I have been waiting for this game since 2020, and it was absolutely worth it

Out of all the games from PAX Aus 2026, Mythic Baths was top of my list to bring home. All of the EG Family gave me explicit instructions to bring it home. See, I have been raving about this game since the first time I played it on Tabletop Simulator during the infamous PAX Aus 2020 Online. We played the prototype as a family in 2022, the first (and only) time I have taken the family to PAX Aus. We have been collectively waiting for this game to be released every year since then. And to be fair, I was worried that my memory may have inflated its awesomeness. But when I saw Mythic Baths at PAX Aus 2026, laid out across the Good Games play table, with its gorgeous artwork for all to see, surrounded by players laughing and cheering each other on… *sigh* I knew the wait was worth it.

Naturally, I made sure Karl Lange signed it.

Absolutely worth it.

What is Mythic Baths?

Mythic Baths is a blend of resource matching and hand management, with a dose of contracts to keep things interesting. The rules are simple, with more strategy and a touch of luck to explore your options within each turn. Designed for 2-5 players, the sweet spot is usually four (4) players, depending on the level of strategy. On average, it will take 30-60mins to play with a little setup and pack-down time. The age suggestion is 10+, but EG Zaltu was playing the prototype easily at 7-years-old. I think it’s even possible for 5-6 years old to play, keeping the focus on ingredients for the baths.

The game was inspired by the bathhouses of Japan, with players taking the positions of employees attending to a variety of guests. Each guest is inspired by mythical creatures across a variety of cultures; a detail I especially love. During your turn, you attend the creatures through one of the following: gathering ingredients to match their bath request, completing treatments, giving nourishment (and locking in the benefits), and inevitably cleaning the baths afterwards. Each turn allows only one action, giving a fast turn-around for gameplay.

Some additional features: Manager cards modify the rules with either benefits or detriments, rotating with the introduction of ‘troublesome guests’. Speaking of which, these *ahem* special guests have extra needs, subsequently affecting the other guests. The troublesome guests need a more collective response from players; an additional feature I truly appreciate for how it changes up the strategy of players.

The game ends when a player has collected the threshold of guests (depending on the number of players). However, the Winner is determined by the number of amber crystals and points they have collected along the way. These points are allocated from your happy guests as well as bonus tasks completed.

Mythic Baths is designed by Karl Lange, with art by Emily Hancock and published by Good Games Publishing. Karl has been creating tabletop games for a few years now, incorporating cultural whimsy with great game mechanics. He was part of the team behind Floating Floors (I previously reviewed that game here), and also created the very popular PAX Aus party game Octocube.

Particular mention needs to be made for the artwork, created by Emily Hancock. I loved her artwork for Gift of Tulips, and she has continued her mystical quality with Mythic Baths. As mentioned earlier, each of the species is inspired from various cultures. There are five (5) in total: Jackalope from North America, Cerberus from Greek, Tatzelwurm from Alpine Europe, Sea-Lion in Pacific waters, and my favourite: the Owlbear, most famous from D&D and originally inspired from a set of Kaiju toys found in Hong Kong. Special note for the individual features on each guest, such as a scarf or flowers or jewellery.

What’s in the Box?

There are a lot of components included with the box, and I am very grateful for the number of small plastic zip-lock bags included. I would almost prefer there to be a little more division or set-up inside the box to make it easier with the cards. However, what is provided is good and I know that anything more would have added to the cost of packaging. Just keep an eye on your small parts.

• 35x Regular Guest cards (with green banner at top)
• 10x Troublesome Guest cards (with pink banner at top)
• 5x Reference Cards (1 per player colour)
• 5x Nourish tokens (1 per player colour)
• 10x Manager cards
• 7x Bath tiles (double sided)
• 50x Ingredient cards (a little more than half-size of guest cards)
• 25x guest favour tokens (double-sided)
• 20x large amber gems (5p each)
• 30x small amber gems (1p each)
• 1x instruction manual

All of the tokens are solid thick cardboard with clear printing on both sides. Small enough to withstand most use, and unlikely to fold and be damaged. The cards themselves are durable cardboard, with a matte finish. Mythic Baths is published under the Good Games brand, and I am often impressed with their game quality, in both design and final product.

How to Play Mythic Baths

Set-Up

1. Bath tiles line-up in the middle, one (1) for each player plus two (2).
2. Shuffle the guest cards, then draw and place one (1) on each bath tile – dirty side up, with the ingredients showing. The remaining guest cards are then placed as a deck, dirty side up, to the left of the baths.
3. Shuffle the manager cards and place face-down below the baths. Reveal the top card when play starts.
4. Place the amber gems in the middle, somewhere in reach of all players.
5. Shuffle the ingredient cards and place face-down to the right of the manager cards. Deal out a row of five (5) ingredient cards to the right of the deck, below the baths. This is the supply.
6. Place the guest favour tokens in stacks with the creature side face-up next to the gems.
7. Each player draws three (3) cards from the top of the supply deck, along with one (1) reference card and the matching nourish token

Little side-note: we, as a family, have now chosen to place the deck of guest cards clean side-up. That way it hides the ingredients they require and doesn’t distract from the guests in the baths. Small little thing, but it has helped us.

Gameplay:

• The player who most recently had a bath is the first player, and then it continues clockwise around the group.
• The goal is to collect the most amber tokens and points by treating the mythic guests.
• Each guest arrives with a set of ingredient requests that must be met to complete the treatment.
• During your turn, you must choose one (1) action from the four (4) available options:
  1. Gather one (1) ingredient card
  2. Nourish a regular guest
  3. Treat a guest
  4. Clean dirty baths
• If you have any active favour tokens, you may use one of them as a bonus action, before or after your main action.
• Gather an ingredient card:
  1. You may take one (1) ingredient card from the supply and instantly refill the space from the top of the deck. It doesn’t matter whether you pick up a single or double ingredient card. That’s your choice.
  2. OR you may draw one (1) ingredient card from the top of the deck. However, this will wipe the remaining supply cards into the discard pile, and deal a fresh set of five (5) ingredient cards to the supply. A handy strategy to keep in mind.
  3. If you have more than six (6) ingredient cards in your hand, you must discard down to six (6) cards.
• Nourish a regular guest:
  1. You have one (1) token per player, and can nourish one (1) regular guest at a time.
  2. You can place or move your nourish token on to a regular guest to lock them in as yours. No other player can complete that guest’s treatment while your nourish token is on them.
  3. You cannot nourish a guest that is already being nourished by another player, and you cannot nourish troublesome guests.
  4. Once you have completed the guest’s treatment, the nourish token returns to you and you receive its matching guest favour token (only one favour token for each creature type).
  5. Creature side-up favour token is active. Once the bonus action is used, flip the favour token. The next time anyone completes a treatment on a matching creature, you can flip your favour token back to active and use again.

• Treat a guest:
  1. Match ingredients to those shown on guests to complete treatment.
  2. Regular guests must be treated in full (or over) by one (1) player in one (1) action
  3. Troublesome guests may be completed in the same way or over multiple turns by one (1) or more players. You receive one (1) amber gem for each ingredient you place on a troublesome guest during your turn.
  4. You may provide more ingredients than a guest requires, such as using a double ingredient card instead of a single.
  5. If you do provide the exact amount, you will receive a bonus two (2) amber gems as a tip.
  6. Once treatment is completed, discard the ingredient cards, flip the bath tile to its dirty side, and place the guest card clean side-up in front of you for scoring.
• Clean the baths and welcome new guests:
  1. Flip all dirty baths to their clean side and take one (1) amber gem for each bath you cleaned
  2. Refresh the guests on the bath tiles from left to right
  3. If one or more troublesome guests are placed on a bath tile, reveal a new manager card to replace the previous manager.
• Troublesome Guests (a couple of notes):
  1. Troublesome guests can be treated through multiple turns by multiplayers.
  2. On the rare occasion they are treated in one turn by one player with all six (6) ingredients, the player can still receive the ‘Exact Match Bonus’.
  3. You can still provide more ingredients than required, due to double cards.
  4. Note Cerberus and the limited list of ingredients. You may still overpay with ingredients but only from this list.
  5. Note Tatzelwurm: Adjacent guests now require one (1) additional ingredient. It can be any ingredient, no specific list.
• There are 10 Managers, each with unique moderators to the rules, and only during the time they are active. Note some of the rules:
  1. The Amber Appraiser allows you to substitute one (1) amber gem for an ingredient, but this will cancel your exact treatment bonus.
  2. The Fire Mage allows you to ignore one (1) ingredient, but this will also cancel your exact treatment bonus.
  3. The Head Chef allows you to substitute two (2) matching ingredients for a different single ingredient (eg. 2x lavender for 1x tea), but this will also cancel your exact treatment bonus.
• The last round is triggered when a player reaches the threshold for treated guests
  1. 2-3 players = 8 guests
  2. 4 players = 7 guests
  3. 5 players = 6 guests
• Each player is allowed one final turn and then the game ends.
• Players total their scores counting the points on the clean side of your guest cards plus bonus points from the amber gems you have collected during the game.
• In the case of a tie, the player who treated the most guests wins.

Does Mythic Baths Clean Up Nicely?

Why yes, yes it does!

Yeah, I know. I was already raving about this one so no surprise about my enjoyment for this game. There are a couple of factors that work really well for me. For one, I love a good resource/card matching game – as seen in other reviews, like Burger Up. The sense of completion and satisfaction from matching the ingredients to the guest is a little dopamine kick for me. Splitting the main actions across four (4) possibilities also prevents players from focusing on one element, like the ingredient matching. It keeps your brain thinking about what other actions could boost your turn, encouraging you to think a few more steps ahead. It also gives the game a little more strategy weight, rather than relying too heavily on luck of the draw.

I also love the inclusion of troublesome guests and the manager cards. It adds variety through rule modification, so you can’t use the same strategy in every game. This can be an issue with our older spawnlings (young adults now, would you believe?). We have some games in our collection that have been played so often over the years, the older spawnlings have ‘tried-and-true’ strategies that either steal a bit of novel joy from the game or irritate the youngest who is still learning their own gameplay. Mythic Baths has removed a lot of that frustration, adding its own refresh element. And it works very nicely.

Gameschooling: Customer Service Management

While there is no direct gameschooling link to school curriculum, I have already started looking at ways Mythic Baths can help younger kids learn some important skills. The most obvious one is Customer Service Management. Having served my time in Retail Penitentiary, there are definitely some memories that deserve to stay repressed. However, Mythic Baths creates a safe environment for kids and young adults to learn about customer service. Skills like ‘listening to customer needs’ is the same as genuinely noting the ingredient requirements on the guest card. Another is whether you prioritise guests’ needs with cleaning baths. Or my favourite: Can you rely on your manager to stick around and help you out when a troublesome guest turns up? Probably not stick around, but sometimes the manager card is helpful.

Each of these elements may feel like ‘soft skills’, but when it comes to good customer service, soft skills are top of the list. These are also skills we all need to learn, no matter what job we end up in. Tabletop games are an excellent way to learn these skills and think about how to apply them in real-life situations. To be completely honest, I often feel a little nervous about the spawnlings in customer/client facing jobs, seeing the apathy and even rage building in both customers and service providers. So many times, I know these situations could have been avoided with a bit more consideration and communication. Games like Mythic Baths are a subtle way to encourage that learning.

Where to Find Your Mythic Baths

Mythic Baths is now under the Good Games Publishing name, so you will easily find it at any Good Games store. I found it on sale for AUD$40.00, which is a great price for some end-of-year presents (sorry, it is November). BTW: Not an affiliated link. I think the RRP is AUD$45.

Score: 4.5 Owlbear feathers left in the bath. Argh, it’s so close to 5 out of 5!! Is it the perfect game? I personally think so, with all the elements that bring me joy. However, would I have been willing to pay an extra AUD$10 for a little box organisation? Yeah, probably. Let’s be honest: I think it is 5/5 but for the sake of maintaining some professional objectivity, I recognise it is probably 4.5. Either way, I’m still cleaning up a lot of Owlbear feathers.

All views are my own, with input from the EG Family during play. No payments or incentives were received for this review. And the signed copy is mine, all mine, mine mine mine.

Categories: Gameschooling Play Tabletop

Tagged as: Australia games Gameschooling Good Games kids review spawnlings Tabletop

Evil Genius Mum

Evil Genius Mum
- Taking over the world, one blog post at a time