Cleopatra and The Society of Architects or Why Am I Embarrassed to Admit That I Like This Game?

Now let’s dial it back even more years. In order...

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Fun Fact - This game was inspired by the 2002 French comedy film Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra. A fun movie that's worth watching.

I liked Cleopatra. I bought it when it was new, when Days of Wonder lived up to their name and had that instantly recognizable look and feel. It's a good game, but a game you can play with pizza on the table and the Orioles losing on the TV. Plenty of room for socializing in spite of there not being a social aspect to the game.

It got sidelined after we played it three or four times, and oddly enough I bought a second copy when GameSurplus.com was unloading it for $10 a copy. It got me free shipping so it was more or less free. Sat on both for awhile, then traded both away when it became hard to find and people decided they wanted it again.

I'd pull it out again, and I think the corruption factor is a good idea that hasn't been used again, or at least I haven't come across it. We'd always total score first and then reveal corruption, because "winner or dinner" seemed like a more dramatic ending.

When I ponder buying a board game, replay value is always an important consideration. I don't want to play a game just a few times and then leave it gathering dust on a shelf. So I have learned to watch for certain elements that suggest replay value: asymmetric starting conditions, modular board sections/tiles, variable player powers, and maybe expansions.

I adore Cleopatra and The Society of Architects! And so does my game group. And no, we aren't investing in the reboot because the classic is perfect just as it is!

This game has two of my favorite mechanisms: corruption (obvs) and a boxed deck of cards (cards that can come out of a deck face-down or face-up). I wish I could see them in more games; Phil Walker-Harding had a card-based dungeon crawl with both of those mechanisms a few years ago!