Pyramid Review
Aquadukt
Published by Uberplay
Designed by Berhard Weber
Game board, 112 building tiles in four colors and styles, eight mountain tiles, five glass beads (wells), 36 blue wooden sticks (canals), 20-sided die, rules; full-color, boxed, two to four players; $27.99
Water means life, and you can't build a civilization without it. You won't actually be building a whole empire in Aquadukt, but the water is still paramount in this simulation of Roman farm life.
The object of the game is to supply more of your houses with water than anyone else.
The board shows the wide open country where you and your competition build your new villas. It's divided into 20 tracts comprising still smaller plots -- just big enough for you to place one of your housing counters on it. Everyone has a selection of new homes, distinguished from each other in color and style. These tiles show the buildings in "denominations" of one through four, and these are kept in separate stacks.
On your turn, you have three options: place houses, uncover a well, or lay canals. If you start new houses, roll a 20-sided die to determine in which section you may place a tile. So long as you're happy with what comes up, you can roll for three such constructions. If you don't like the location you roll (and there's some strategy as to what might be a good placement), you don't have to place that token but your turn ends there.
To start supplying homes with water, someone has to dig . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: February 16, 2007
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