Calling all archeologists! Are you ready to travel the world, gather lost artifacts, and collect more fortune and glory than you could have ever imagined? Wonderful! We’ll send you and your team on your next journey immediately!

Oh, one more thing. We can’t tell you what any of the artifacts are worth before you go, unfortunately. It fluctuates far too much. So just … do your best, and maybe collect a bit of everything! Or, if you can determine what is the most valuable, maybe you’ll surprise us all!

Good luck, and may the best archeologist collect the greatest payout!

What Is It?

A simple deduction game where players assign their archeologist pawns to 4 different locations to collect artifacts. Players earn 1 artifact when placing pawns, and another if they have the majority in a location at the end of a round. Players also have cards in their hands which tell them what the artifacts are not worth (out of a possible 1, 3, 5, or 7 points) so they know what to try and collect the most of.

Once 2 or more locations run out of artifacts, the game is over! Values are revealed and players add up the points they scored from what they collected. The archeologist with the most points wins!

Who Is It For?

I felt that this game was super approachable, and would be a great intro game for those new to the hobby. However, the light strategy and deduction to guess the values of the artifacts also make it an excellent filler game for any experienced group as well!

The box says ages 14+, but I think that gamers 10 and older could easily pick up on the mechanics and enjoy this game, even if it might take a little more practice than older audiences.

Contents + Quality

Cards – The market cards and treasure site cards are all your average quality. The market cards (with the values on them) could definitely benefit from opaque sleeves to prevent any nicks or damage that could reveal info about what the artifacts are worth.

Player Pieces – Nothing fancy, just plastic pawns for these. Interesting color choices, to stand apart from the colors of the artifacts most likely.

Artifacts – These are the pretty standard gems you see in a bunch of games; I personally love them and think they had a great aesthetic to games. Only issue I had with them was that the rules blatantly show and mention blue gems, but mine are definitely purple. I’m not sure if that’s an issue across all copies or not, but luckily they are still very different from the other colors, and so it doesn’t affect gameplay.

1st Player Token – This is a really nice, metal lantern piece. Another nice aesthetic piece for the table.

Rules – These are clear and concise, well laid out, and include great examples!

Box – The box is a tin, which I’m never a big fan of because they’re hard to store amongst other games. But it does look really nice, and it’s a good size for what comes in it.

PROS

  • Quick to learn and play
  • Can teach to practically anyone; good for an intro game or filler
  • Can earn more workers every round at the cost of revealing information from your hand, which is interesting to try and balance
  • Changes distribution of cards, and number of artifacts at locations based on player count, which all scales well
  • Light deduction, but can make for varying strategies and allow for some bluffing

CONS

  • Only 4 possibilities for values for artifacts, so it limits variability just a little
  • It can almost feel like it plays too quickly because artifact piles can deplete faster than you think

Final Thoughts

I thought this was a great, light game, and I’m excited to introduce it to a wide range of players! I really like it as a filler between heavier games, or at the end of a game night when you only have a short time left and want to squeeze in one more play. I like the variability at different player counts too because it definitely changes up the strategy a bit whether there is a side deck or not with more value cards to reveal.

I’ll admit the the theme feels a little tacked on, as it really could have been about anything, but that doesn’t detract from it being a great game! I’m also definitely not a fan of the tin it comes in, as that is one of my least favorite kinds of boxes. But, if you can also look past both of those small things, then you should absolutely check this out if you have a chance!

My Final Ratings
Overall Game: 8/10
Aesthetics: 7/10
Difficulty: 3/10
Replayability: 6/10

Additional Information:
Project Lead – Erik-Jason Yaple
Artist – Carl Frank
Publisher – Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG)
MSRP – $24.99
BGG
BGA
Website

*I was provided a copy of this game to do this review*

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