In Adventure Land, King Agamis rules from his castle. Rich cities, vast forests and rugged mountain ranges dominate the country. The large river is known to be lined with gold and the forests filled with medicinal herbs, but dangers lurk beneath the fog! Only the bravest adventurers dare to face the challenges. When you move your adventurer tactically and bravely fight the fog creatures, you'll win the favor of the king. Illustrated by Franz Vohwinkel and designed by acclaimed duo Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling who between them have won the highly coveted Spiel des Jahres award 5 times.
—description from the publisher
There are three different adventure scenarios to choose from, depending on the age/skill of the players:
Adventure 1 (The Fellowship ) the simplest of the three adventures
Adventure 2 (The Magnificent) a little more challenging
Adventure 3 (Escape to the Cities) the most challenging because there are many things to pay attention to simultaneously
- recognizable older theme with approachable mechanics
- engaging for players who enjoy light adventure themes
- the exact mechanics aren’t extensively described in the clip, but inferred as classic movement-based play
- Adventure/quest-style objectives
- Classic adventure theme with exploration vibes
- nostalgic, light-hearted
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- route/movement based play — players navigate a map with movement options and mission-oriented goals
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Very simple tile laying, very straightforward, but it feels like you're doing all these mini races all at once.
- It's 30 minutes, 40 minutes tops.
- I really enjoy this one. I got to teach it to some people that have never played it before.
- Really nice art, a cool theme where you are kind of getting olives and you're converting them into olive oil and there's a big card market.
- It's a deck building game. Really satisfying, pretty easy to understand.
- This had a really interesting kind of multi-use cards going on in it that was really engaging and honestly I was just charmed by the artwork.
- You draft some dice. You're going to be drawing pathways and completing different little missions.
References (from this video)
- Accessible and family-friendly with straightforward rules
- Solid teaching tool for Euro-style mechanics and scoring
- Components are thick, visually clear, and well-suited for group play
- Compact playtime (~45 minutes) makes it a good filler or gateway title
- Some luck related to terrain card order and dice outcomes
- Limited replay value without more Adventures to explore
- Art diversity for fog monsters could be improved
- Team-based, family-friendly exploration and combat through modular terrain and card-driven progression
- Fantasy land with fog monsters, rivers, towns and cities where adventurers explore and compete for victory points
- Light, educational progression from easy to harder adventures; emphasizes learning and accessibility
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Combat with dice and tokens — Combat uses sword tokens to roll dice; strength totals compare to a fog monster’s health.
- Endgame scoring with bonuses and penalties — Scoring combines defeated monsters, gold, cities, and adventurers/companions with endgame modifiers.
- Resource collection and usage — Swords, herbs, gold, and other tokens power combat and endgame scoring.
- restricted movement — Movement can only go down or to the right; players must plan routes accordingly.
- Split or single-move options — A player can divide movement between multiple adventurers or concentrate on one adventurer.
- Terrain card drafting and placement — On a turn, players draw and place terrain cards to drive exploration and resource access.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Adventure Land is a good first step towards this line.
- It's a family game or entry-level players that isn't brainless.
- The game does have simple straightforward rules and mechanics and more tactics and strategy than it lets on.
- It looks like a full-fledged game but really can be played as a filler.
- The components are excellent.
References (from this video)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- El Grande is my favorite game of all time; it is the original area control game and the cream of the crop.
- Only your best round will count in Coliseum, which is a cool twist on scoring.
- El Grande and the King, with simultaneous selection and Castillo, harmonize to create a rich gameplay experience.
References (from this video)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- the first time where I thought of the whole idea of form over function where you could not figure out how to play because they just wanted to look so pretty that they didn't actually put on the board how to play.
- It's you move you you you turn over a piece, something shows up in the grid, you move over. There's multiple game plays. It's just such a satisfying, entertaining game.
References (from this video)
- Accessible family-weight with a unique one-way movement mechanic
- Three adventure variants increase replayability
- Strong thematic flavor that appeals to kids and families
- May feel shallow for experienced euros or heavy gamers
- Some players may want more interaction beyond movement and collection
- Adventure, exploration, light fantasy quest
- Fantasy grid-based exploration where adventurers collect swords, companions, herbs, and gold while fighting monsters.
- Whimsical, family-friendly
- Takido
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Grid-based progression — Movement and placement occur on a grid with various scoring spots and monster blocks.
- Movement constraint — On a turn, a player moves an adventurer forward any distance along a horizontal or vertical axis, but can never move back (no left or up).
- resource collection — Players place items on spaces as dictated by face-up cards, then collect resources along the way.
- Scenario-driven scoring — Three different scenarios shape objectives and scoring possibilities, providing replay variety.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I'm Adam in Wales on Board Game Geek I'm adam78
- this is my favorite bit of the year that Essen, four days, it is so busy
- blood bowl is due to be re-released by Games Workshop at some point over the next year or so