Thebes: The Tomb Raiders

In 2013, Queen Games released a card version of the classic Thebes, titled *Thebes: The Tomb Raiders*. The setting is the early 20th century, when curiosity about ancient cultures dominates the archaeological scene. Each player takes on the role of an explorer who wants to uncover treasures from five civilizations – Egypt, Mesopotamia, Crete, Greece, and Thebes itself – and to do so, they must accumulate knowledge about them. Knowledge functions as a “combo” of cards: the more you know about a culture, the faster and more efficiently you can “dig” in its deck, pulling treasures instead of dirt. Time is the most important resource: the time track determines who can act, forcing players to plan every move carefully. The open-draft mechanic lets everyone choose cards from a common pool, while set collection encourages building treasure sets that score points at the end. The goal is simple, but the blend of time management, knowledge, and strategy makes each game unique. The artwork is clean, with illustrations reminiscent of classic adventure card art, and the box includes high-quality components such as time markers, civilization cards and treasure tokens. In short, *Thebes: The Tomb Raiders* is a quick (30 min) card game that mixes exploration, set collection and a dash of race against the clock, perfect for those who love tactical challenges in a compact format.