I got a review copy of Mykerinos today. Designed by Nicholas Oury, it’s the latest release from Ystari. My copy is the Scandinavian edition from Lautapelit.fi, which is a nice touch.

Mykerinos is about archeological digs in Egypt, but basically it’s a fairly simple area majority game. Players play influence tokens on lots in Egypt, building up digs. When nobody wants to play anymore, the lots are scored. The two players with the most influence have the option to place a token in the museum or to take a card (each lot is made of two cards). Third and fourth player may take a card, if there’s any left.

Cards might be worth points, but they also belong to one of the patrons. In the end of the game, players score points for the cards, depending on their position in the museum. Each card has a base value of one point, but a token placed in that patron’s wing in the museum will raise that to two, three or five. To get five points, one must first play a token in a smaller room in museum, so that takes extra effort.

So, throughout the game players are balancing collecting cards and placing tokens in the museum to make sure the cards are worth something. Since playing influence to the museum means you don’t get a card, the choices will be fairly difficult. Concentrating on just one side is a disaster, that’s for sure.

I haven’t played the game yet, but I’m expecting a fast little game. The box says 30 to 60 minutes, I think it should fall in the 30-45 minute range with any experience. All things considered, I’m expecting a rating of 7/10 — nice, but nothing spectacular. We’ll see — I’ve got an Indonesia match scheduled for Saturday and I’ll think I’ll sneak in some Mykerinos as well.