Bacchus’ Banquet

About this board game

Bacchus’ Banquet is a game of secret objectives and Roman intrigue for 3–5 players, with each game lasting about 30 minutes.

It is 37 AD, and Caligula is the extravagant Emperor of Rome. His latest gala, Bacchus’ Banquet, brings together nine “honored” guests for an evening defined by excess, ambition, and hidden agendas.

Each player takes the role of one of these honored guests, with a personal objective that shapes their presence at the banquet. Everyone may be attending the same celebration, but they are not necessarily pursuing the same outcome.

• The glutton: attending for the food and wine.
• The avaricious opportunist: seeking the presents that are often bestowed.
• The conspirator: involved in one of the many plots to kidnap or assassinate the Emperor.
• Caligula himself: exploiting the weaknesses of his groveling subjects.

These contrasting roles create a banquet filled with competing motives. One guest may be focused on indulgence, another on rewards, and another on a dangerous plot, while Caligula can use the human foibles of those around him to his advantage.

With its setting of lavish imperial excess and its cast of secretive, self-interested guests, Bacchus’ Banquet offers a compact story of food, wine, gifts, kidnapping, assassination, and political intrigue. Released in 2008, it brings Caligula’s short reign to the tabletop in a focused 30-minute experience.