Pharaoh
Pharaoh Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Equipment
- 1 Trio of a color for each player
- Volcano Board
- Two Regular Dice
- Twin Win cards as color reminders may also be desirable
Players
2-4 players.
Overview
Pharaoh is a simple strategy game focused on control of the middle square and the two on either side of it. The struggle for this central point has a "King of the Hill" feeling to it, so we named it after the "King of the Pyramids" i.e. the Pharaoh.
Goal
Occupy the central row with your three pieces.
Setup
Assign everyone a color and gather each player's pieces just off the board along a different edge. With two players, they must be on opposite sides of the board.
Who Starts
Players roll to see who goes first. Play then proceeds in the clockwise direction.
How to Play
On your turn, roll the dice to determine how many movement points you get.
Roll Two, Use One
You will roll two dice, but only use one. The number of movement points you get is equal to the greater of the two values you rolled. If you get doubles, you can use that number or choose to re-roll both dice.
Movement Rules
It takes one point to move a Small one space, two points to move a Medium one space, and three points to move a Large one space. Pieces may move forwards or backwards or sideways, one space at a time. Pieces cannot be jumped over other pieces. To move a piece diagonally, you must pay double the number of movement points.
Bringing a Piece onto the Board
Adding a piece to the board counts as a move for that piece. Pieces can only be added to one of the spaces along that player's edge.
No Stacking
Only one piece may ever occupy a single space.
Barging In
When you move a piece into the same space as an equal or smaller-sized enemy piece, that piece is removed from the board. You can never move into a space occupied by one of your own pieces, nor can a smaller piece move into a space occupied by a larger enemy piece.
Splitting Moves
You may divide your points between as many different legal moves as you wish, including moving more than one piece in the same turn. For example, with three points you can move:
A) A Large piece one space, B) A Medium one space and a Small one space, or C) A Small three spaces.
You are not required to use all of your movement points.
How to Win
To claim victory, you must occupy the three spaces of a goal-line with your three pieces (in any order). A goal-line is a line of three spaces whose center is the center of the board. The number of goal-lines increases with the number of players.
- 2 players: Just one goal-line divides the players.
- 3 players: You can win on either axis.
- 4 players: You can also win on one of the diagonal goal-lines.
Other Notes
Historical Notes
Long-time players of this game will recall that we used to block off the four corners of the board. We don't bother with that anymore because we realized it doesn't matter. We don't need to make those spaces off-limits because players rarely want to go there anyway. And even if you do, nothing bad happens. So we dropped it.