Olympus

About this board game

Olympus is a deterministic strategy game for 3–5 players, with play lasting about 120 minutes. Each player leads an ancient Greek city-state, developing its population, culture, military, and productivity while seeking the favour of the gods.

On each turn, send one of your three priests to worship one of ten deities, including Zeus, Athena, Poseidon, Ares, and Apollo. Other players may join the ceremony with their own priests, receiving a smaller benefit while the active player gains the greater favour. Since each deity can be chosen only once per turn, every decision involves timing, prediction, and choosing between a powerful action or a useful secondary reward.

• Worker placement: Assign priests to deities that develop your city, produce resources, build structures, score points, or enable military actions.
• Resource management: Produce and spend grain, venison, and fish to create an efficient scoring engine.
• Strategic variety: Choose from 45 buildings, including 12 unique structures that can become points of contention.
• Direct interaction: Wage war to steal resources or invoke a plague to reduce an opponent’s population.

The city-state board tracks six values covering population, culture, military strength, and the productivity of its three resources. Buildings offer varied effects and victory points, while different approaches can succeed with either a broad collection of structures or only a select few.

When a player first reaches the maximum value in a field, they claim a two-point award. Once four awards have been claimed, the game ends, and players receive additional points based on how developed their cities are. In Olympus, careful worship, efficient planning, and knowing when to take risks determine who becomes the hegemonic power of the Peloponnesus.