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- BGG #1,627
- BGG rating
- 7.4
Salton Sea
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Tholos
2021
Rules assistance for Tholos
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 2 players
- 15–25 min
- 9+
- Complexity 1.8/5
For 2 players
Rules assistant for Tholos
What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Tholos is a board game released in 2021 for 2 players, 15–25 minutes per game, and ages 9 and up. It was designed by David Bernal and its main mechanics are Area Majority / Influence.
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About the game
Participate in the construction of the Tholos of Delphi, the temple that marks the center of the universe marked by Zeus and built inside the Sanctuary of Athena Pronaia. As a builder, face your opponent in a duel and achieve the greatest influence within its sacred construction. May the gods be propitious to you! Tholos is a game of majorities for two players with high interaction. On a turn, you take one of two actions: Take stones of one color from the quarry into your workshop, with each workshop holding at most three stones. You can take up to three stones of your color (black/white), up to two neutral stones (gray), or one stone of your opponent (white/black). Play any stone from your workshop onto the game board. The board has seven locations, each with a unique power, and each location can have a column of at most five stones. If you place a stone of your color in a location, then you take the special action associated with that location, e.g., moving the top stone of a column to another location, moving a stone from the opponent's workshop to your workshop, placing a second stone from your workshop, or returning a played stone to the quarry. When all seven columns have five stones on them, the game ends and players receive points for each column where they have more stones than the opponent — but this isn't necessarily a good thing. When you score a column, you receive 1 point for each stone of your color, 3 points for each stone of the opposing color, and -2 points for each neutral stone. each column awards points to the player who has the most stones of their color in that column. In the advanced mode of Tholos, you place one or more ornament tiles on the game board, each in a different location. Each ornament tile has a power that changes the rules of the game, such as activating the power of a location with gray stones, awarding a column to the player with fewer stones than the opponent, or raising the maximum number of stones in the location's column to seven.
Categories
Mechanics
Designers
Publishers
- Perro Loko Games
Questions and answers
Tholos supports 2 players according to the catalogue. This is the publisher’s listed player count, so the game is designed for exactly that number of participants. Variants for other group sizes, if any, are described in the rulebook of your edition, so check it before setting up a different configuration.
The listed playing time for Tholos is 15–25 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists Tholos for ages 9 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
Tholos has a complexity rating of 1.8 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a light game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
Tholos belongs to these categories: Abstract Strategy. Its main mechanics are Area Majority / Influence. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of Tholos are: David Bernal. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists Tholos as a base game. It can be played on its own with the components in the box and does not require any other title. Expansions, if any exist, add new content or rules on top of it and are listed separately in the catalogue with a link back to this base game.