You’ve got the map, but the rest of the party is lost in a jungle full of dangerous traps, evil curses, and a ton of little sweet sparkling treasure. Landmarks In this game from Floodgate Games, you must lead your companions through the jungle, away from danger and towards the treasure, using only a one-word clue. Can you do it without putting your companions in danger?
Landmarks is a fun and easy to play (depending on you and your teammates) word association game that has a cute hook and is a surefire play when you want to yell out loud quickly.
What’s in the box?
Game Board Landmarks It comes with a double-sided cloth map of the island and 32 landmark tiles, although not all of the tiles are used in the game, a double-sided tracker board for keeping track of treasure, water, traps, curses, talismans, and exits in team or competitive games, a card stand, dry erase markers, and 150 map cards divided into green for beginner co-op mode, yellow for regular co-op mode, and red for competitive mode.
There isn’t much to say about the parts themselves as they are all in good condition and fit nicely in the box with all the tile inserts, however I would recommend replacing the dry erase marker as it broke after one use and I lost the eraser end once and have yet to find it.
How do I play?
In each game, one player will be the Pathfinder and all other players will be the party in the jungle. In a competitive game, players will split into two groups, with two Pathfinders each. Pathfinders will take a card, write three starting words on their map card, and place those tiles in the corresponding locations on their island mat. These will be the initial landmarks used to guide the party.
Each game begins with seven tracker tiles, but players can gain more tracker tiles if they are guided to a body of water on the map – so tiles = water.
Each round, the Pathfinder must come up with a one-word clue and pass a tile to another player. The party decides together which space the clue leads to, and then the Pathfinder tells the party what he or she found in the space they explored.
Every time a new word is placed on the map, and every time you hit a trap, you lose a tile/water, and they can also direct you to a treasure you need before you can get to the exit. If you get cursed you need a talisman, but there is only one talisman on the map, so if you get cursed twice you lose.
So how do clues work? Words can be compound, like daycare or playtime, but they can’t use dashes or be two separate words. The clues provided must relate to the word on the tile to which Pathfinder is trying to lead the party.
In the example image, Swamp, Fence and Bubble were starter cards. Bath is related to the word Bubble, so Pathfinder gives a hint and the team accurately places Bath next to Bubble to retrieve the treasure. Pathfinder then needs to guide the players to the exit, which is two hexagons below the Bath. In the example, clearly the team went the wrong way and placed the Nursery next to the Bubble and Fence, because there is a fence at the Nursery.
But that’s the fun of the game. The party and Pathfinder must decide what fits the spirit of the rules and work together to get out of the jungle. Have It’s likely to relate to tiles already in place, but that doesn’t necessarily mean two different groups of players will agree that the word fits.
The game continues until the team loses or finds the treasure and reaches the exit before the water runs out.
What’s the verdict?
Some of the hint rules also help to keep the game from becoming too easy: acronyms are fine if they’re pronounced like words, like NASA or SCUBA, but not initials like FBI or ATM. I can’t You use parts of words that are already written on the board, so if you had ice you can’t use rice as a hint, which makes it more difficult for Pathfinders.
Pathfinder can’t say Anything Check when the party is placing a tile, or if they’ve placed it correctly (though if they’re hit by a trap or curse that’s an obvious failure), and if you don’t have a poker face, it’s a good idea to hide behind something so as not to reveal anything.
Landmarks is a fun game to bring to a game or to host a party of any size. However, if you have too many people in your party, a competitive game can get loud and chaotic. The first two times I played, I only played with one other person, so we took turns being Pathfinder. I won when I led, and lost when my friend led. However, playing with more people is fun because there’s more interaction.
You can get your copy here Floodgate Games Or you can purchase a FLGS for just $24.95!
Images and review copy provided by Floodgate Games
Do you have any strong feelings about this piece that you’d like to share, or maybe discuss with other Fandomental members? Come join our community Please visit our server to join the conversation.
Source: The Fandomentals – www.thefandomentals.com
