Game Review

Concept:

Play the game that the movie brought to life... avoid rhinos, monkey attacks and the perils of the jungle!

Gameplay:

To set up, each player chooses a colored pawn and is given one "rescue" die (a 10 sided die with pictures).  Players place their pawn at the starting corner of the board that matches the pawn's color.

On a players turn, the following occurs:

• Roll the 10-sided movement die (normal 10-sided die)
  

• Move your pawn along your colored path the number of spaces that the die indicates.

• Follow the directions for the space (blank, rhino, wait for 5 or 8, and jungle spaces)
  

Be careful, the last step is a doozy!  The space instructions are a bit complex.  When a pawn lands on a blank space, the player draws an adventure card.  The adventure card is placed in the decoder and read aloud. It reveals  two things:  an item to rescue you, and a number. Once the item is known, all of the other players must roll their rescue die until they roll the item that matches the card, or an hourglass picture -- of course, as the trapped player, you must use the timer to limit the rolling frenzy: and the timer only gives them 8 seconds!   If ALL of the players succeed in rolling the image or hourglass in time, then all other players move their pawns ahead the number of spaces that match the number in the decoder. If ALL of the players cannot roll the image, then YOU move back the number of  spaces that match the number in the decoder -- AND the card is placed on the doomsday grid.

If the space landed upon had the picture of the Rhino, you may move the Rhino in front of any pawn to block that player. If that pawn moves backwards, the Rhino follows them. If you are blocked by the Rhino on your turn, you may roll the movement die -- if the number is even, the Rhino goes away & you get to move as normal; If the number is odd, you are stuck and must obey the rules of the space you are resting on.

If the space is labeled "wait for 5 or 8", you must hand the movement die to the player on your left. They roll it once. If it was a 5 or 8, your turn ends. Otherwise, you move back a space -- then the next player tries to roll a 5 or 8, again if they succeed you are done, if not, you move back a space. This repeats until one of your opponents can roll a 5 or 8. You don't get to roll.

Lastly, if you land in a special section of the board marked by a circle --- this is a jungle space. When you land in a jungle space you treat it like a blank space except that ALL players (including you) get to roll the rescue dice. Like the blank spaces, if ALL of you match the image or hourglass then you ALL move forward the number of spaces. If any of you fail, then the card goes onto the doomsday grid and you draw another card! This repeats until the group succeeds.

The doomsday grid is on the left panel of the board (see picture).  It can contain 10 adventure cards.  Failed rescue attempts fill this grid with cards -- if it is filled, the game ends and the players must play again.

To win, a player's pawn must reach the center of the board by an exact count -- before the doomsday grid is filled.  If your movement would place your pawn beyond the center of the board, you do not get to move.

Winning Conditions:

• The player who reaches the center of the board first wins

or

• The game wins if the doomsday grid is filled -- and you must play a second time!
  

Our Opinion:

Modeled after the movie, the game relies upon the imaginary dangers that come to life. In the movie, the special effects drove the plot along -- this game makes a weak attempt at emulating those effects with a red-filter decoder gimmick.  However, the revealed poetic text is mostly ignored and the game breaks down into a simplified parcheesi.

This game has a lot of dice rolling. You roll to move, and then every player rolls the rescue dice as fast and as often as they can almost every turn. If you don't like games where you rely on die rolls, this game is not for you.  Admittedly, the challenge of rolling the correct picture within 8 seconds does inspire some fun during the game -- especially when two of the players are waiting for the third to succeed. It is the most enjoyable part of the game.  However, this action does get tedious toward the end of the game.

The zombies didn't think that this game lived up to the movie's vision -- but then again, most movie-based board games rarely do.  On the whole, it was an okay game for the 10-14 age group who are fans of the movie.  It's not particularly challenging, nor are the attempts to mimic the movie particularly well done. The toy rhino is the coolest toy of the game -- and we strain to think of where we can re-use the 8-second timer.

Thankfully, the Baroness had bought this game used from a garage sale, do we're only out about $2 for the game purchase.  If you find it cheap like that, it's an okay buy...IF you REALLY like the movie... otherwise spend your cash elsewhere.

Where to buy:

This game is out of print, you'll have to try looking for it on e-bay or garage sales.