germany by Hans im Glück.
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