20 at the UNO Park Community Center in North Adams for an evening of games about ancient civilizations.

Welcome to Norm on his first visit.

BGG (Board Game Geek) is gradually announcing its 2026 Hall of Fame Games. So far they have revealed: For Sale, Memoir ’44, Puerto Rico and Love Letter. Last year we dedicated a session to honoring the original 25 BGG HoF games – and we’ll likely dedicate a themed session to the BGG HoF once again in early 2026.

IN: Steve, Sean, Tim, Armando, Zach, Chris, Tony, Julie, Nicole, Reimi, Rob, Lauren & Elliot, Rachel P, Sam & Ruth, Cady, Maggie, Carol, Norm

Imhotep (led by Tim) 2016 Phil Walker-Harding (Cacao, Sushi Go, Super Mega Lucky Box, Barenpark) design where players become builders in Egypt, wanting to emulate the first and best-known architect there, namely Imhotep.Over six rounds, wooden stones are carried by boat to create five monuments and players choose among four actions: Procure new stones, load stones on a boat, bring a boat to a monument, or play an action card.

Ezra & Nehemiah (led by Armando) 2024 game of chaining and hand management with multi-use cards for tech trees and tracks. Over three weeks (rounds), players will use their hand of cards, workers, and resources to do their part in rebuilding the great city of Jerusalem. After six days of work comes a Sabbath day of rest when food will be needed, and the week’s work will be reflected upon. The game ends after the third Sabbath has been completed.

The aim is to be the player with the most victory points (VP) at game’s end. Points are gained primarily by building the temple, rebuilding the city walls and gates, and by teaching the Torah to the returning exiles. Players may also seek to develop their land, travel to settlements outside the city walls, or stoke the altar’s fire to keep it burning day and night. The prophets Haggai and Zechariah will be doing their part to keep the people focused on what is most important.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/386368/ezra-and-nehemiah

Luxor (led by K-ban) 2018 Rudiger Dorn (Goa, Assante/Jambo, Louis XIV, Karuba) designed game of exploring Egyptian treasures, with unique card play, set collection and card management mechanics. On the hunt for priceless treasures, groups of adventurers explore the legendary temple at Luxor. Their ultimate goal is the tomb of the pharaoh, but many treasures can be collected as they search. As they explore, the challenge unfolds: The player who manages to quickly get their team of adventurers to the tomb, while salvaging as many treasures as possible, will be the winner.  

It had been too long since we’ve played this gem and I missed one rule that made it too difficult to collect keys (we can remedy that on a request night).

Ankh’or (led by Chris) 2019 quick-playing resource management game in which each player on their turn either collects three types of tokens (with an ankh being a supplemental resource) or buys a tile from a marketplace and adds this tile to their structure, trying to connect tiles of the same color or bearing the same scarab while doing so. By spending an ankh, you can shift tiles in the marketplace and change the cost and type of goods needed to purchase them.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/271530/ankhor

7 Wonders Architects (led by Tim) 2021 stand-alone addition to the 7 Wonders family. Instead of pick, pass and play, cards are drafted from decks situated between a player and their two neighbors. Up to 7 players receive an unconstructed Wonder at the beginning of the game and must collect resources to build their society, develop military might to navigate conflicts, oversee resource management, research science improvements, and collect civil victory points as they race to leave their mark on world history.

Age of Civilization (led by Sean) 2019 is a compact 1–4 player worker placement, action point and tech tree civilization game, with games typically lasting 30–60 minutes. Each player leads up to three historical civilizations in a single session. Over six rounds, players assign workers to actions like earning coins, researching technologies, constructing wonders, and expanding culture or military strength, aiming to score the most points by game’s end.

7 Wonders (led by Tony) 2010 drafting and card development game that won the 2011 Kennerspiel (Gamer‘s Game of the Year) award. The game lasts three ages. In each age, players receive seven cards from a particular deck, choose one of those cards, then pass the remainder to an adjacent player. Players reveal their cards simultaneously, paying resources if needed or collecting resources or interacting with other players in various ways. (Players have individual boards with special powers on which to organize their cards, and the boards are double-sided). Each player then chooses another card from the deck they were passed, and the process repeats until players have six cards in play from that age. After three ages, the game ends. Some cards have immediate effects, while others provide bonuses or upgrades later in the game. Some cards provide discounts on future purchases. Some provide military strength to overpower your neighbors and others give nothing but victory points. Each card is played immediately after being drafted, so players will know which cards their neighbor is receiving and how their choices might affect what has already been built. Cards are passed left-right-left over the three ages, so players need to keep an eye on their neighbors on both sides.  

Settlers of Catan Historical Scenario : Cheops (led by Rachel P) 1998 first German only historical Catan scenario, adding ships and building materials for pyramids on a fixed map of the lower Nile River. Flip side of the board has the Alexander the Great historical scenario.

Ra (led by K-ban) 1999 Knizia auction and set-collection game with an ancient Egyptian theme. Each turn players are able to purchase lots of tiles with their bidding tiles (suns). Once a player has used up their suns, the other players continue until they do likewise, which may set up a situation with a single uncontested player bidding on tiles before the end of the round occurs. Tension builds because the round may end before all players have had a chance to win their three lots for the epoch. The various tiles either give immediate points, prevent negative points for not having certain types at the end of the round (epoch), or give points after the final round. The game lasts for three “epochs” (rounds). Easy to learn but a challenge to play well.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/12/ra

Somnia (led by Zach) 2019  trick-taking game for 2 to 4 players about collecting dream fragments and trying to escape nightmares.

Steve