(My first review!)
<PERSON>: You’re gonna get yourself killed, chasing after your damn fortune and glory!
<PERSON>: Maybe. But not today.
--Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
I was walking by the Flying Frog booth at Gen Con when I was pulled in by a demo in progress. My boyfriend and I decided to wait and try the game for ourselves - the guy (who turned out to be the designer) running the demo made it sound like a lot of fun. Once we sat down, I found out my first impression was right. I had a great time, bought the game, and took it out the lobby to play a full game with my boyfriend and two friends. Then we played it again last night.
The Components:
This is a Flying Frog game. That means the cards are good quality, but have the same issue as in their other games where they’re a little sticky until they’ve been shuffled a lot or put into sleeves. You need to be very careful to make sure they’re shuffled completely.
The board is huge and gorgeous, a map of the world with areas marked as ‘The Great White North’ or ‘The Heart of Africa,’ just as they might be in a pulp novel or movie. The figures are great quality, and there are a lot of them. There are the Hero figures, unique <PERSON> figures, Temples, and a pile of Nazis and mobsters to be placed on the board.
The Theme:
This game is full of pulpy, thematic goodness. Each player takes control of a Hero, such as Dr. <PERSON> (Master of Science), who travels the globe in search of ancient artifacts. Each artifact is randomly generated by drawing from the treasure deck and the adventure deck to get names like The Spear of the Damned, or The Mask of the Golden Mummy. Characters have to get past a certain number of Dangers to get to the treasure, determined by the adventure card drawn for the treasure. If they pass, they make progress toward their goal. Fail, and the Danger card flips over to become a Cliffhanger, which ends their turn.
The theme is very strong. 755
The characters and villains are pulp archetypes from the 1930’s. It’s set during the time that Nazis have already taken over Germany, and are spreading their influence across the globe. There’s a Nazi Zeppelin flying around the world, dropping off Nazis at each destination. They are hunting for the same treasures as the heroes, and become obstacles to dodge or fight off on the Heroes’ way to the treasure.
Game Play:
The game does use a lot of dice. Characters that aren’t that great at Agility, for example, might have trouble with a randomly drawn Danger that tests their agility. There are ways to mitigate characters’ weakness and bad luck, by drawing helpful Events or picking up the right Gear and Allies. Those things are also random, though, so there are no guarantees.
Initiative is rolled to see who goes first each round, and then again for Movement. One thing I like about the dice is that if a one is rolled for Initiative or Movement, that player gets to draw an Event card. That makes it more interesting to roll a one, where in other games a one might mean you didn’t get to do much at all.
Treasure hunting is all press your luck. Heroes have the choice to Press On! or to Camp Down and heal up after each Danger. A Hero can pass the test to climb a mountain, but if they choose to go on to the next challenge they risk all the Glory they’ve earned so far. But the goal is for the Heroes to accumulate fifteen Fortune and return to their home city first to win the game, so stopping after every Danger is a good way to play it safe... and also a good way to lose the game.
Conclusion:
This game is fun. I strongly recommend it to players who like a strong theme, who like pulp action movies like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and who don’t mind some elements of chance in game play. It’s a good game to play with the family, but my gamer boyfriend and I like it too. The game is a little expensive but with the components, theme, and extraordinary game play, it’s totally worth it in my book. 884