I have a thing for Garphill Games. Their games just click with me – they always produce games in that sweet spot between strategic depth and clear objectives. So when Inventors of the South Tigris came out, I didn’t hesitate. Set in Baghdad during the height of the Abbasid Caliphate, you’re an inventor trying to create clever devices to impress your peers. But while you’re developing things like astrolabes (I had to look this one up) and water wheels, you’re really engaged in a tight race for influence and recognition.
How to play Inventors of the South Tigris
In Inventors, you’ll play through 3 or 4 rounds, taking turns until everyone has placed their tent for the round. On your turn, you’ll take one of these main actions:
- Place dice on your camels to:
- Invent – Play a device card from your hand onto a device board, paying the cost in cards
- Build – Construct a previously invented device by paying craftspeople
- Test – Add dice to built devices to increase their value
- Publish – Score points and gain benefits from completed devices
- Place dice in your workshops to trigger various effects and bonuses
- Place a worker on the main board to:
- Gain resources
- Research new abilities
- Hire additional camels
- Spread influence in the guilds
- Place your tent for the round, ending your main actions but gaining special benefits
The game’s dice management happens through a “brightening” system on your player board. Dice start in the exhausted section and can move up through three active levels:
- Ready – Use dice as rolled
- Determined – Add 1 to the value
- Inspired – Add up to 5 to the value
When you build or publish devices, you’ll pay craftspeople who sit in your tower. As they gain experience, they move up the tower levels, becoming more expensive but triggering powerful effects when tower sections empty.
Throughout the game, you’ll also move your ship along the river track, conduct research for ongoing benefits, and compete for majority influence in the three guilds.
Look and feel
When you open Inventors, you’re greeted with Garphill Games’ signature production quality. Wooden components – worker meeples, tents, and influence tokens – they all look nice and feel nice to handle. The dice, while slightly smaller than standard because there are so many of them, have bright, distinct colours that prevent any confusion during play.
The game’s illustrations are nice to look at but also serve a purpose most of the time:
- Player boards clearly show your dice progression tracks with hills, water and the sunrise differentiating the different levels
- The main board’s regions naturally separate different game systems
- Device cards and boards align their artwork to create complete illustrations
- Reference guides on boards highlight exactly which parts matter for each action
Iconography in this game deserves a special mention (or not, because Garphill games is always pretty good at this). If you’ve played other South Tigris games, you’ll recognize many symbols – influence, coins, and basic actions remain the same. New icons for invention mechanics feel intuitive: an anvil and hammer for building, a quill for publishing. And the other elements like worker placement and research use straightforward symbols that quickly become second nature.
A note about table space: at first setup seems pretty modest, but your play area will definitely grow. Device boards spread below the main board as you invent and build, creating an ever-expanding tableau of invention boards. You’ll want a good-sized table to accommodate everything comfortably.
How to play solo
The solo experience in Inventors comes with two different opponent systems: a main AI that provides genuine competition and a dummy player that… well, exists.
Let’s talk about the good stuff first. The AI opponent uses a clever card system that creates real tension without complex upkeep. Each turn, you’ll flip a card that guides your opponent’s actions. The AI will:
- Snag key inventions right when you’ve been eyeing them
- Spread influence strategically across guilds
- Move along the river track
- Build and publish devices
What makes this AI really great is how naturally it creates those “oh no” moments. You might spend a turn carefully setting up your resources, planning to build a specific invention next turn – only to watch the AI get it first. These moments feel like facing a real opponent, forcing you to adapt your strategy on the go.
The system stays elegant by avoiding unnecessary complexity. The AI doesn’t need a player board or resource tracking. When it can’t take its preferred action, it gathers resources for future turns, just like a human player would.
Then there’s the dummy player. The rules require you to use both systems in solo play, but the dummy player feels more like extra admin work than meaningful opposition. It:
- Blocks worker placement spots
- Adds influence to the board
- Moves along the river track
But honestly? I almost never had a situation where the dummy affected my strategic choices. You’ll go through the motions of placing its tokens, but it almost never creates meaningful obstacles.
What I think of Inventors of the South Tigris
After multiple plays of Inventors, I’m still discovering new ways to chain actions together, and that’s where this game truly shines in my opinion. Let me explain why this game works so well.
First, let’s talk about that dice system. In a lot of dice games, a bad roll means a bad turn. Not here. The brightening system turns every roll into a puzzle. I had a turn where I desperately needed a high number for a powerful workshop action. My black die showed a measly 2, but by brightening it twice and combining it with another die, I hit my target. These moments of turning limitations into opportunities create some of the game’s best decisions.
The one-action-per-turn structure is also something I really enjoy because of its deceptive simplicity. What starts as “I’ll build this invention” cascades into a series of choices. In one turn, I used a blue die to build, which let me level up my craftspeople, which emptied a tower level, which gave me new resources, and then I used the blue die’s colour bonus to set up my next turn. These chain reactions make every decision feel significant without becoming overwhelming.
Some other elements feel a bit secondary though. The river track and research offer powerful benefits – like the research tile that let me return my dice ready instead of exhausted after each round, which completely changed my strategy. But these systems often take a back seat to the core invention mechanics. It’s not really a problem maybe, but I sometimes forget to fully use these options when focused on my invention engine.
For me, Inventors hits that perfect spot of being both challenging and approachable. Each turn offers meaningful decisions without analysis paralysis. The game fits beautifully in the South Tigris series while standing strong on its own merits (it might even be the best one, but more plays of all of them are needed to determine that). If you enjoy medium-weight games that reward clever optimization while maintaining clear objectives, you’ll find a lot to love here. Just make sure you have enough table space for all those inventions you’ll be creating!
PROS:
- Well-designed dice mitigation that turns bad rolls into puzzles
- Chain reactions create satisfying turns from simple choices
- Multiple ways to accomplish goals rather than relying on luck
- High quality wooden components with distinct, bright colors
- Clear, logical iconography system
- Strong, easy-to-manage AI opponent for solo play
- Player boards with helpful action reference guides
- Craftspeople system adds depth through leveling mechanics
- Quick turns despite strategic options
- Metal coins work across entire South Tigris series
- Natural flow between different game systems
- Theme integrates well with mechanics
- Intuitive worker placement spots
- Rewards planning without causing analysis paralysis
CONS:
- Needs more table space than initial setup suggests
- River track and research feel secondary to invention mechanics
- Dummy player adds busywork without meaningful choices
- Dice smaller than standard size
- Complex action chains require careful tracking
- Easy to forget triggered effects and bonuses
- Some paths to victory feel stronger than others
- Initial learning curve with icons and symbols
- Research benefits often go underutilized
- Can be overwhelming to track all available options
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