Days of Wonder has announced the impending release of the Cleopatra and the Society of Architects board game (MSRP $49.95) designed by Bruno Cathala and Ludovic Maublanc.  This fun and engaging family board game includes a true three-dimensional palace that the players compete to build.  In order to win the game a player must become the wealthiest of Cleopatra's architects by constructing the most magnificent and valuable parts of her palace, but players will be tempted to take shortcuts by dealing with shady characters and using materials of dubious origins in order to finish faster. 

Players who gamble and take shortcuts receive amulets honoring Sobek, the Crocodile god, and when Cleopatra finally strolls through her finished palace, the most corrupt architect (the one with the most amulets) will be sacrificed to the Crocodile god, and the winner will be the wealthiest remaining architect after the sacrifice to Sobek.

Cleopatra and the Society of Architects is a colorful and very elaborate board game with dozens of 3D pieces including columns, walls, doorframes, obelisks, sphinxes, and thrones -- all of which help foster the notion that the players are actually constructing a palace.