For our very first episode Todd, David, and Paul talk about Tigris & Euphrates, the number one game on BoardGameGeek in February of 2003. Yes, 20 years ago!
Regarded by many players as Reiner Knizia’s masterpiece, Tigris & Euphrates is set in the ancient fertile crescent of Mesopotamia. Players build kingdoms through tile placement. A kingdom is a group of tiles that connect orthogonally on the board. There are four types of tiles: markets, temples, settlements, and farms.
Leaders are round tokens placed next to red tiles in a kingdom. Each player controls four different leaders: farming, trading, religion, and government. Leaders collect victory points in these categories. At the end of the game, your score is the number of complete sets of cubes (one cube from each category) that you own.
A conflict arises when kingdoms connect on the board. A kingom follows only one leader of each type. Therefore when two kingdoms with the same leaders connect there is an external conflict. Alternatively, a leader placed directly on a kingdom with an existing leader of that type starts an internal conflict. Remove defeated leaders and supporting tiles from the board.
Four tiles of the same color placed in a square pattern create a monument. Monuments earn points for leaders that match one of its colors.
Does Tigris & Euphrates still have staying power? Give us a listen and find out!
