Thebes

The objective of Thebes is to become the most famous archaeologist team in the world by gaining popularity in the form of victory points. To do this players will have to obtain the knowledge it takes to skillfully excavate a site for ancient artifacts. In order to learn enough for their expeditions archaeologists have to travel to different european metro poles, Middle East and northern Africa. They are especially interested in the Mesopotamian, Palestinian, Egyptian, Cretan and Greek culture. This knowledge is then to be used at the excavation sites where precious artifacts are buried under ground. The archaeologist who learns the most about the civilizations, claims the greatest-valued artifacts, and collects the most exhibitions will win over his or her colleagues.

Through the course of the game, expositions are revealed, and an archaeologist who has treasures from the requisite civilizations may claim the prize.

The game is played out over a period of two or three years, depending on the number of players, and each action a player performs takes its time. Moving from one city to another takes an entire week. Time for gaining expertise depends on the level of the same. Exhuming and collecting artifacts and doing exhibition will also take weeks. The players move along the time track with 52 spaces and eventually spend all fifty-two weeks of the year.

The bags with the artifact tiles for each civilization also contain dirt. If you excavate the site you will have to pull the tiles out of the bag not knowing whether it is worth something or just a dirt. That dirt is then returned to the bag, making the first draw more likely to provide useful tiles.

Contents:

1 rule book

1 summary sheet

1 game board

4 archeologists

4 time markers

1 year marker

85 researcher cards

10 exhibit cards

5 summary cards

4 time wheels

4 sets of excavation permissions

155 excavation tokens

5 cloth bags with colored tops