That’s always the big question, right? As always, we encourage you to purchase from whichever outlet works best for you. We are just happy knowing that you have the chance to play this game.  Garphill Games has never been about trying to use cheap marketing tricks to get people to open their wallets. Our focus has, and always will be, to design quality games that you can enjoy with your family and friends for years to come. So why back now? Here’s a few reasons why you might choose to back this campaign, rather than waiting for retail:

• Get the Scholars 2023 KS Promo Pack for free (with every copy of Scholars)
• Receive your game before it becomes available in retail
• Buy from a trusted company with a proven track record for delivering projects on time

Scholars of the South Tigris is set during the height of the Abbasid Caliphate, circa 830 AD. The Caliph has called upon the keenest minds to acquire scientific manuscripts from all over the known world. Players will need to increase their influence in the House of Wisdom, and hire skilled linguists to translate the foreign scrolls into Arabic. In this Golden Age of wisdom and knowledge, be mindful not to neglect one in pursuit of the other.

Key Features:

• The combination of bag building, dice placement, colour mixing, and “workers for mitigation” creates an extremely unique experience at the table
• Interesting decisions each turn as you begin to build your engine and forge your strategic path in the game
• The 6 unique research tracks, and huge variety of scrolls and translators packs hours of replayability into the box
• The shared resource system of scrolls and translators adds a lot of positive interaction and tension between players
• Intuitive and easy to use solo mode, with 4 levels of difficulty to compete against

Aim of the Game

The aim of Scholars of the South Tigris is to be the player with the most victory points (VP) at the game’s end. Points are gained by translating scrolls, increasing knowledge in various areas of science and mathematics, influencing the 3 guilds, and by retiring translators after their years of faithful service. The game end is triggered once all 4 caliph cards have been revealed.

Total card count for sleeving (excluding promos) is 87 Cards @ 54 x 86mm and 98 Cards @ 43 x 67mm

The box size is 295x295x69mm and features a custom PVC insert. It also supports sleeved cards.

Each copy of Scholars purchased, will also come with a free set of the Scholars 2023 KS Promo Pack, consisting of the 8 cards pictured below:

Each copy of Wayfarers will also include all 9 cards from the Wayfarers 2022 KS Promo Pack, from last year’s Kickstarter campaign. These are also available separately for anyone who missed out on the original Kickstarter for Wayfarers.

Custom-build Your Pledge!

Scholars, Wayfarers, the South Tigris Metal Coins, and the Wayfarers 2022 KS Promo Pack are available as individual add-ons. First, select which reward tier above best suits what you are after. From there you can add any number of add-ons in your chosen quantity. Kickstarter already adds the full shipping cost for your region automatically as well – so there’s no complicated equations or hidden costs to figure out.

• Every add-on copy of Scholars will come with a free set of the Scholars 2023 KS Promo Pack
• Every add-on copy of Wayfarers will come with a free set of the Wayfarers 2022 KS Promo Pack

No Pledge Manager

We will not be using a pledge manager or allowing any additional items to be added once the campaign has ended. So make sure you finalize your pledge with ALL add-on items before the campaign ends.

Pledge FAQ

• You cannot have multiple languages as part of the same pledge. Any add-ons you include will be provided in the same language as your base pledge.
• Groups:  Over the past 9 years we have always looked to improve how we handle larger group pledges. We want to offer the best prices, while keeping everything running smoothly for fulfillment. Therefore, we have set a lower price for all add-on items, regardless of the total quantity. There are no extra shipping fees for add-ons. There will not be any further discounts beyond this.

All shipping rates are automatically added as you select your Reward Level. You will not be charged additional shipping fees by us after the campaign ends.

• Garphill Games will handle production and fulfillment of all English versions and can ship worldwide.
• Pixie Games will handle production and fulfillment of all French versions and can ship to France, Luxembourg, Belgium and Switzerland.
• Mosaico Jogos will handle production and fulfillment of all Portuguese versions and can ship only within Brazil. All Portuguese copies will be sent using a tax-friendly shipping option.
• Fever Games will handle production and fulfillment of all Italian versions and can ship only within Italy.

Other Languages

Other language versions will also be produced on a similar schedule, but are not available through this Kickstarter campaign. This includes German, Polish, Hungarian, Czech, Dutch, Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Korean, and more. If you would prefer one of these languages, you will need to wait for the retail release in your country.

No Stretch Goals?

For this Kickstarter we have decided not to offer any stretch goals. Instead, all components will be upgraded from day one! Linen finish cards, premium wooden tokens, thicker box, solo mode, etc, etc. On top of that, we have also heavily reduced the price of all add-on items.

Special thanks to Kovray for all the amazing photos seen on this Kickstarter page.