boardgamevideo
  • Trending
  • Videos
  • Games
  • Channels
  • Lists
  • Shorts

Explore

  • Home
  • Trending
  • Channels
  • Videos
  • Games
  • Lists
  • Shorts
  • Conventions
  • Year in Review

Browse by type

  • Reviews
  • How to play
  • Playthroughs
  • Unboxing
  • Top 100 lists
  • Featured videos
  • Trending this week
  • Rising games
  • Games with fresh review perspectives

Information

  • About
  • Contact
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy

© 2022–2026 BoardGameVideo.com

Powered by BGG
  • Videos
  • Trending
  • Shorts
  • Channels
  • Games
  • Lists
Athenium

Athenium

2023·Ben Butcher

2 - 5 players
5 - 30 min

From BoardGameGeek

Athenium is a head to head summoner battle game in line with most popular trading card games. What sets Athenium apart is that it is permanently simplified to the most basic elements of gameplay. Starting life points are determined by the number of players. Each player involved adds 5 life points to the starting life point total of every player. It's meant for 2 players, starting at ten, but it's still really fun with 4 players, starting at 20. There are still resource cards, called Macguffins, that are used to motivate a character into the battle, but instead of 4-7 colors, there are 3, and they are based on genre. The green cards are Fantasy characters, the blue cards are Science Fiction characters, and the red cards are Horror characters. Each character card has one number, which represents attack, defense, and casting cost, which go up or down based on their type matchups. They attack and block left to right, just like reading a book. When the defending characters run out, the rest is damage dealt to the defending player. When the defending player runs out of life points, they lose. Last librarian standing wins. Everyone plays from one deck which may be supplemented with special cards, or later expansion decks. All of the art, graphic design, writing, gameplay architecture and web design were done by Ben Butcher, though the expansions have other illustrators on payroll in the near future. -description from the publisher

Athenium

Which Athenium video should I watch?

Athenium has 2 videos from 1 creator: 1 how-to-play guide and 1 unboxing. They date from May 2023.

If you like it, try Star Wars: The Queen's Gambit, Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion, Runar or Storyfold: Wildwoods, which share several of its mechanics.

All videos

How to Play AtheniumHow to play4:21

How to Play Athenium

Ben_Butcher_Art

Ben_Butcher_Art

Athenium Prototype UnboxingUnboxing4:14

Athenium Prototype Unboxing

Ben_Butcher_Art

Ben_Butcher_Art

Creators who cover this

All channels
Ben_Butcher_Art
Ben_Butcher_Art
2 videos of this game

Games like this

All games

Star Wars: The Queen's Gambit

2000·Rob Daviau, Alan Roach, Craig Van Ness

Videos
37
Creators
19
Mainly playthroughs

2 - 4 players·120 min·Medium weight

Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion

2020·Isaac Childres

Videos
136
Creators
72
Mostly playthroughs and reviews

1 - 4 players·30 - 120 min·Heavy weight

Runar

2025·Diego Fonseca

Videos
24
Creators
19
Mainly reviews

1 - 4 players·60 - 90 min·Heavy weight

Storyfold: Wildwoods

2025·Sjoerd van der Linde

Videos
65
Creators
38
Mostly playthroughs and reviews

1 players·30 - 60 min·Medium weight

About Athenium

From BoardGameGeek:

Athenium is a head to head summoner battle game in line with most popular trading card games. What sets Athenium apart is that it is permanently simplified to the most basic elements of gameplay. Starting life points are determined by the number of players. Each player involved adds 5 life points to the starting life point total of every player. It's meant for 2 players, starting at ten, but it's still really fun with 4 players, starting at 20. There are still resource cards, called Macguffins, that are used to motivate a character into the battle, but instead of 4-7 colors, there are 3, and they are based on genre. The green cards are Fantasy characters, the blue cards are Science Fiction characters, and the red cards are Horror characters. Each character card has one number, which represents attack, defense, and casting cost, which go up or down based on their type matchups. They attack and block left to right, just like reading a book. When the defending characters run out, the rest is damage dealt to the defending player. When the defending player runs out of life points, they lose. Last librarian standing wins. Everyone plays from one deck which may be supplemented with special cards, or later expansion decks. All of the art, graphic design, writing, gameplay architecture and web design were done by Ben Butcher, though the expansions have other illustrators on payroll in the near future. -description from the publisher

Designer

Ben Butcher

Publisher

Self-published

Categories

AncientCard GameEducationalFantasy

Mechanics

Card-DrivenDice RollingDeck ConstructionHand Management
View on BoardGameGeek ›
Home
Games
Athenium
cached: 400749