Archimedes (1981)

About this game

A completely different game from the "Archimedes" published in 1995 by egSpiele. The game is played on an 8x8 board, with each player controlling one King pawn. On your turn, you must move your King (as a normal chess king) and then place a pyramid on the board. Once your King has become completely surrounded by pyramids and cannot move, you are out of the game, unless there are two pyramids of the same color (there are eight pyramids in five different colors) leading out in a straight line from your King, in which case you can move the one closest to your King to anywhere else on the board, and then move your King into the empty space. Oddly, the box this game came in is completely devoid of any extraneous info (including game designer and year of publication), and even the manufacturer's initials are in tiny print with a © symbol, crammed down in the corner of the cover. Even the rules for the game are printed on the back of the box (in English & German) as opposed to being included on a separate sheet inside.

Does it fit your group?

• Group size. Works with 2 to 4.
• Rules load. At 2.1/5 this is a mid-weight game — expect a proper rules explanation before you start.
• Age. The publisher suggests 8 and up. That rates the rules rather than the artwork, so judge the box yourself for younger players.