Pyramid Review
Queen's Necklace
Published by Days of Wonder
Designed by Bruno Faidutti and Bruno Cathala
Full-color card game with 12-page manual, 110 plastic playing cards (including four turn summary cards and 3 blanks), four gem rarity tokens, four gem tokens, four gem Fashion tokens, five gold-colored metal rings, one necklace, one Web card for online gaming; $35
From the master behind Citadels and co-designer of the highly regarded Shadows Over Camelot comes a game of gaining courtly favor in the renaissance period. Queen's Necklace is not about love, but about jewelry: diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and amber. Two to four players are jewelers who gain favor by bringing in the rarest valuable gems in a given year. The catch is that the greater the number of gems a person brings to court, the less rare it is . . . and only the player who brings in the most of a type of gem can score for that gem type in that round. As courtiers, players also enlist the aid of any number of courtly figures from musketeers and thieves to the King or Queen -- if he can afford the favor.
The pieces are sturdy, tactile devices. Beyond strong oversize plastic cards representing the jewels, court folk, jeweler's tools, and turn order cards, the box includes five gold-colored rings, and an actual necklace that goes to the last wielder of the Queen card.
Setup begins with the gem Fashion tokens; they are placed in ascending order, side by side, first, second, and so on. The four gem tokens are then randomly . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: February 15, 2008
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