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Bruno Cathala is back with a two player only re-implementation of his 2010 hit Sobek. Sébastian Pauchon joins Brunu Cathala for Sobek: 2 players and is published by Catch Up Games.
A grand temple dedicated to Sobek is being constructed. As a merchant, you don’t have the skills to contribute to the building, but you do see an opportunity. A huge market has emerged nearby and the Nile is crammed with feluccas and pirogues. This is a great opportunity and one that you are determined to capitilse on. Grab the most lucrative goods by any means neccesary and deny your opponents. However, it is crucial not to become too corrupt as Sobek will not approve.
- Sobek is a set collection game. There is a central board of face up goods tiles and face down character tiles. On a player’s turn they perform one of three actions. They can take a goods tile from the market along the position of the Ankh token. The tile is removed from the board and added to a player’s hand. The tiles have direction indicators on and the Ankh token is positioned in the vacated space and orientated accordingly. Any tile that is passed over is added face down as a corruption.
- If a player has at least three tiles of the same goods, they can choose to sell them. This is important for end game scoring and the number of tiles in the set and the number of scarbs in the set will earn the player points.
- A character tile can be played for its ability and then discarded.
The game will continue with players taking a turn until there are no viable moves left. During the end game additional cards may be placed in your corruption pile. Points are awarded based on each set sold. Sold sets are worth the number of scarab icons on each tile in the set multiplied by the number of tiles in the set. Additional points may come from the deben tokens collected throughout the game. The player with the most points is the winner.
Final Thoughts
Brunu Cathala is a design powerhouse. He has some classic titles under his belt and seems to have nailed rules light games with complex and deep strategic gameplay. Sobek: 2 players is no exception. What a game.
With just three easy to grasp actions available to a player on any given turn, Sobek is a deceptively simple game. From these three actions there is a lot of potential for some interesting gameplay. The moving of the Ankh token after selecting is such a small mechanism, yet has such a big impact on gameplay. You have to be so careful as what you select gives your opponent opportunities on their turn. You can be potentially handing your opponents a bunch of points. I love the decision making process of which tile benefits you but doesn’t give your opponent an even greater benefit. So good.
There is a small memory element to the game as well. Tiles in a player’s hand or secret so remembering what they have collected on previous turns can give you some assistance in figuring out what tiles they may want on future turns. Denying your opponent point scoring potential can be a large part of Sobek. This may not be for everyone but it adds an element of interaction that I quite enjoy.
The character abilities allow you to gain extra tiles, gain extra pirogue tokens, manipulate your corruption pile and mess with your opponent's hand of tiles. They are nothing revolutionary but they do offer other ways to manipulate the game. It is a similar story with the pirogue tokens which you can gain when selling sets of goods. They offer you an additional turn, end game points or ways to mess with your opponents. Sobek does have touch points for some player interaction but it is not a mean game.
Other interesting points to mention is that there are Sobek statues which can act as wilds when making a set. This adds some flexibility, it limits the scoring potential as they don’t contain scarabs but it is a good way to make a set of three if you are struggling for the final tile. The character cards are also associated with a particular item. Instead of using the characters tiles for their abilities these can also be used to make a set. However, the collection of the character tiles is random. They are face down on the board so you never know what you are going to get. It could be perfect for what you need or it might not. Either way, the game is so quick that it is not something that bothers me.
Overall, Sobek: 2 players is a great two player implementation and a cracking two player game in general. It has the Bruno Cathala feel of a simple ruleset but interesting and rich gameplay. It offers an interesting and engaging game in around 20 minutes. This is a game that I has been hitting my table a lot in the very short space of time I have had it and I can see it sticking around in my collection for a long time.
