Play Like an Egyptian

Day 47 - Nile DeLuxor
Designed by Daniel Callister and James Mathe

Now that you have the Bangles' "Walk Like an Egyptian" stuck in your head, you can now read this blog post. If you don't already have it stuck in your head from the simple title of tonight's post, then here are some of the lyrics to help out:

All the old paintings on the tomb

They do the sand dance, don'cha know?

If they move too quick (Oh-Way-Oh)

They're falling down like a domino

And the bazaar man by the Nile

He got the money on a bet

GOLD crocodiles (Oh-Way-Oh)

They snap their teeth on a cigarette

Foreign types with their hookah pipes sing:

Way-oh-way-oh-way-ooo-aaa-ooo...

Walk like an Egyptian.

OK...onto the game review! Nile DeLuxor is seriously one of the best new card games that I have played in a long time. I guess the game isn't really that new, but tonight was the first time that I played the game. Nile DeLuxor is actually a newly expanded and updated version of Nile which originally came out in 2009. This new version allows the game to be played with up to 6 people and it also provides an expansion that can be played with that is really a lot of fun.

For those who enjoy the game Bohnanza, I would say that you would also really enjoy Nile DeLuxor (and if you are one that doesn't enjoy some of the elements in Bohnanza, I think you would actually like Nile DeLuxor). Nile DeLuxor is a 30 minute card game for 2 to 6 players. The game is very easy to learn and isn't really complex but it provides a lot of strategy and luck that is a perfect combination. Players are trying to plant and harvest each resource. Scoring is similar to the game Ingenious, where the winner is determined by having the highest lowest score. This drives a lot of the strategy for game play because each player is trying to harvest each resource as evenly as possible. In other words, you are only as strong as your weakest link. On each active player's turn a card is flipped to determine what crop or crops are harvested for that turn (all players) and what crop or crops can't be planted that turn. The game is brilliantly designed and well balanced. The expansion portion of the game adds another "crop" which is stone. The stone can be used to build monuments which can help the player a lot throughout the game but have no impact on the actual scoring at the end of the game. The game ends when the resource deck has been exhausted a number of times equal to the number of players. The Wife and I played twice this evening, once without the expansion and once with the expansion. She won the first game and I won the second game (I gave myself the win for tonight though since Nile DeLuxor includes the expansion).

I am actually very surprised that I had not heard of this game prior to a few weeks ago. Nile DeLuxor is awesome and is quickly becoming one of my favorite card games. A big SHOUT OUT to Minion Games for making tonight's game possible! After my introduction to Minion Games through Nile DeLuxor, I am very excited to try out their other games (especially Tahiti and The Manhattan Project - I helped make a documentary on the Manhattan Project with some classmates in high school and have a great interest in nuclear power). Thanks Minion Games and keep up the good work! Everyone else, Nile DeLuxor is definitely a game worth checking out and I'm certain you will enjoy it and that is How Lou Sees It.