IÄÄ! Cthulhu! Fhtagn!

Overall, this is a fun, quick game with quality pieces but there are problems in the English translation of the rules, which made us study closely and made it hard to play. We would love to receive updated English rules, if they are produced, and for now will play the game with house rules where there is doubt. Like so many games released today, an online video walk-through would prove beneficial.

  • Overall: B B B B B
  • Quality: Q Q Q Q Q
  • Value:   V V V V V
  • Published by Sphinx Spiele. Designed by Henning Poehl. Artwork by Stephan Baumgarten.
  • Price: €18,90
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Review by Troy and Kirsten Nies

February 23, 2017

Overall, this beer & pretzels - press-your-luck game has game mechanics common in many similar press your luck dice games. Yahtzee immediately comes to mind with a slight 'screw-factor' of stealing die from other players (i.e. cults), and an added somatic Lovecraftian chant with each 'summoning' (roll of the dice) all framed with Lovecraftian iconography, art and premise. Essentially, each cult (i.e. player) is attempting to collect the largest summoning in order to gain points per ritual (round). Visually, the game pieces are good quality, we like the artwork, and the game is fast enough to play at lunch time or other short period.

Unfortunately, the English translation of the rules was little more use to us than review of the German version and our slightly rusty German. After an extended play and further dissection and retry of the game, we are left with a couple of questions/comments which may be helpful to the publisher:

1. The Doubling Stone is mentioned towards the end of the rules as a way to increase your score, but no more is said about it. How does one determine whether or not this can be used?

2. We eventually figured out how a player would end up with a negative score but it wasn't clear at first.

3. Similar to the above comment, we think we figured out why a player would take Ph'nglui but still aren't certain.

4. The example pages are rather confusing but did help somewhat in deciphering the rules. Slightly more explanation in text and a closer translation would be greatly helpful.

As mentioned earlier, we believe a tutorial video, perhaps available on the publisher's website or disseminated amongst the gamers across the world on BoardGameGeek would help others enjoy this game to the designer's intentions.