Imhotep is one of our favourite games at FTW, and its cutthroat nature fits right into any competitive setting. With Imhotep: The Duel, the essence of Imhotep remains the same but streamlined down to a very accessible head-to-head encounter. Not every strategy game can be condensed into a two-player package. Today we take a look at what makes Imhotep: The Duel a successful adaptation!

The components and packaging of Imhotep: The Duel are fairly standard. Sturdy and built to last cardboard tokens and decent box organization. Nothing is particularly standout, but the overall design of the game works well and fits very neatly into an appropriately sized box for a 2-player game. Sometimes less is more, and Imhotep: The Duel gets points for simplicity here. A drawstring bag for drawing the tokens would have been a nice addition, that way you wouldn’t have to leave them in stacks on the table.

In Imhotep: The Duel, two players take on the roles of Nefertiti and Akhenaten as they attempt to tactically unload valuable cargo from ships at the harbour. To begin, each player takes a set of meeples and a set of site boards. The six boats are place in the harbour, and 3 randomly drawn tokens are placed on each boat face-up. An additional 3 tokens are place face-down on the reserve space on the harbour board. Players alternate turns until there is only 2 boats remaining the harbour. On a player’s turn they may take one of three actions: place one maple, unload one boat or play one action token.

Meeples are placed in one of the 9 squares on the harbour board. They are assigned to the ship intersecting that square by row and column. A player may only unload a boat when there are at least 2 meeples of any colour in that row or column. Cargo tokens are assigned in order from the furthest space from the harbour, moving into the closest space from the harbour. Those tokens are immediately placed on the appropriate site board. Action tokens are one-time use tokens that allow the active player to perform special actions. If there are not enough tokens from the supply to replenish a boat, it is removed from the game. After the second to last boat is removed, the game concludes. The player with the most points is declared the winner!

At first glance, Imhotep: The Duel feels like an over-simplification of what makes Imhotep a great game. But after a few plays you begin to appreciate just how streamlined the game is. Because it’s such a simple game, the scores always tend to be close at the end which is good for keeping things competitive. While there is a bit of luck involved when it comes to token draws, the interaction between the meeple grid and unloading the boats gives players a lot of control over what tokens they and their opponent receive. The best part of Imhotep is shipping off a boat to screw over opponents on it, and the same is still true in The Duel.

Imhotep: The Duel is a game that can be played by gamers of any experience level. Because there is very little reading involved and most of the experience comes down to token recognition, even kids as young as 7-8 can enjoy the game. It’s a game that can act as a warm-up to a more serious game. And if you enjoy Imhotep you most certainly will enjoy Imhotep: The Duel.