Stats:
No. of players: 2-4
Amount of time to play: 45 min
Age requirements: 14+
Set-up time: minimal

Valley of the Kings is a deck-building game in which you score mostly through set collection. You play an Egyptian noble trying to collect more sets of artifacts in your tomb than your opponents.

Valley of the Kings Rules Description:

The cards in Valley of the Kings come in three levels. Your starting deck cards are level one. You shuffle the level three cards and start a draw pile. The level two cards are shuffled and placed on top of the level three cards.

After the draw deck is set up you take six cards from the top of it to form a three tier pyramid. Three cards are at the base, two are in the middle and one is at the top. Anytime a card is bought or removed from the pyramid the cards above it will crumble to take their place. If the bottom middle card is removed then the player that removed it chooses which card in the middle tier crumbles to the base.

You start the game with a deck of ten cards and every turn you draw five cards. Each card can be used for one of three different things on your turn. You can buy a card from the base of the pyramid (which will instantly cause it to crumble) using its gold value. You can play a card for its action. Or you can entomb a card so it will score you Victory Points (VPs) at the end of the game. You can only entomb one card per turn unless you have actions that let you entomb more.

There are five different types of artifacts to collect with three to seven different cards in them. At the end of the game you get the number of different cards you have entombed in a set squared in VPs. So if you have entombed three statues you get nine VPs. There are also unique artifacts and your starter cards that score a set number of VPs when entombed.

Once all the draw pile and pyramid are empty and all players have taken an equal amount of turns you calculate the VPs in your tomb. The player with the most VPs wins the game.

Quick Review of Valley of the Kings:

Valley of the Kings is a unique deck-building game that is fun and quick to play. This game is easy to teach and learn and the theme matches the mechanics pretty well too.

The components for this game are excellent. The cardstock is nice, the art matches the theme and the rules are easy to read, follow and teach. The box is great too. It is super portable and doesn’t waste space on your game shelf.

I like how the pyramid crumbles and how a couple of your starting cards let you move or remove cards in the pyramid. This helps you get the cards for the sets you want and deny your opponents the cards they want.

Only scoring cards in your tomb and only being able to entomb one card per turn creates a lot of tough decisions. Do you keep a card for its useful action or score it before it’s too late? Should you try to entomb as often as possible or build your deck so you have income to buy the pricier level three cards? There are different ways to approach the game and your decisions matter.

Valley of the Kings moves quickly and once you start seeing the draw pile dwindle you’ll want to entomb as many cards as possible. There is a race element to the game and the tension cranks up as the game winds down. You can even speed up the end game by using the starting card that lets you remove cards from the pyramid. You do have four of them. Or did you entomb some?

Experienced players will have an advantage over newcomers, but only for a game or two. And though it does not have mass amounts of cards like other deck-builders, what you can and choose to collect changes each game offering good replay value.

Valley of the Kings is a really fun deck-building game. It has a unique blend of “take that”, hand management and set collection. It travels easily and is very accessible. Don’t go bury your head in the sand, go pick this up.

Score and synopsis: (Click here for an explanation of these review categories.)
Strategy 4 out of 6
Luck 4 out of 6
Player Interaction 4 out of 6
Replay Value 5 out of 6
Complexity 3 out of 6
Fun 5 out of 6
Overall 5 out of 6