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Aton
Author: Thorsten Gimmler
Publisher: Queen Games
Year: 2006


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In ancient Egypt, a large number of gods were worshipped. Each god was supported by a lobby under the command of a high priest, who made sure that the gods were never short of anything. In the two-player game Aton the players represent the high priests of Aton or Amun, the main deities in those days. They try to guarantee their favourite god a powerful position with a large delegation of their priests in the four big temples of Thebes.

The players receive a deck of cards (values 1-4) and 26 priests (wooden discs) of their colour (red or blue). The aim is to place as many priests as possible in the four temples on the board in order to earn victory points.
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At the beginning of a turn, both players draw the top four cards of their stack. These cards they divide over four cartouches (‘cartouches’ are the characteristic oval shapes used in hieroglyphic writing to indicate the names of kings). Each cartouche represents an action, and the value of the cards played at each cartouche determines the details of this action, as explained further below.

At the first cartouche, victory points can be scored. The player that placed the card with the highest value at this cartouche gets the difference between the values of his card and the card of his opponent, multiplied by two, as victory points. If the red player placed a card with value 3 at the first cartouche, and the blue player a card with value 4, blue gets (4-3) x2= 2 points.

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The second cartouche has two functions. First, it determines the order of play; the player that placed the card with the lowest value plays first. Secondly, this cartouche determines how many opposing priests the players may remove from the temples: the value of the card, minus 2. When a card of value 1 is played, this amounts to a total of –1, and the player has to remove a priest of his own, instead of an opposing priest!
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From which temples the priests may be removed is determined by the card at the third cartouche. The temples are numbered (1 to 4), and the players may remove priests from the temples with a number lower than, or equal to the value of the card played at cartouche 3. Apparently, it’s not a civilised request to kindly leave the temple, because the priests that are removed from the temples go straight to the underworld!
The card at the fourth cartouche determines the number of priests a player may place in the temples. The priests may be placed in the temples determined by the card placed at the third cartouche.
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As soon as the underworld, which consists of eight fields, is filled with expelled priests, a scoring phase begins. Per temple it is determined which player has the majority of priests in this temple.
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All temples consist of 12 fields. The player with a majority in temple 1 gets victory points equal to the number of his priests in that temple minus the number of opposing priests in that temple. The majority in temple 2 scores five victory points.
The player with the majority in temple 3 gets one point for each of his priests in this temple. The majority in temple 4 is rewarded by three points per blue field occupied by this player (each temple contains one blue field).
In addition, there’s eight bonus points for the player with the majority of priests on black fields (there’s two black fields in temple 1 and 2, and three in temple 3 and 4). Each temple contains fields with ‘+1’ or ‘+2’; these fields score the indicated number of points.
After the scoring phase, all priests are removed from the underworld, and both players remove one of their priests from each temple. Then, a next round begins.
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There are two ways to end the game. The game ends immediately when one of the victory conditions are met: 40 victory points, all fields in one temple occupied, all yellow or all green fields (four per temple) occupied. The player that meets one of these criteria wins the game. Alternatively, the game ends when during a scoring phase a player exceeds 40 victory points. The player with the highest score at the end of this scoring phase wins the game.

‘Aton’ is a nice game for two players, that involves more tactics than one might think at first glance. Of course some luck is involved, but the fact that both players have exactly the same deck of cards usually compensates for this. The cards with high values are of course most desired, but unfortunately there’s also a lot of ‘ones’ in the deck. And where can you place those? At cartouche 1, risking that the opponent scores 6 points if he happened to play a 4? Or at cartouche 2, which means that you play first, but are not allowed to remove any opposing priests from the temples? At cartouche 3, so that you can only remove or place priests at temple 1, or at cartouche 4, so that you may place only one priest on the board?

These are difficult choices. To get the majority in temple 4 is difficult, because you have to sacrifice a card with value 4 at the third cartouche. And if you want to place a lot of priests in the temples, you also have to play a card with a value of 3 or 4 at the fourth cartouche… But in temple 4, more points can be earned than in any other temple. It is important to focus on one or two temples, so you are guaranteed at least some points in the scoring phase. It is also wise to keep a close eye on your opponent; because there are so many ways to win the game, danger is everywhere! This is also the disadvantage of Aton: it is impossible to anticipate everything, with the limited number of actions you can do. Of course the opponent has the same problem, which makes the game a bit random.
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Speaking of random, so is the theme of Aton. The wooden discs do not ‘feel’ like priests, or the fields like temples. It’s ‘just’ a majority game, and no big effort has been made to implement the theme into the game so that we don’t notice this. However, because of the beautiful design Aton has a pleasant, and even Egyptian, atmosphere. The fact that the inside of the box has been designed as the entrance of a temple that can be placed next to the game board, although not relevant for the gameplay, contributes to this atmosphere.
Aton is not a revolutionary new game, but as a two-player game with a playing time of 30 minutes that functions well, offers enough challenges and plays smoothly, it will easily find its way to the table every now and then.
© 2006 Barbara van Vugt

Aton, Thorsten Gimmler, Queen Games, 2006 - 2 players, 10 years and up, 30 minutes

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