mythology

In Amyitis the players are rival architects competing to earn the most prestige building one of the seven wonders of the ancient world: the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. The game is named after the daughter (or granddaughter) of Cyaxares, the king of the Medes, who married King Nebuchadnezzar II, ruler of Babylon. The myth says that Amytis' homesickness for the forested mountains of the Median Empire led to the construction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, as Nebuchadnezzar attempted to please her by planting the trees and plants of her homeland.

The players embody noble Babylonians in quest of prestige. All along the game, they strive to raise their status by building gardens and their irrigation network, and by trading and recruiting. At the end of the game, the player with the highest prestige is the winner.

In this game the players compete to build gardens, acquire plants, hire craftsmen, build irrigation and trade with ancient cities. Points can also be gained from building your palace and controlling the temples. On a turn the players chose one of the following actions: a) Recruit a craftsman, that grants an action (priest on temple, resource, irrigation or camel) b) Move the caravan (to purchase plant or court card or trade) c) Pass to potentially gain income. It is an interactive game where a player's actions directly affect the other players.

The hanging gardens were one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world, as all history courses teach. But, did they actually exist? Nothing remains of their reported splendor, which was built for the eyes of Amyitis.

Without an exact reference to follow, the 2-4 players will re-establish the hanging gardens according to their own tastes.

Card follows card with magnificent buildings, sparkling fountains, and exotic plants as the players work to rebuild the legendary gardens. In the end, the queen will be pleased and rewards the victory palm to the player whose work on the gardens most impresses her highness.

Together, the players use cards to try to build the eight wonders of the ancient world. The number they build varies, but can't be more than seven. (Hence the subtitle of the game, "...or why the eighth wonder was never built.") While building together, each tries to provide the majority of the components for each wonder and collect scoring disks (in four suits). When it's someone else turn, you offer cards to the active player, and by good offers, can earn points (or sometimes even the disk). So a feature of "Tower of Babel" is that players always perform actions and can earn points during another's turn. Card trade offers, collecting disk sets, and building wonders are the three ways to earn victory points. The game ends when a player takes the last disk of any one of the four suits, so players have some influence on the game's end moment. And, the victory points determine the winner at game end. Typical game length is less than an hour.

Reiner Knizia Variant--some recommend against using the action cards because the publisher rather than Reiner Knizia added them and because they damage the game balance. To play with this variant, simply leave the action cards in the box. There is no bonus to the person who completes the final stage of a wonder.

Two to five players act as leaders of different peoples and command them to explore, send out fleets, build trading posts, and generate the highest possible profit. Poseidon contains most of the basics of 18xx games and due to the relatively short running time of two hours is as suitable for 18xx-newbies who want to explore this wonderful world as it is for experienced train gamers.

The 18xx basics included are:
1) Instead of running a corporation, players control a country/people
2) The goal of the game is personal wealth, the wealthiest player at game end is the winner
3) Players create trade routes similar to railway lines in 18xx games
4) Trains are replaced with common modes of transportation at the time (i.e. ships) with varying types
5) 18xx type stations are replaced with trading posts

Game Contents: game board, eight "possession sheets", play money, lots of wood pieces, cards, 1 rule book

More than 2,000 years ago Plato told the myth of the splendid city of Atlantis, which was sunk in the sea.

In this family game the players, by skillful placing of cards and the building of bridges, try to leave the city of Atlantis in order to reach the solid ground with as much treasures as possible.

The city of Atlantis and the solid ground are interconnected by land tiles. The players receive cards with several drawings, land tiles with those drawings, all pawns of a color as well as a bridge. In your turn you can discard a card with any drawing and go with one of your pawns to the next tile with the same card drawing. At the end of your turn, you can take the tile left behind and put it in your hand as victory points. The player puts a water tile into the gap created and draws a card from the deck the pile. So every turn there are more water tiles and it's harder to overcome the gaps, players can go forward using their bridges or paying victory points with your collected tiles. When all players have saved his three pawns safe ground there are a recount. Who reaches safe ground with most victory points wins.

Expanded by:

Atlantis - Variante Schiffe
Atlantis - Ikarus Expansion