Atmosfear: Khufu the Mummy

For other uses, see Khufu (disambiguation).

Atmosfear: Khufu the Mummy

Designers	Brett Clements Phillip Tanner
Publishers	Flying Bark Productions
Publication	2006
Genres	Horror and terror
Players	3–6
Setup time	1–2 minutes
Playing time	up to 49 minutes
Age range	12+
Skills	Dice rolling, reading, strategy

Khufu the Mummy is a video board game released in 2006 by A Couple 'A Cowboys and Flying Bark Productions as the last DVD game of the Atmosfear series.

The game is set in a place known as "Khufu's", which is the titular character's casino-pyramid in Egypt. The characters again are the Harbingers, but this time, they are joined by a new member of the crew. To play the game, each player adopts the persona of one of the Harbingers: Gevaudan the werewolf; Hellin the poltergeist; Khufu the mummy; Baron Samedi the zombie; Anne de Chantraine the witch; Elizabeth Bathory the vampire, and newcomer Medusa the gorgon.

Gameplay

Before the game starts, the players choose which character to use during gameplay, then Khufu will choose his servant (named "Lucky") to keep order in the game. The game then begins a 45-minute time limit.

The players roll one numbered die and move in a clockwise direction around the board (1 to 6 spaces). If a player lands on a Curse space (a snake picture on the board), they must take a Curse card and follow the instructions.

If a player lands on a Steal space (a person carrying bags), then they can try to steal 1 treasure card from an opponent, as long as the stealer has treasure cards. But if the stealer takes a treasure card which has a cobra on it, they must give the card back, and give the player one of their own treasure cards.

The objective is to collect treasure cards (the games form of currency) and play to win a table to place a plastic scarab of the players colour inside each of the 4 chambers in the game:

1. The Servant's Chamber: In the Servant's Chamber (in which the players start the game), the player must wager at least 1 treasure. One of the numbered dice is thrown. If the number is odd, the player wins their stake back and places one of their scarabs in the chamber. If the number is even, the player loses their stake to the treasure deck.
2. The High-Priest's Chamber: In the High-Priest's Chamber, the player must wager at least 2 treasure cards. One of the numbered dice is thrown. If the number is even, the player wins back their stake and places one of their scarabs in the chamber. If the number is odd, the player loses their stake.
3. The Queen's Chamber: In the Queen's Chamber, the player must wager at least 3 treasures. The player tosses the provided coin. In a reversal of the phrase, "Heads, I win, Tails, you lose", if it shows tails, the player wins back their stake and places one of their scarabs in the chamber. If the coin shows heads, the player loses.
4. The King's Chamber: The player must wager at least 4 treasure cards in the King's Chamber. The player chooses 2 of the cards they have wagered and rolls 1 of the symboled dice. If the die matches the symbol, the player wins back their stake and places a scarab in the chamber. If there is no match, the player loses.

As soon as a player has placed all 4 scarabs in the 4 chambers, and has at least 3 treasures, they head for the chamber with Khufu's Sarcophagus in it. As soon as they reach the chamber, they press the Menu or Title button on the remote control and pause the countdown. This segment is called Khufu's Ultimate Challenge. Lucky takes the player cards, shuffles them, and deals 5 cards face up (or 4 cards or 3 cards if that's all the cards they have left). The player chooses the best 3 cards to be their hand. They then roll both of the symboled dice. They combine the symbols of the dice with the symbols on their 3 cards. They then also combine the dice symbols with Khufu's cards on screen to make Khufu's hand. The significant hands are ranked from best to worst:

5 of a kind, 4 of a kind, Full house, 3 of a kind, 2 pairs, 1 pair, No matches.

If Khufu's hand is best, the player loses their 3 treasure cards and goes directly to the furthest Curse space. If both hands are the same, the player again goes to the furthest Curse space, but keeps their 3 treasures. If the player's hand is best, they win the game.

However, if no one is able to beat Khufu before 45 minutes expire, then Khufu wins the game.

Characters

The six Harbingers in the game are: Gevaudan the werewolf; Hellin the poltergeist; Khufu the mummy; Baron Samedi the zombie; Anne de Chantraine the witch; Elizabeth Bathory the vampire; and Medusa the gorgon. Each of the Harbingers is based on either a real person or a myth, except for Hellin. Hellin, literally "in hell" reversed, is the only Harbinger entirely created by Brett Clements. Hellin is also the only character with barely any background information, because Brett wanted players to use their own imagination for this character. Baron Samedi got his name from the ancient Arawak Indian God of the Dead. Anne de Chantraine is based on the first "official" witch who was burned at the stake. Elizabeth Bathory is based on a serial killer who is believed to have murdered and drunk the blood of about six hundred and fifty virgin girls. Gevaudan is based around a man who was hunted by armies of people for supposedly carrying the sickness of lycanthropy. Medusa was a gorgon who went on a rampage turning people into stone after her hair was transformed into snakes. The final character in the game is Khufu and is based on the Fourth Dynasty Egyptian pharaoh, Khufu.

Video

Main articles: DVD TV game and Video board game

Packaged with the game is a forty-nine-minute DVD.

See also

• List of Australian inventions
• List of board games

External links

• An archived version of the official website, archived by Wayback Machine.
• Atmosfear: Khufu the Mummy at BoardGameGeek
• Nightmare series and Atmosfear series at BoardGameGeek