First Impressions of Iunu

A game whose name a thousand podcasters will stumble over, Iunu, was a city of ancient Egypt, full of life even in the shadow of the pyramids, great monuments to the dead. The many layered structure of Egyptian society is the basis of this new card game, currently on Kickstarter, as you collect and use people to further your mysterious desire for points. Even pharaoh is up for grabs. You must be Gods. I call Horus! Caaw!

As with most card games, who you are isn’t as important as what you do, so no need to be jealous of my magnificent plumage. Each turn you get to play down one or a pair of cards into a tableau. Each card will be a member of one of the 9 Egyptian castes, from the lowly and rather hungry farmer, through money grabbing merchants, up to the almighty (9 point!) pharaoh. Everyone has a value in points, a bonus for having the majority of them at the end of the game and some special power that will trigger either the moment you play a card, or will offer you some on going benefit. They are all really excellent.

Take the baker, he will bake you bread, at a price, and bread is good because people are hungry (but not so hungry that you have to bake if you don’t want to). Each card will score some bonus if they’ve been given bread before the end of the game, with the lower value cards being worth many more bread points. The peasants do tend to get arsey when they haven’t been fed.

But nothing in this game is fully independent. Having farmers makes baking cheaper, because you actually have a source of grain! But farmers can be kidnapped by other players’ soldiers, unless you pay them off, or have some soldiers of your own. And what sets the price for bread anyway? That would be the three, pyramidal dice that get rolled each round by the rotating first player. (Watch they don’t get dizzy…) These dice also determine how much money you’ll be able to grab with the merchant and the noble, so a high roll is good for them, but bad for the baker. Yet using the dice reduces their value, meaning a good merchant or noble turn is often when you’ve just rolled highly as the lead player.

But do you try and set yourself up for that turn? Because your hand is a very dynamic beast. You will be expected to trade two cards with the central forum of people each round (unless you have some artisans, who will expect payment for their services) cycling your options and the opportunities for the other players around the table. The dice add just enough randomness to keep you on edge and force you to adjust your plans, should you be using the cards that interact with them.

I really liked Iunu, though as this is a first impression I can’t speak to its longitivity. But I do know that my civilisation was a lean, learned society, full of artisans, and scribes lying on top of people with empty bellies but full minds. And that’s very different to the portly, baker heavy, strategy pursued by another player! There are a number of different ways to approach this game, the interaction is at a very good level, and the minimalist graphical style, even in prototype form, is a treat. Well worth checking out!

 

This first impression is based on a demo at the UK Games Expo.

Iunu will be up on Kickstarter until June 30th.