🌋 Pompeii — Build a City Worth Saving

Pompeii is a development game for 1 to 4 players for ages 10 and up, with an average playtime of 30 minutes per player.
The box will include rulebook in 🇬🇧 ENGLISH,  🇳🇱 DUTCH, 🇩🇪GERMAN and 🇫🇷 FRENCH. The game material is language neutral.

🏛️ Shape a City. Share a Fate.

Step into ancient Pompeii — a thriving Roman city known for its wealthy inhabitants and luxurious villas. In Pompeii, players lead their citizens to grow the city through smart planning, resourceful trading, and meaningful choices. Oh mighty player, set your subjects to work and and carve your legacy in the history of Pompeii.

However, in Pompeii it was ambition, greed and envy that angered the gods … and buried the city beneath a smoldering layer of volcanic ash! Together players must share sufficient offerings to appease Vesuvius. If you fixate on your own wealth, you may also find yourselves buried under layers of suffocating and toxic ash.

Pompeii is a game of thoughtful strategy and shared responsibility. Can you guide the city to prosperity — and keep it standing? Or would you risk pursuing power, even if it brings downfall upon all?

🧩 Gameplay

Pompeii is a develoment game with a twist. A light-to-medium strategy game: easy to learn, full of meaningful choices. Each round, your workers can perform 1 of the following standard worker actions:

1. Gather raw materials
2. Produce refined goods
3. Construct buildings
4. Trade goods, or
5. Train specialists

Next to standard actions, you can also choose to take a card action: activated specialists and city locations (based on the archeological site of Pompeii) with immediate actions or recurring actions.

The twist is in the two phases in which Pompeii is played: The Calm and The Awakening:

• During The Calm, players built the backbone of Pompeii while working on their strategy (gathering supplies, building a nice card engine, et cetera).
• However, during The Awakening, the Vesuvius is a force to be reckoned with: players have to negotiate shared offerings to the Vesuvius to prevent an eruption and possible loss of hard-earned goods.

⚖️ To Win Requires a Balance Between Ambition and Harmony

While you grow your part of the city, others are doing the same. Each player has their own vision for Pompeii’s future, and everyone’s progress is interwoven. The most successful leader will station their army at the Castrum, the military camp outside the city gates, taking control of the city’s fate.

But there’s more at stake than victory alone. Together, you must also keep the gods appeased. Greed and neglect can stir Mount Vesuvius — and if the group’s offerings fall short, the entire city may be lost in ash.

🌋 The Looming Threat of Vesuvius

Vesuvius watches from a distance, and its patience is limited. During The Calm, Vesuvius is asleep. But when the first prestigious building is constructed, players’ ambitions become clear and Vesuvius awakens. As of this moment, players must pay shared offerings to prevent an eruption of Vesuvius and thereby loss of valuable goods.

You’ll need to weigh your ambitions carefully — focus too much on personal gain, and you risk the wrath of the gods. Forget the volcano, and you may all fall together.

Pompeii challenges you not only to claim the city for yourself, but also to survive as a group!

💎What makes Pompeii so special?

Unique gameplay – You’ll face the ultimate dilemma: claim victory for yourself, but survive as a group. Will your ambitions lead to your personal triumph, or the city’s ruin? In Pompeii, your fate is tied to your rivals – and the looming threat of the volcano.

Relive Pompeii’s glory in a boardgame – See Pompeii come to life as you play. You build the city with every turn – from bustling workshops to grand public buildings. While you shape Pompeii, the evocative artwork breathes life into the ruins, capturing the city in its prime.

Beautiful hand-drawn illustrations using pencil and watercolor paint by Frederick van de Bunt – Immerse yourself in a visually stunning world, where every card is a miniature work of art.

Respect for history – Artwork and theme pay respect to the history and site of Pompeii. Historically accurate architecture and ethnicity of the citizens; every detail is thoughtfully crafted to honor Pompeii’s legacy. Experience the city’s final days with a touch of reverence and awe.

Gateway game – The game gradually increases in complexity, allowing you to ease into it. Whether you’re a casual player or a seasoned gamer, Pompeii welcomes all.

💬 What other people are saying

Nox Spellenzolder – Dutch boardgame youtuber
I can highly recommend Pompeii if you enjoy engine builders or games in a Roman theme. Pompeii is entertaining with some cool elements. The core mechanics are nicely accessible, and I really like the visual design. The replayability is strong.

Speelhart – Dutch boardgame reviewer
Pompeii is a bright and colorful Euro game made with great attention to detail, which contains some very surprising, if somewhat dark twists and turns. The game highly deserves to become a classic!

AHBoardgames – UK boardgame reviewers
we thoroughly enjoyed our time with Pompeii. The compelling theme, smooth gameplay, and clever eruption mechanic create an experience that feels both strategic and tense. It’s easy to learn but offers enough depth to remain interesting over multiple plays. This is definitely a game we recommend

Boardgames with Joe – UK boardgame reviewer
Engaging and exciting, Pompeii is a great game of resource management and trading.
The threat of Mount Vesuvius keeps the tension and interactions high.

Backseat Boardgamers – UK boardgame reviewers
We love the mosaic card artwork and historical references. We love the neatness of the resource production chains, and the ability to trade your way outside of these. In our first game, we were overly ambitious and built the Forum too early, making it nearly impossible to do anything on turns outside of resource grabbing for the sacrifice. Learning from our mistakes, the second play was much smoother. This is a game that would benefit from higher player counts to balance building ownership and their use (a crucial part of the engine building). It’s a great game for those who like engine building and semi-cooperative gameplay.

Boardgamer Di Montagna – Italian boardgame youtuber
Pompeii reminds me of Settles III, or even better, Settlers II gold, a video game that I used to play a lot. A simple resource management game with some interesting twists. It lends itself to be played collaborative or competitive, depending on the group

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