Cleopatra And The Society of Architects

by Days of Wonder

Product Features

• 3-5 Players
• Age 10+
• 60 minutes

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 12 x 3 x 12 inches ; 4.4 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 6 pounds
• ASIN: B000EMJAGE
• Item model number: DOW7501
• Manufacturer recommended age: 10 months and up
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #87,635 in Toys & Games (See Top 100 in Toys & Games)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)

Product Description

"The pyramids are crumbling, the temples are in ruins and even the nose of the Great Sphinx looks like it might fall off any day now. Cleopatra is one unhappy queen. Now she has called on the members of the Society of Architects to build her a magnificent new palace in Alexandria - with a Pharaohs ransom to the design that pleases her most. Cleopatra & the Society of Architects is the newest big-box board game from Days of Wonder. This fun and engaging family game includes a true, three-dimensional palace that players compete to build. Players strive to become the wealthiest of Cleopatra's architects by constructing the most magnificent and valuable parts of her palace. The twist however is that players will be tempted to deal with shady characters and trade in materials of dubious origins in order to help them build faster. Players- 3-5 Ages 10 and up Playing Time- 60 minutes FUN"

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great game, a combination of several clever systems, October 11, 2006

By 

B. Sites "plexiglass_designs" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cleopatra And The Society of Architects (Toy)

Cleopatra is, in a quick overview, a game that focusing on trying to acquire enough good points to win without acquiring enough bad points (which may cause you to lose even if you had the most good points). It's for 3 or more people, but there is a variation on the Days of Wonder website for 2 people.

In Cleopatra, you draw cards from a marketplace and use them as resources, much like Settlers of Catan or railcards in Ticket to Ride. With the resources, you can build several different portions of Cleopatra's Temple. For building the pieces, you get various amounts of good points (called Talents). At the end of the game the person with the most Talents wins. Unless...

The "unless" is if you have the most bad points (called corruption amulets) then you lose. You gain these amulets by taking various shortcuts. The number of amulets you have is also secret, so the game is a balancing act of taking shortcuts to get ahead, but not taking too many such that you end up being the person with the most amulets.

The game also involves other various strategic elements. Of the different Temple pieces you can build, there are bonuses that allow for some strategy in choosing what to build and when. There are also a few cards mixed in with the resources that allow you to do something special (lost amulets, take a discarded card, charge other players resources, etc.) at some cost (usually you gain amulets). There is also an event that may occur at some point in the game in which all players bid their talons (good points) secretly, and whoever bids the most loses several amulets while everyone else gains amulets (whoever bid the second-most talons gains one or two, the next gains two or three, the next three or four, etc.). And of course whatever you bid in talons you lose even if you were not the highest bidder, so this adds a good burst of strategy.

The game is made mostly of plastic pieces that are pretty durable, though there are some cardboard pieces that I wonder if will go the distance. Because it is Days of Wonder, and prior similar cardboard-based games have done fine, I'm not lowering their score for this.

In short, this is not my favorite Days of Wonder game, but it is a clever addition that is fun and pretty easy to learn. It would appeal to people of all ages and, assuming they can grasp the rules above, they should have no trouble playing it. It well-deserves a rating of 4 stars, and I'm sure some will think it deserves even a 5.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome game!, March 11, 2009

By 

K. Villeneuve - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:4.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cleopatra And The Society of Architects (Toy)

This is one of the best games that we've played. All of our friends who have played it instantly become addicted. It's also great because it's shorter than most of the others ranging from 1 hr-1 1/2 hrs. I definitely recommend it if you play any of theses games: Settlers of Catan, Agricola, Puerto Rico, or Shadows over Camelot.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Buy it now, September 16, 2009

By 

GamePlayer30 "RW112" (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

= Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:2.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cleopatra And The Society of Architects (Toy)

All of Days of Wonder's Games are good if not great. This game is sort of like Ticket to ride. In ticket to ride you use cards to buy trains, but in Cleopatra you use cards to buy pieces of a temple to complete. There are other twist to it, but that is the core mechanism. Buy it now!