Designed by: Michael Kiesling,Wolfgang Kramer
Artus is a game inspired by the legend of King Arthur – most specifically, his famous round table.
If you’re looking for a game of nobility and political machinations, however, look elsewhere. Artus imagines the legend as a place of constant chair-hopping and crown-snatching as the supposedly-chivalrous knights jostle for position – all around a rotating table!
The board is set up so Arthur’s table actually does rotate, and at the start of the game players place their knights in any random seats of their choosing. Also around the table are three princes (who can potentially rise to the throne) and the king (who currently occupies it).
The game progresses through cardplay. Everyone starts with three identical sets of cards and are dealt 6 to start with. On your turn you can play two cards, one at a time. Some cards move your knights around the table, which score you (or can lose you) points upon moving, and can also displace a knight from the seat you have moved to. Some cards contribute to the downfall of the current king in empowering one of the princes – as soon as the King moves or a new king is crowned, the table will rotate to put him at the king’s position! …And some cards are purely about scoring – but as with moving knights, scoring cards can quite often lose you points rather than gain them!
For each place at the table is worth either positive or negative points, and it’s trying to minimise the damage and maximise the profit that are really the nub of the game. It’s not a game where you can really plan ahead, as – especially with more than 2 players – you simply don’t know what will happen before your next turn.
Artus will really appeal to players who like a bit of chaos!
There is plenty of scope for messing with each other's plans... but most of the time you'll be trying to look after your own.
Low.
You don't have a whole host of choices. The main thing is to decide when is best to play your scoring cards, as avoiding say -15pts now is a gamble. It could work out fine, or it could end up costing you double that!
It's a quick moving game and randomness is guaranteed by the cards.
2-4
Players
10+
Years
30-60
Mins
Sam says
Artus is the Arthurian legend re-imagined by a bunch of indecisive power brokers. The table is constantly shifting around, and even with the minimum two players you can't be sure what your best move is until your turn arrives. For some people it's a "what the heck?" game where the mechanics of it bear zero relation to the theme, unless Arthur's table was actually an oversized Lazy Susan and his knights behaved like excitable kids. But others will enjoy the chaos and swinging in point scoring, where you can be miles behind but potentially not only catch up, but surge into the lead. All very silly.