Making Connections in This Belongs in a Museum

In This Belongs in a Museum your main objective is to create the largest network of connected dig sites by placing your color tiles strategically to maximize points. There are multiple ways to make those connections and we’re going to show you those today.

Multiple tiles of the same color laid next to each other with at least one quarter touching the same color are considered connected. You can create large or small sections of connected tiles by placing the tiles next to each other or using the action icons to rotate, swap, or replace tiles so that your colors are touching.

Some of the tiles have terrain segments representing rivers and mountains. Separate sections of the same color that can be traced back to each other through rivers and mountains are considered connected to each other and count as part of your network.

In the image below, the green sections are connected by a mountain and the blue sections are connected by a river. 

Placing tiles to create smaller sections that are connected via rivers and mountains (or using the action tiles to rotate, swap, or replace tiles to create those connections) helps protect you from the point-stealing mummies at the end of the game.

There are six airport tiles in the game that allow you to move your archeologist around the board more quickly by jumping from airport to airport as a single space movement. Airports connect to each other, so any tiles connected to an airport are considered connected to networks that have a connection to another airport in a different location in play.

Your base camp tile also acts as an airport, so any tiles connected to another airport are considered connected back to your base camp.

Lastly, if you have a section that is not connected back to your base camp by any rivers, mountains, or airports, it is still considered connected if your archeologist is in that section at the end of the game. This is a way to utilize your movements once you have collected all your artifacts to connect a stranded section back to your network.

Each archeologist has their color represented on two tiles featuring artifacts, if an artifact space with your color background is connected to your network, you receive three (3) points for that space instead of the one (1) point you receive for each of the temple spaces.

With the myriad of ways to make connections, this game truly never plays the same way twice and you have many strategies at your disposal to maximize your score.

See more about This Belongs in a Museum on the official game page, including a How to Play video and testimonials.