Conga Mummies (1984)

Conga Mummies is a simple grid movement game for one to four players. Each player controls a "mummy" token that moves about the board, square-by-square, as desired. The gridded board is laid out roughly to approximate a humanoid form. Players start in the "head" grid and then move to specific squares in each "hand" and "foot" to collect canopic jars containing organs. All four embalmed organs (stomach, intestines, liver, and lungs) are required for the mummy to reach the afterlife. The first player to recover all four of the needed organs wins the game. Each grid square has a random chance (25%) of containing a beast; this is determined when the first character moves into the square. Beasts, if encountered, must be defeated to proceed. Individual mummies can take damage and be destroyed (the player loses and drops out of the game). The primary innovation of the game involves player movement. Players must move in a "conga line" pattern, following exactly in the leader's footsteps, but one to three squares behind (depending on how many players there are). The line leader makes all decisions and performs all combat. If desired, the line leader can yield their position (when low on health, for example) and move to the back of the line. Alternately, each player can cast three "compel" spells during the game. Each "compel" spell forces the leader to move to the back of the line. The basic strategy is to remain at the back of the line (in safety) through the first three organ collections then to move (and remain) in the lead position for the final organ collection (thus, winning). The game supports single-player play, though this becomes simply an exercise of trying to move and survive to the end, rather than managing the "conga line" strategy. The game is provided as a four-page, print-and-play PDF document containing the rules and the game board. It was distributed for free from various online sites. —user summary