How to Play

Kemet

2-5 players 90-120 min 7.6 Board Game Geek Rating

Players command Egyptian tribes, using divine powers and armies to conquer territories and temples. Actions are chosen from nine options during day phases, followed by night phases for gathering prayer points and divine cards. Victory comes through winning battles, controlling key locations, developing pyramids, and wielding magical abilities, racing to reach the target score first.

Published 2012

Kemet

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

1
Choose board side
Place the board in the center using the face matching your player count (3/5 players on one side, 2/4 players on the other)
2
Note play area restriction
At 2 or 3 players, the right bank of the Nile is inaccessible for the entire game
3
Arrange Power tiles
Place all Power tiles face up beside the board, organized by level (1-4) and color (ruby, sapphire, diamond)
4
Place special Combat cards
Put the 2 special Combat cards next to the Power tiles above the board
5
Position Creatures
Place each Creature figurine on its corresponding Power tile
6
Add Domination and Sphinx tokens
Place Domination VP and Sphinx VP tokens on their respective Power tiles
7
Place Action tokens
Put silver Action tokens and the gold Action token on their respective Power tiles
8
Distribute Temple VPs
Place 1 Temple VP token on each Temple used in the game
9
Prepare Pyramid VPs
Place Pyramid VP tokens in the common reserve
10
Prepare permanent VPs
Place Control/Combat VP tokens and Sanctuary VP tokens in the common reserve
11
Create Divine Intervention deck
Shuffle Divine Intervention (DI) cards and place them face down next to the board
12
Assign cities
Each player randomly chooses a City on the board that becomes their faction's City for the entire game
13
Take player components
Each player takes in their color: 1 individual board, 1 Order marker, 1 Prayer marker, 5 Action tokens, 12 Unit figurines, and 6 Combat cards
14
Set starting Prayer
Place your Prayer marker on space 7 of your Prayer track
15
Draw starting cards
Each player draws 2 Divine Intervention cards
16
Take Pyramids
Each player takes 3 Pyramids (1 ruby, 1 sapphire, 1 diamond)
17
Deploy initial Troops
Choose 2 Districts of your City and place 5 Units in each; place the remaining 2 Units in your reserve
18
Determine starting turn order
Randomly place Order markers from left to right on the Turn Order track; the leftmost player is first
19
Distribute Pyramid levels
In turn order, each player distributes 3 level points among their 3 Pyramids using combinations 1/1/1 or 2/1/0
20
Place starting Pyramids
Place each Pyramid of level 1 or 2 in a different District of your City; level 0 Pyramids remain in your reserve

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

1
Day Phase actions
In turn order, each player places 1 Action token on a free Action space on their individual board and immediately resolves its effect
2
Continue until complete
Players continue taking turns until all 5 Action tokens have been played by each player
3
Respect the Balance rule
Each player must have placed at least 1 Action token on each of the 3 levels of their board's pyramid by the end of the Day Phase
4
Play Divine Intervention cards
DI cards with DAY icons may be played before or after any player's action, and just before a Combat phase
5
Pray
Gain 2 Prayer Points
6
Evolve Pyramid
Increase one of your Pyramids by 1 or more levels by paying Prayer Points equal to the value of each level reached (costs cumulate)
7
Buy a Power tile
Purchase a Power tile of the color matching your Action space
8
Recruit
Spend X Prayer Points to recruit X Units from your reserve into one, two, or three Districts of your City
9
Move
Move 1 of your Troops based on its Movement Capacity
10
Place acquired Creatures
When you acquire a Creature tile, place the Creature in a District of your City containing one of your Troops, or keep it in your reserve
11
Exchange Creatures
Before playing an Action token, you may swap Creatures between your reserve and Districts in your City
12
Creature limitations
Creatures don't count toward the 5-Unit Troop Limit but are limited to 1 per space
13
Creature in Combat
Creatures add only their bonuses to Combat, not +1 Force like Units
14
Identify attacker and defender
The player whose movement triggered Combat is the attacker
15
Step 1 - War Council
Each player secretly chooses 2 Combat cards: discard one face down (never revealed), keep the other to play
16
Step 2 - Preparations
Attacker and defender may hide DI cards (DAY or COMBAT icons) behind their Combat card; bluffing is permitted
17
Step 3 - Confrontation
Both players simultaneously reveal played cards; attacker first declares if paying for DI cards and their resolution order, then defender does the same
18
Step 4 - Resolution
The player with the highest Force value wins; defender wins ties
19
Step 5 - Losses
Each player removes Units equal to opponent's total Damage minus their own total Defense
20
Step 6 - Reward
If the attacker wins and still has a Troop in the Combat space, gain 1 Combat VP
21
Step 7 - Loser consequences
The loser chooses to retreat, dismiss their Troop, or stay if the winner has no remaining Troop
22
Step 8 - Winner consequences
The winner chooses to dismiss their Troop or remain in the Combat space
23
Step 9 - End Combat
Discard played Combat cards face up; the face-down card remains hidden; when all Combat cards are discarded, retrieve them all immediately
24
Use silver or gold Action tokens
Play these simultaneously with one of your colored Action tokens to gain a bonus action
25
Resolve in chosen order
Complete each action fully before resolving the next
26
Reach 9 VP
When you possess 9 VP (temporary + permanent) before playing an Action token, trigger the end of the game
27
Mark the trigger
Place a Sanctuary VP from the common reserve under your Order marker

Winning

How to claim victory.

1
1 - Offering
The player controlling the Sanctuary of All Gods may sacrifice 2 Units from that Troop to gain 1 Sanctuary VP
2
2 - Delta Control
The player controlling the Nile Delta Temple may sacrifice 1 Unit from that Troop to gain 5 Prayer Points
3
3 - Temple Control
Each player controlling at least 2 Temples gains 1 Control VP
4
4 - Adoration
Each player gains Prayer Points corresponding to Temples they control (except the Nile Delta Temple)
5
5 - Prayer
Each player gains 2 Prayer Points
6
6 - Divine Intervention
In turn order, each player draws 1 DI card
7
7 - Awakening
Each player retrieves their Action tokens to their reserve
8
Check for triggered end
If end game was triggered during the previous Day Phase, proceed to final scoring
9
Calculate final score
Each player totals their temporary and permanent VP (the Sanctuary VP under the triggering player's Order marker does not count)
10
Determine winner
The player with the most VP wins the game
11
Break ties - trigger priority
If the player who triggered the end is tied, they win
12
Break ties - Combat VP
Otherwise, the tied player with the most Combat VP wins
13
Break ties - turn order
If still tied, the tied player furthest left on the Turn Order track wins
14
Lower Order tokens
Move all Order markers down below their current space
15
Choose new positions
Starting with the player who has the fewest VP, then in ascending order, each player places their Order marker on an empty Turn Order space
16
Resolve turn order ties
If players are tied in VP, the one who was furthest left on the previous turn's Track chooses first

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