Thebes

About this board game

Thebes is a competitive archaeology board game for 2–4 players, played in about 60 minutes. Over two or three years, archaeologists travel across Europe, northern Africa, and the Middle East to gain knowledge and excavate valuable artifacts.

Players build knowledge about five ancient civilizations: the Greeks, Cretans, Egyptians, Palestinians, and Mesopotamians. They then use that knowledge to dig at the corresponding historical sites, hoping to recover the most valuable treasures and earn recognition through exhibitions.

Time is the central resource in Thebes. The board features a track of 52 spaces, and every action advances a player’s token by a number of weeks. Traveling between cities, gathering knowledge, and excavating all take time, so turns are taken by the player who is furthest behind on the time track.

This creates a constant balance between acting quickly and investing in more powerful actions. A lengthy excavation may produce more artifact tiles, but while that archaeologist waits for time to catch up, opponents can take several actions of their own.

• Travel between locations to gather archaeological knowledge.
• Excavate sites connected to five ancient civilizations.
• Draw artifact tiles from bags that also contain worthless dirt.
• Claim exhibitions by collecting treasures from the required civilizations.

Excavation is never guaranteed: artifact bags contain dirt alongside valuable finds. Dirt is returned to the bag after being drawn, changing the chances of future draws and adding uncertainty to every dig.

The archaeologist who learns the most, claims the highest-valued artifacts, and collects the most exhibitions wins. With its time-based turn order and push-your-luck excavations, Thebes makes every journey and dig part of a carefully timed race.