Treasure Hunting, Deduction, Magnets, and Mummies Await in the Pyramid of Pengqueen

One player takes on the role of the mummy and hunts down the penguin treasure hunters. Will the mummy capture them all or will one intrepid hunter make it out with the loot?

A game of deduction and hidden movement, Pyramid of Pengqueen is a new edition of the 2008 game Curse of the Mummy, only with many more penguins.

Gameplay

Pyramid of Pengqueen features a magnetic, vertical board. One player is the mummy and controls the mummy magnet on one side of the board, and the other players each have a penguin on the other side of the board. The mummy player cannot see the penguin players’ side of the board and they cannot see the mummy’s side of the board. However, the penguin players can see where on the board the mummy is.

Each penguin begins the game with three life tokens. The mummy takes a life token from a penguin each time he catches one. In order to win the game he must collect a certain number of life tokens based on player count.

Both sides of the board show the mummy's lair and various paths through it. Along the paths are shown twenty-three treasures, each of which can be one of five different colors. There are cards matching each treasure and at the beginning of the game each penguin player is dealt one card of each color. The cards a player is dealt show which treasures he must collect in order to win the game. In order to collect a treasure, a player must end his turn with his penguin on top of that treasure's location on the board and then reveal the card face up for all to see.

Each round the penguins go first and then the mummy. On a penguin's turn, he may first choose to reset the dice. When resetting the dice, any dice that have been set aside are now returned to the dice pool, however the mummy immediately gets a special interrupting turn.

Next the penguin player rolls the dice. Any dice showing the mummy face is set aside and may not be rerolled until a player chooses to reset the dice. After rolling, the player may choose to roll again if he is not satisfied with the results. You may reroll the dice as often as you like, but must always set aside any dice showing the mummy.

After rolling the dice, the player chooses one die. Other than the mummy, dice results include 1, 2, 3, 4, or an arrow. When selecting a number, the player moves his penguin magnet that many spaces. A penguin may not end its turn on the same space as another player, may only move horizontally and vertically (and never through walls), and must move the full number shown on the die — it can also backtrack if desired, or even end on the space it started on.

If a player selected a die with an arrow, he must move his piece in a straight line until it is stopped by a wall or another player's penguin piece. The penguin may not end its turn on the same space it began when this die is used.

On a normal mummy turn, the mummy rolls the mummy die and adds the result to the number of regular dice that are currently set aside showing the mummy's face. The total is the number of spaces the mummy can move. The mummy does not have to move the total number of spaces. During an interrupting turn, the mummy may move as many spaces as there are dice set aside.

If the mummy moves onto a space where a penguin is, that penguin is caught and is moved to the mummy's starting location. That penguin may move again on its turn if it has any life tokens remaining. The game ends when either a penguin collects all five of his treasures, or when the mummy collects the required number of life points.

Review

Pyramid of Pengqueen features some unique mechanics and components that are definitely eye-catching. It’s a game that you see and at once want to try, because it’s so different from other games. It’s a clever idea that works well in practice, too.

Both roles have their own challenges and strategies. The mummy has to hunt down the penguins and predict where they’re likely to be next. Since the treasures are more or less in zones on the board based on color, this becomes easier as players reveal more of their cards by claiming treasures, but sometimes this means you can expect one player to be on one side of the board and another headed to the other side. You need to prioritize.

As the penguin player there’s a couple of small ways you can try to bluff the mummy, including backtracking, or maneuvering yourself so that he is more likely to go after other players. The movement system and dice selection is nicely implemented to give both the penguins options and the mummy something to think about. Claiming a treasure also reveals your exact location to the mummy, so you need to be careful about when you choose to do this. It also ensures that the mummy is never completely at a loss and always has some information to work with.

Due to the relatively small size of the board and the fact that all the penguin players are grouped together on one side, it can be tricky at full player count to prevent the mummy from seeing where a player is reaching when he moves his penguin. There are workarounds for this (you can simply have the mummy turn away, for example) but it’s a little frustrating. The penguin pieces are also extremely small and potentially easy to misplace.

There aren’t many games out there like Pyramid of Pengqueen with its vertical board and one-versus-many gameplay. There’s deduction and bluffing elements and the result is lot of fun. It’s also quite family-friendly and can be enjoyed by a wide age range. Recommended!

Pros: Both roles are fun to play, unique mechanics, fun deduction elements

Cons: Can be difficult to prevent the mummy player from seeing where a penguin player is reaching, most of the magnets are extremely small

Disclosure: we received a complimentary review copy of this game.