Tutankhamen Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• What's in the Box
• The Object of Tutankhamen
• Setting Up
• A Player's Turn
  • 1. Movement
  • 2. Artifact Collection
  • 3. Artifact Removal
• Winning the Game
• Artifact Reference Sheet
  • Artifact Sets
  • Scoring Artifact Sets
  • Scoring Examples
• Special Artifact Tiles
  • Bag of Gold Tiles (three tiles)
  • Pharaoh Tiles (three tiles)
  • The King Tut Tile (one tile)
  • Scoring Example
• Frequently Asked Questions

What's in the Box

• 70 Artifact Tiles
• 90 Tribute Coins
• 1 Pyramid
• 6 Player Tokens
• Quick Play Rules
• Artifact Reference Sheet

The Object of Tutankhamen

In TUTANKHAMEN players act as archaeologists who compete to collect valuable sets of artifacts. Players pay tribute to King Tut by offering up their Tribute Coins when the artifact sets are scored. The first player to offer all of his or her Tribute Coins wins TUTANKHAMEN.

Setting Up

1. Remove the Pyramid, Player Tokens, Tribute Coins and the plastic tray from the box. Empty the artifact tiles onto the table and place the plastic tray back in the box.
2. Place the Pyramid on the table, off to one side, and place the triangular King Tut tile, face out, on the ledge of the Pyramid.
3. Turn the remaining artifact tiles face down on the table and mix them up.
4. Create a trail of artifacts by turning the artifact tiles face up, one at a time, and placing all the tiles side by side, starting at the base of the Pyramid, below the King Tut tile. The tiles should form a long trail snaking around the table.
5. Pick a Player Token for each player and place the tokens at the beginning of the trail. The trail ends with the triangular King Tut tile on the Pyramid.
6. Distribute Tribute Coins to each player based on the number of players.
   • 2 players – 32 Tribute Coins each
   • 3 players – 26 Tribute Coins each
   • 4 players – 20 Tribute Coins each
   • 5 players – 16 Tribute Coins each
   • 6 players – 14 Tribute Coins each
7. Select a player to go first. Play proceeds clockwise.

In each game the trail of artifacts will be unique in both the order in which the artifact tiles are placed and the shape of the trail.

A Player's Turn

Players take turns moving their tokens along the trail of artifacts, collecting artifacts as they go. When all artifact tiles of one set have been removed from the trail, those artifacts are scored.

A player's turn consists of three steps: Movement, Artifact Collection, and Artifact Removal.

1. Movement

The player moves his or her token forward along the trail and places it on any desired artifact. See Artifact Reference Sheet.

• A player may move forward as far along the trail as he or she likes, but may never move backward.
• A player may move his or her token past other players' tokens.
• If a player is no longer able to move because there are no more artifacts available for him or her to collect, that player continues to participate in all other aspects of the game.

2. Artifact Collection

After moving, the player collects the desired artifact and places his or her token in the space created by the removal of that tile. The collected tile is placed on the table, face up, in front of the player who collected it, visible to all players.

• A player must collect one artifact, and only one, per turn, as long as tiles are available for that player to collect.
• A player may not collect an artifact tile which he or she passed over on a previous turn.
• If the collected artifact is the last tile of that set on the trail, the set must be scored now. See Artifact Reference Sheet, Scoring Artifact Sets.

3. Artifact Removal

When all player tokens have passed over an artifact on the trail, that artifact tile is considered an "uncollected artifact." If there are any uncollected artifacts, the player now removes them from the game.

• Uncollected artifacts are removed from the trail in order, starting with the artifact tile furthest from the Pyramid.
• If an uncollected artifact is the last tile of an artifact set on the trail, the set must be scored when that artifact is removed. See Artifact Reference Sheet, Scoring Artifact Sets.

Winning the Game

The first player to offer all of his or her Tribute Coins wins TUTANKHAMEN.

Note: It is important to offer Tribute Coins in the order in which they are scored because two or more players could offer their last Tribute Coins while scoring an artifact set. In this case, the first person to offer his or her last Tribute Coin wins the game. See Artifact Reference Sheet, Scoring Artifact Sets.

If no player has offered all of his or her Tribute Coins into the Pyramid after all artifacts are removed from the trail, and scored, the game ends. In this case, the player with the smallest number of Tribute Coins, after all artifact sets have been scored, wins TUTANKHAMEN.

Artifact Reference Sheet

Artifact Sets

There are 15 artifact sets which score points. A set of artifacts consists of all the tiles with the same image and color. There is a number on each of these tiles. The number indicates both the number of artifact tiles in that set and the point value of that set.

Artifact	Sets	Tiles per set	Value
Scarabs	3 sets	1 tile in each set	1
Mummified cats	3 sets	2 tiles in each set	2
Horus sculptures	3 sets	4 tiles in each set	4
Anubis sculptures	3 sets	6 tiles in each set	6
Burial masks	3 sets	8 tiles in each set	8

Scoring Artifact Sets

Artifact sets are scored when the last artifact tile from that set is either collected by a player or removed from the trail. Players who do not have an artifact tile from a set, cannot score for that set.

To score, start by determining the number of tiles, from that artifact set, held by each player. Use either scoring method A or B, depending on the number of players holding the highest number of tiles from the set.

A. If only one player has the highest number of tiles from the set:

1. The player with the highest number of tiles from the set scores the number of points indicated on the artifact tile. The points are scored by depositing that number of Tribute Coins into the box lid.
2. Determine which player has the second highest number of tiles from the set.
   • If only one player has the second highest number of tiles from the set, that player scores half the number of points indicated on the artifact tile. The points are scored by placing that number of Tribute Coins into the box lid.
   • If two or more players have the second highest number of tiles from the set, those players score nothing.
3. No other player scores for that artifact set.

B. If two or more players tie for having the highest number of tiles from the set:

1. The players that tie each score half the number of points indicated on the artifact tile. The points are scored by placing that number of Tribute Coins into the box lid.

   Note: The order of depositing coins is significant if it is the end of the game and the order would determine the winner. The player whose token is furthest along on the trail places his or her coins in the box lid first.

2. No other player scores for that artifact set.

Scoring Examples

Player A collects the last blue Anubis so that the artifact set is ready to be scored. There are six blue Anubis Sculptures: Player A now has three, Player B has two, and Player C has one. Player A scores six points for having the highest number of blue Anubis Sculptures. Player B scores three points for having the second highest number, and Player C scores no points.

The last green Burial Mask was removed from the trail during the artifact removal step. The artifact set is ready to be scored. Players A, B, and C tie, each with two green Burial Masks, Player D has one. The other green Burial Mask was removed as an uncollected artifact. Players A, B, and C each score four points, half the number indicated on the artifact. Player D scores no points.

Note: After scoring an artifact set, the artifact tiles are dropped through the slot in the plastic tray in the game box.

Special Artifact Tiles

Bag of Gold Tiles (three tiles)

A Bag of Gold tile is used to buy one artifact from another player. The player with this tile may choose the artifact to buy, but must already have at least one artifact from the same set as the artifact being purchased. The player who owns the desired artifact is required to sell it, but receives the Bag of Gold tile in exchange. Upon receiving the Bag of Gold tile, the player who sold the artifact deposits one Tribute Coin in the box lid and removes the Bag of Gold tile from the game.

• There are no numbers on the Bag of Gold tiles because they are not scored as a set.
• A Bag of Gold tile must be used in the same turn in which it is collected.
• A Bag of Gold tile may not be used to purchase either a Pharaoh tile, or the King Tut tile, from other players.

Pharaoh Tiles (three tiles)

A Pharaoh tile acts as a wild card and counts as one additional artifact tile when added to a set. The Pharaoh tile is added to an artifact set when the set is scored. To add a Pharaoh tile to a set, the player must have at least one artifact from that set when the set is scored.

• There are no numbers on the Pharaoh tiles because they may not be scored alone, nor may they be scored as their own set.
• The Pharaoh tile is kept in front of the player, visible to all, until the player chooses to add it to an artifact set.
• A Pharaoh tile may only be used once and is removed from the game after scoring, along with the artifact set with which it was played.
• A player may play more than one Pharaoh tile on an artifact set if he or she chooses.

The King Tut Tile (one tile)

The King Tut tile is a Pharaoh tile with a bonus. All rules for the Pharaoh tile apply to the King Tut tile. As a bonus, when the King Tut tile is collected, that player places one Tribute Coin into the box lid and places his or her token on the ledge of the Pyramid.

Scoring Example

Player A collects the last blue Mummified Cat so the artifact set is ready to be scored. Player A and Player B each have one Mummified Cat. Player B adds one Pharaoh tile to break the tie. Player A plays a Pharaoh tile and the King Tut tile. Player A scores two points, and Player B scores one point.

Frequently Asked Questions

These answers are from the publisher's official Tutankhamen FAQ page.

Is there a particular time that a player must play a Pharaoh Tile?

A Pharaoh Tile is added to a set when a set is scored. The timing doesn't matter. A player might indicate the number of tiles he or she has and then, after seeing what other players have, decide to add a Pharaoh Tile. Once the Pharaoh Tile is added to a set it may not be withdrawn. Tribute Coins are deposited in the game box after all players have indicated that they have added all tiles which they would like counted as part of that particular set.

Under Scoring Artifact Sets, the rules say deposit the Tribute Coins in the slot in the Pyramid — but where is the slot?

The very first Tutankhamen games produced had a slot in the Pyramid for Tribute Coins. Players reported that they preferred to use the empty box because depositing the coins took too much time. We removed the slot and updated the rules. Unfortunately you must have gotten the original rules with one of the new Pyramids. This was a production error that has been corrected — sorry for the problem.