Review by Bjørn Tore Sund
From Athelas no. 14. Copyright Imladris - Danmarks Tolkienforening
The Hobbit Adventure Boardgame. Publisher: Iron Crown Enterprises (ICE ). Product: ICE #2222. For: 2-4 players, ages 10 and up.
It didn't look good. Sitting on the shelf in one of the gaming stores, I have a tendency to haunt. The Hobbit Adventure Boardgame, "a family boardgame set in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth" was printed all over the nice, colourful box, with a picture of two hobbits, one dwarf, and one human being amidst what looked liked the ruins of a fortress, and with a flying dragon in the background. A very typical ICE picture, and very typical ICE marketing. I didn't like the looks of this box at all. So I bought it. 350 Norwegian kroner straight out of my wallet, and home I went, with this nice, colourful box under my arm.
Not feeling quite up to it myself, I asked a remote aquaintance of mine, who also happens to be an authority on the subject, to open the box and check the contents for authenticity. Here's what he had to say:
Ah, a game with hobbitses! Has it got hobbitses in it? Yes! Four nice, crunchy plastic hobbitses! And dices! Five dices, one with picture of birdie on it. Nice birdie! Very tasty, it is! Has it got us in it? We will look, my precious. Many cardses, with nasty pictures of orcses and men and dwarves. Gollum. And there is elves. Nasty elves! Oh, and there is Baggins! Bilbo Baggins, the thief! We hates it for ever! We will eat that card, won't we, my precious? Even if it isn't crunchy, it isn't. But has the game got us in it? No, no picture of us! No picture of poor Smeagol, and no precious. We hates it, we hates it for ever! Gollum!
That was Smeagol's version. But the game really isn't that bad. Those expecting to somehow be able to replay the events from The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings will be disappointed. This is merely a game set in the world of Middle-earth, using the map of the north-western part of Middle-earth, and introducing encounters with characters known from the books, like Gandalf, Bilbo, and Glorfindel. Those concerned with details, and expecting the game designers to stick closely to Tolkien's world, will find things to complain about. The map underlying the game board has been taken certain artistic liberties with, and one is left wondering both why the Sindarin elves would demand a hobbit-rope in exchange for healing all the hobbit's injuries, and why those three dwarves you're having a beer with one evening suddenly decides to give you a mithril coat. And what is that dragon doing in Carn Dûm?
However, we did play the game. The rules were (very) easy to understand and learn, the game was fast-moving with new things happening all the time, and you can play through it in an hour or two. Especially the younger players enjoyed it, recognizing favourite characters and places from the books, and finding the game quite challenging. It's a good game, altogether, if you're not expecting too much.
First published in Angerthas no 40, 1995.