Classic board game Tigris & Euphrates is set to make a return this October
At Essen Spiel 2023.
Tigris & Euphrates, the classic board game about building ancient civilisations, is set to make its return this October.
Considered to be one of the best board game ever made, Tigris & Euphrates sees two to four players constructing their own civilisations in Ancient Mesopotamia. Loosely part of a trilogy of tile-laying games designed by Reiner Knizia, alongside Samurai and Through the Desert, Tigris & Euphrates has players attempting to score victory points in one of four major sectors of civilisation: farming, religion, trading and government.
Throughout the game, players place tiles representing one of the four major sections on the board, scoring points through those tiles via the associated leader. However, players score points on the sector that’s weakest in their civilisation, meaning players will need to develop all of aspects of their civilisation well if they want to succeed. Should opposing players’ tiles ever come into contact with one another, then a conflict occurs, with only one of each type of leader able to survive in every civilisation. Leaders can also be replaced through internalised conflict as well.
Originally, Tigris & Euphrates was set to be published via Z-Man Games - the studio responsible for releasing co-op board game Pandemic – as part of the company’s Euro Classics line sometime last year. However, support for the brand was discontinued at the beginning of 2021 due to various factors including the fact that Z-Man Games was “no longer an indie publisher,” and the need for certain members of the board game industry to take notice of its remakes in order for them to find success.
“Those folks hold massive sway over the current industry’s focus, and without a ringing endorsement poshly articulated in the Queen’s English (“Best Euro Ever” anyone?), your revised labor of love is headed for a Miniature Market fire sale,” said – at the time of publication – Z-Man Games’s studio head Steve Kimball.
In a recent interview with Knizia, the designer confirmed that Tigris & Euphrates is set to be republished at this year’s Essen Spiel convention, which will take place from 5th to the 8th of October in Essen, Germany. (Thanks Dice Tower.)Specific details about the upcoming board game are yet to be revealed, with Knizia admitting that he is yet to see the “graphics or anything.”