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I love building pyramids, and here on the farm we are going through a huge renovation project. As a result, we have tonnes and tonnes of really heavy sandstone that has been piled up on the driveway. And whilst it is bone crushingly exhausting to move, the temptation to build mini pyramids with pieces is ever present! Luckily, Coiledspring and Synapse Games have published a treat that not only scratches my building itch but has the awesome puzzliness placement-ness of KINGDOMINO. Welcome to the ancient world of PYRAMIDO!
Hit 'Em Up
Pyramido is a fun and satisfying tile-placement game where the game space is going to go up! 4 layers to be precise, and each stage of the pyramid you are building creates connections between what has been built before. You play an architect who is trying to build the best-last-resting-place of the young Pharoah Mido.
I mentioned Kingdomino here because connecting territories count. And scoring markers count for even more. But not just scratched into the sides of your developing pyramid like long lost hieroglyphs.. They need to match the jewel icons on the tiles, and they need to be visible at end game in order to count for anything at all!
The rules are super easy to grasp. On your turn, you will be drafting one of 3 available double-coloured domino style tiles, each of which are divided into 8 smaller rectangles and have a different combination of icons on it. Your completed pyramid is formed over 4 rounds.
Round 1 is the foundation layer comprising a 5 x 4 grid. Once you place your chosen tile (adjacent to an existing tile) into your pyramid, you fill in the missing space in the drafting row from one of the two piles of face up tiles located directly behind it. You therefore affect the selection available to the next player.
If you place a tile into your pyramid with a colour that doesn’t yet feature in your pyramid, you must place a scoring marker on it. As you only have one of each colour, you will want to add colours carefully! You do have a few “resurfacing” squares which can alter the colour of one half of a tile. But you only have a few for the whole game and once they have been laid they cannot be removed.
Players take turns choosing from the available dominoes to create their pyramid. To maximize their points, players must match the jewel icons on the dominoes and place their markers of the same colors to activate the scoring areas. Each choice of domino and its positioning has a significant impact since the previous stages influence the score throughout the game.
Once a layer has completed, it is time to score. You’ll only score for those jewel icons in each area which are both visible and accompanied by a matching scoring marker. You also score double points in the area with the least number of icons.
In subsequent rounds, you build up the layers (scoring the visible, marker matching icons) until the 4th round where you top off your pyramid with a single tile! The winner is the architect who has amassed the most points in their pyramid!
Final Thoughts
We really enjoy Pyramido. It starts fairly free and then quickly becomes more and more restrictive as you go up. Knowing that the only the visible edges in your pyramid are going to score each round makes you think more carefully as the game progresses. Particularly as the choice of tiles in the drafting row is in a large part determined by luck of the draw. Having said that, knowing you can affect what tiles the next player can take is also very neat and introduces some control….over others that is!
Placing new potential point producing tiles over edges that scored you well in the previous round is a delightful dilemma. Likewise, having to place a scoring marker when you introduce a new colour becomes a real influence over your design.. With everybody’s developing pyramids being totally open information, you may have the opportunity to hate-place an unhelpful tile into the drafting row if you feel like being a meanie!
It also plays fast. As the pyramids aren’t large, those 4 rounds go past in a flash! Especially as the final round is a single tile! In our last game the topping off was the decider. With a combination of scoring marker and resurfacing tile, I snuck a win. But until that final tile my husband and I were only 1 or 2 points apart.
The components are lovely. The bright and illustrated tiles are thick and chunky, and the scoring markers are colourful little wooden tokens. The inside of the box also has some gorgeous illustrations on it.
I really like the process of building up as well as out, and puzzly placement optimisation is one of my favourite genres. With easy rules and fast play time, there’s some really satisfying synapse sizzle but nothing that feels spatially overwhelming. As such, Pyramido is a big hit in our house.
