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Thebes
Year
2007
Players
24
Play time
60min
Min age
8+
Weight
2.15
BGG rating
7.12
BGG rank
#762
Best with
3, 4

Local copies

Rating: 7.0

Thebes is a game of competitive archeology. Players are archaeologists who must travel around Europe, northern Africa, and the Middle East to acquire knowledge about five ancient civilizations -- the Greeks, the Cretans, the Egyptians, the Palestinians, and the Mesopotamians -- and then must use this knowledge to excavate historical sites in the areas of these civilizations. Through the course of the game, expositions are revealed, and an archaeologist who has treasures from the requisite civilizations may claim the prize (this is a change from the first edition's handling of exhibitions). The archaeologist who learns the most about the civilizations, claims the greatest-valued artifacts, and collects the most exhibitions will win out over his or her colleagues. The key element to the game is that it is played out over a period of two (or three) years, and each action a player performs takes a certain amount of time -- traveling is a week between cities, gathering knowledge takes time for the level of the knowledge, and actually digging at a cultural site takes time to yield a certain number of artifact tiles. The game uses a novel mechanism to keep track of this. There is a track of 52 spaces around the outside of the board. Each time a player moves and takes an action, he or she moves their player token forward in time. Players take turns based on being the one who is furthest back in "time". So, a player can go to an excavation site and spend 10 weeks digging for artifacts, but that will also mean that the other players will likely be taking several actions in the interim while that player waits for the "time" to catch up. In addition, the artifact tiles for each civilization are drawn from a bag that also contains dirt. When a player excavates a site, that player pulls tiles from the bag, but some may only be worthless dirt instead of valuable treasure. That dirt is then returned to the bag, making the first draw more likely to provide useful tiles. This is the new entry for the Queen printing of Jenseits von Theben. As the new game changes several mechanisms of the original, and is available in a much wider release, the two games should be regarded as separate entities. Re-implements: Jenseits von Theben

Categories

AncientExplorationTravel

Mechanics

Set CollectionPoint to Point MovementTurn Order: Time Track

Best with how many players

1
Not rec.
2
Recommended
3
Best
4
Best
4+
Not rec.

Community votes from BoardGameGeek

Language dependence

No necessary in-game text(52 of 57 votes)

Sub-rankings

  • Family Game Rank#202

Learn to play

More videos

External data

Wikidata enrichment: 1 links · 1 facts · latest game data 06/20/2026.

Latest Wikidata run: ok · 06/20/2026.

Links

  • Official ruleshall9000.de

    Source: Rules agentUpdated 06/22/2026

  • Official ruleshall9000.de

    Source: Rules agentUpdated 06/22/2026

  • Official rulesgoblins.net

    Source: Rules agentUpdated 06/22/2026

  • Official rulesgoblins.net

    Source: Rules agentUpdated 06/22/2026

  • Official rulesboardgamegeek.com

    Source: Rules agentUpdated 06/22/2026

  • Official rulesboardgamegeek.com

    Source: Rules agentUpdated 06/22/2026

  • Official rulesboardgamegeek.com

    Source: Rules agentUpdated 06/22/2026

  • Official FAQboardgamegeek.com

    Source: Rules agentUpdated 06/22/2026

  • Official errataboardgamegeek.com

    Source: Rules agentUpdated 06/22/2026

  • Wikidatawikidata.org

    Source: WikidataUpdated 06/20/2026

  • BGG fileboardgamegeek.com

    Source: Rules agentUpdated 06/22/2026

  • BGG fileboardgamegeek.com

    Source: Rules agentUpdated 06/22/2026

  • BGG fileboardgamegeek.com

    Source: Rules agentUpdated 06/22/2026

  • BGG fileboardgamegeek.com

    Source: Rules agentUpdated 06/22/2026

  • BGG fileboardgamegeek.com

    Source: Rules agentUpdated 06/22/2026

  • BGG fileboardgamegeek.com

    Source: Rules agentUpdated 06/22/2026

  • BGG fileboardgamegeek.com

    Source: Rules agentUpdated 06/22/2026

  • BGG rules threadboardgamegeek.com

    Source: Rules agentUpdated 06/22/2026

  • BGG rules threadokkazeo.com

    Source: Rules agentUpdated 06/22/2026

  • BGG rules threadreich-der-spiele.de

    Source: Rules agentUpdated 06/22/2026

  • BGG rules threadabenteuer-brettspiele.de

    Source: Rules agentUpdated 06/22/2026

  • BGG rules threadboardgamesbot.com

    Source: Rules agentUpdated 06/22/2026

  • BGG rules threadboardgamegeek.com

    Source: Rules agentUpdated 06/22/2026

  • BGG rules threadboardgames.stackexchange.com

    Source: Rules agentUpdated 06/22/2026

  • Fan referenceboardgame.de

    Source: Rules agentUpdated 06/22/2026

Facts

Publication date
2007