When Imhotep was announced as a 2016 Spiel des Jahres Nominee, we were surprised because we had never heard of it. My wife played it for a bit in a store and purchased a copy.
Players
The game only supports up to 4 players. We have only played with 3, so I can't tell you how it plays with 2 or 4. The first player starts out with 2 cubes, second starts out with 3, third starts with 4, but I didn't feel there was an advantage or disadvantage to being first.
Theme
Imhotep is considered to be one of the world's first architects. In the game your job is to compete with other players to become the best ancient Egyptian builder.
How it works
During a turn, you can take 3 blocks from the quarry and move them to your shed, place one block on a ship, play a card, or sail one of the ships. The boats sort of work like trucks in Zooloretto. The big difference is you are transporting your opponent's bricks as well as your own. Also there are 5 destinations, but only 4 boats per round. When a boat goes to a destination, the blocks are unloaded first in first out FIFO, which makes a HUGE difference in this game. You want to be first in the market, but you may not want to be first to the other destinations. After all of the boats sail, the round ends. Each round has different starting boats.
Destinations
1. The market - Players can choose which cards they want based on the order of blocks (FIFO)
2. Pyramid - Your blocks are placed in a pyramid (3x3 then 2x2 then 1) and you are given points based on where you block is located. The block at the top and in the middle of the 3x3 grid are 4 points for example.
3. Temple - Basically you are building a wall. Points are scored for whoever's bricks are currently on top of the wall.
4. Burial Chamber - Here you want to connect as many of your bricks together as possible to maximize your score.
5. Obelisks - Points are given out in order of obelisk height (single stacked)
Kids
My son had no trouble learning or playing this game.
End game
The end game is triggered by the end of the 6th round. The obelisk and burial chambers are scored and the special "decoration" and "statue" cards are scored.
Our First Game
My wife maximized the Burial Chamber, my son went after statue cards, and I did a little bit of everything. As I noticed what my wife was doing with the burial chamber, I had trouble stopping her as I had to get more bricks and she was using the little boats whereas my son and I were more interested in the bigger boats. Her strategy payed off and she won by exactly 1 point. My son (as seen in the photo) was extremely happy that he collected 6 statue cards which gave him 15 points and tied him with me in second place.
Conclusion
I don't really have a conclusion. We have played twice, but I still don't know how I feel. The cards can be flipped over, so you can play the game in multiple different configurations which is nice. I do enjoy playing this game but for some reason it doesn't create the same amount of joy and jokes as Zooloretto. Our last game of Zooloretto, I won, but my zoo was full of Zebras, camels, and apple carts. Who would want to go to that zoo? Nobody. My son didn't have full pens, but had a variety of animals and vending stalls. We all agreed that we would rather go to his last place zoo then my first place zebra/camel farm. In this game, we built a pyramid and some obelisks. That was ok I guess. The burial chamber was the most interesting place IMHO. I dunno I guess I like seeing the finished board in Carcassonne or the finished zoos in Zooloretto to feel like something was accomplished. Imhotep did that more than Machi Koro or 7 Wonders, but I don't particularly like those games for that reason (lack of feeling accomplishment). I will have to give it a few more goes I suppose. Anyone else have any thoughts?
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