Tigris and Euphrates
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| Designer(s) | Reiner Knizia |
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| Publisher(s) | Hans im Glück |
| Genre(s) | Board game |
| Players | 2–4 |
| Age range | 12+ |
| Setup time | 5 minutes |
| Playing time | 90 minutes |
| Random chance | Low |
| Skill(s) required | Strategy |
Tigris and Euphrates (German: Euphrat und Tigris) is a German-style strategy board game designed by Reiner Knizia and first published in 1997 by Hans im Glück. Before its publication, it was highly anticipated by German gamers hearing rumors of a "gamer's game" designed by Knizia. Tigris and Euphrates won first prize in the 1998 Deutscher Spiele Preis. A card game version was released in 2005.
The game is set as a clash between neighboring dynasties at the dawn of civilization. The game is named after the rivers Tigris and Euphrates in the region now called the Middle East. The rivers together formed natural borders for an area which harboured several grand ancient civilizations, including Sumer, Babylonia, and Assyria. The Greeks called this area Mesopotamia, which literally means "between the rivers".
The game can be played by 2, 3 or 4 people. The play offers both tactical and strategic objectives. As with many games, short term objectives gain prominence when more players participate, as players have fewer chances to follow up on previous moves. Luck plays a role, as players draw tiles from a bag, but it is seldom decisive. Players may selectively discard and redraw their tiles at the cost of one "action point", of which each has two per turn. The game does not use dice.
The board is a map of the two rivers, marked with a square grid. There are four types of tiles with corresponding leaders: temples and priests (red), farms and farmers (blue), markets and merchants (green) and settlements and kings (black). The game starts with ten isolated temple tiles already placed on the board. Players play tiles and leaders onto the board, creating and expanding regions and kingdoms. Monuments may be built on the board when four tiles of the same color are played into a square pattern.
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