Kemet rules: how to play and how to score

Kemet quick rules

The goal

Have the most victory points when the game ends. It ends at the end of the round in which a player had 9 points before playing an Action token.

A round

Each round has three phases: Day, Night, Dawn. During the Day, players take turns placing one of their five Action tokens on the pyramid of their individual board and taking that action. At the end of the Day, everyone must have at least one token on each level: the Equilibrium rule.

The actions

Pray gives two Prayer points, the game’s currency, eleven at most. Raising a Pyramid costs the value of each level gained. Buying a Power tile costs its level, with a Pyramid of its color at least as high, one tile per color per round. Recruit costs one point per Unit. You may also move a Troop.

Movement

A Troop holds five Units at most. A Movement action gives one Land move to an adjacent space and one Teleportation: for two Prayer points, from a District with a Pyramid to a space with an Obelisk. To enter an opponent’s District, you must start next to its Wall.

Battle

Each player chooses two Battle cards, discards one face down and plays the other, with any Divine Intervention cards hidden under it. Strength: Units, card, bonuses, and one more in your own City. The stronger player wins, the defender on a tie. Each loses the opponent’s Damage minus their own Defense.

After a Battle

An attacker who wins and stays on the space gains one Battle VP, which is permanent. The loser retreats or recalls their Troop: removing it gives one Prayer point per Unit, minus one. The winner may stay or recall.

Victory points

Square points are permanent: Battles won as the attacker, some Power tiles, the Sphinx, two Temples controlled at Night, two Units sacrificed at the Sanctuary. Round points are temporary: one per Temple and per level 4 Pyramid you control, lost with the space.

Night and Dawn

At Night, players make offerings at the Sanctuary and the delta Temple, gain a point for two Temples, then gain their Temples’ Prayer and two Prayer points, and draw a Divine Intervention card. At Dawn, the player with the fewest points chooses their turn order place first.

End of the game

A player with at least 9 points just before playing an Action token triggers the end. Finish the round, and at Dawn, the most points wins. On a tie, the trigger player wins, then the most Battle VP, then the leftmost on the turn order track.

Beginner mistakes

Forgetting the Equilibrium rule; forgetting that the defender wins ties; taking a Battle point as the defender; leaving a Temple empty and losing its point; thinking the game stops at 9 points, when it stops at the following Dawn.

How to score Kemet

Permanent VP

Square tokens: Battles won as the attacker, Domination, Sphinx, two Temples controlled at Night, Sanctuary.

Temporary VP

Round tokens still held at the final Dawn: Temples and level 4 Pyramids you control.

Triggered the end

Tiebreaker: on a tie, the player who triggered the end wins.

Battle VP

Second tiebreaker: the most Battle VP, already counted in permanent VP.

Place on the turn order track

Last tiebreaker: the leftmost place wins.

Worked example

Emma has 9 points before playing an Action token: she triggers the end. At Dawn, she has 7 permanent and 3 temporary points, for 10. Jake also has 10 points, 8 permanent and 2 temporary. Emma triggered the end: she wins the tie.

Common mistakes

• Stopping the game as soon as a player reaches 9 points: finish the round and score at Dawn.
• Counting a temporary point lost during the last Night: only those still held at Dawn count.
• Adding Battle VP a second time: they are already in permanent VP and only break ties.
• Following the 2012 rulebook: it ended at 8 or 10 points at the end of a Day.

How to set up Kemet

Setup takes about fifteen minutes. Follow the three parts in order.