#42: Favor of the Pharaoh (Mark's Top 100 2024)

Favor of the Pharaoh

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 1,832
• rating: 6.8
• published: 2015
• designer: Tom Lehmann

Print Status

• available?

Why It's On The List

• A re-imagined version of the classic dice game To Court the King - imagine Yahtzee crossed with Magic: The Gathering. You use dice to obtain card powers in order to manipulate dice to obtain more power (and dice) to finally win the favor of the Pharaoh.

Tips & Tricks:

• You need dice - and a few manipulation powers. Going the other way (dice manipulation powers and a few extra dice) will lose you the game.
• The game works well with 2-4 players.
• The variability introduced in this version is excellent - each game has its own feel.
• I do wish I'd sprung for a second set of dice... with 4 players, you have to do a lot of trading around of base dice.

Extras

• I had the privilege of Tom Lehmann (the designer) showing me the unpublished expansion for To Court the King some years back... many of those great ideas ended up in Favor of the Pharaoh.
• This is the fourth of seven (7!) Lehmann designs on my list.