I’m a sucker for a game with a clever take on worker placement, and for me, a 2-stage worker-placement mechanic was the star of German Millan’s 2021 Bitoku, set in an effervescent studio Ghibli-inspired universe.
Millan now re-implements a version of this mechanic in Men-Nefer, where 1-4 players immerse themselves in the life and culture— and more subdued hues—of Ancient Egypt over 60-120 minutes.
Gameplay Overview:
Men-Nefer contains five inter-connected mini-games that are triggered across three rounds. Each round consists of nine actions, two-thirds of which involve two-stage worker placement with your three workers, and the remaining third involves action tablet drafting. Stage one of a worker-placement action involves placing your worker on one side of a mini-game, thus committing it, and separately activating a unique action tablet on your player board. Workers don’t block each other, but they increase the cost, sometimes prohibitively so, for placement of subsequent workers—yours or other players’—in the same spot. Stage two of worker placement involves sliding your worker and finally interacting with the chosen mini-game. The recently vacated spot now costs less for other players, but the new spot just got more expensive.
Each time you slide a worker at the same mini-game, you increase your power at that mini-game by one along its scarab track, allowing you to interact with it more efficiently, up to a max power of 6.
The five mini-games in Men-Nefer are as follows:
- Mummies: Prepare your mummy for burial via embalming. Then bury it in a tomb location corresponding to your current mummy power level. Trigger bonus actions associated with your burial zone.
- Pyramids: Split your limestone movement across two tracks, which separately facilitate building the Great or the Queens’ Pyramids, triggering immediate bonuses and achieving access to limited scoring conditions.
- Priestesses: Advance your priestesses progressively deeper into a temple where they will offer exquisite crafts to the Gods, triggering immediate rewards based on temple location and the chosen offering.
- Boats: Move your boats along the Nile River and stop at port cities. Activate your boats either mid-river to collect fish resources, or in-port to trigger special bonuses and collect contracts that get better further along the river.
- Sphinxes: Carve a sphinx and then display it in an area relating to mummies, pyramids, boats, or priestesses, taking a one-time super-charged action relating to that area, commensurate with your sphinx power.
Points are begot from doing well in each of those mini-games, as well as other things; it’s a true point salad of a game.
Game Experience:
With its interconnected mini-game design, Men-Nefer is best compared to games such as Marrakesh, Trajan, Rise, or Nova Roma. Here’s my hot take: I think Men-Nefer is better than all of these. Apologies Mr. Feld, I still love your games!
Men-Nefer has mastered the art of the mini-game because (1) all the mini-games are similarly exciting, (2) the games are interconnected such that there are multiple ways to accomplish any given thing, thus allowing for some creative thinking, (3) the various mini-games are shockingly balanced, and (4) the theme is well-executed.
In most mini-game designs, at least one of those mini-games, if not multiple, is a straightforward single track that doesn’t have much decision space. Not so with Men-Nefer. Each of its mini-games has a timing sequence for optimal activation, and there are usually multiple ways to engage with each mini-game. For example, you must embalm a mummy before it can be buried, so make sure that’s accomplished before you trigger the burial action for optimal rewards. You then have six possible locations at which to bury said mummy, each with unique bonus actions and points that change each game.
The interconnectedness of the games drastically impacts the timing of actions. Placing a sphinx may give you a free mummy embalming action. But maybe you need more fish to take the sphinx action this round. Fish can be acquired from the pyramids, the priestesses, or by activating boats. There are multiple ways to activate boats and pyramid blocks. There are often 3+ ways to accomplish any given task, so factor in what’s the most efficient, synergizes with your goals, and has minimal risk of player blocking.
Despite the mini-game interaction, it is mathematically impossible to fully master all the mini-games in a single play of Men-Nefer, in part because of the scarab track limitations that determine the power of your mini-game actions. There are five scarab tracks, each requiring 5 activations to be maxed out, but players typically only get nine total activations over the course of the game. It’s possible to squeeze a few more scarab bumps via careful planning, but players ultimately should pick one or two tracks in which to specialize. Notably, all five mini-games potentially offer viable paths to victory; Men-Nefer is well-balanced, and the variable set-up across several parts of the game allows for unique synergies in each game that will likely dictate the best strategy.
Player interaction also plays a role in game decisions. At four players, worker placement spots get expensive quickly. Multiple players gunning for the same mini-game also makes said mini-game more competitive, as there are only so many spots for your mummies, sphinxes, priestess offerings, etc., and each spot offers different rewards. At 4-players, it’s generally advantageous to pick at least one mini-game with less competition. At 2-3-players, dummy workers are used to increase the costs of the worker-placement spots, but they don’t block players within the mini-games. Lower player counts feel more open, but solving the efficiency puzzle and maximizing in-game synergies is still important, and blocking still occasionally happens. The game ultimately feels different, but great, at all player counts 2-4 (have not tried solo).
Despite all the moving parts of Men-Nefer, I would categorize it as an upper-middle weight game. Symbology is largely clear, and my first plays with new players were consistently smooth.
It’s also worth mentioning that the team at Ludonova Games did a commendable job incorporating the theme in an educational manner and upholding high production standards. The rulebook is laid out well with ample historical interludes to contextualize the theme of each game element. The artwork manages to avoid a completely beige depiction of Egypt, and it clearly defines the bounds of each mini-game without overuse of boxy borders. Each player receives 17 types of uniquely detailed, brightly colored screen-printed wooden tokens that pop in contrast to the board.
My only critiques are minor. Heka, one of two resources, only has one use, which seems limited compared to fish. While the overall arc of the game is solid, drafting new action tablets, which will never get used, in the last round for relatively small rewards, feels somewhat anticlimactic. Finally, at two players, the turnover of certain papyri/tiles/crafts can be slow, and some forced turnover in-between rounds could have been nice.
Final Thoughts:
Men-Nefer represents one of the best implementations of interactive mini-games within a larger Eurogame that I’ve experienced. Each of the mini-games manages to be unique and thematic, without ever resorting to a simplistic unidirectional track. There’s tremendous inter-connectivity among the mini-games, allowing for creative, combo-tastic turns that get stronger as you power-up in various areas.
Mini-games are activated by a combo of clever 2-stage worker placement and tablet drafting, which makes the game inherently interactive. For anyone interested in Ancient Egypt or just solidly designed medium-heavy point-salad type games, this is a journey down the Nile worth taking.
Final score: 4.5 stars – Five exciting mini-games unite into a wonderfully thinky combo-tastic point salad of a Eurogame that’s surely good enough to please Osiris.
Hits:
• Multiple routes to victory
• Creatively combo-tastic turns
• Great production and theme incorporation
Misses:
• Fiddly set-up
• More options for my Heka, please
