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Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark hit theaters in 1981. The adventures quickly came to the game table with the Raiders of the Lost Ark board game by Kenner. The object of the game was stated right on the cover of the game:
‘Be the first player to obtain the Staff of Ra, seek out the Secret Map Room, and find the Sacred Ark.’
Sounds exciting!
While Raiders of the Lost Ark is considered one of the most popular and greatest films of the 80’s, the game itself, like many games quickly produced to capture a film’s audience, is not as widely known or remembered. Today, however, it is a great collector piece, and fun to take down from the game shelf. It can be a night of family fun imagining chasing after the Ark!
While the game box is bright, catchy, and colorful, the board inside is somewhat simple. Certain Countries are large circled spaces, with white spaced paths going to and from them. Any paths going off the board wrap around to the other side. That’s about it.
The game pieces consists of Cards, a die to move across the board, and player’s game pawns. Seems a bit plain, but yet the play of the game can get suspenseful!
At the start of the game, a Country is picked from the Game Cards. This is the Country for the location of the ARK. Cards are shuffled, and Players are each dealt six cards from the deck. In the deck are cards of the following amount:
- 1 ARK
- 2 STAFF of RA
- 3 Map Room
- 4 Hostage
- 4 Air Passage
- 8 Passport
- 16 Ambush
- 18 Country
In the game, players are in search of collecting 3 Cards: The Staff of Ra, The Map Room, and The Ark.
As soon as a player has collected all 3 of these cards in their hand, he must reach the Country where the Ark is located to win. ONLY if he arrives there, with STILL all 3 cards in his hand, will he win.
Players move around the board, collecting these cards. There are 4 ways to collect cards:
- Passing through or landing on an unoccupied Country, by ambushing another player, or by passing an opponent on a path.
The various cards and their functions make the game interesting.
Three types of cards help you move:
- Passport Cards allow you to pass through Countries and the Red Arrow spaces on the game board without losing a turn.
- Air Passage Cards double the number you roll.
- Country Cards allow you to move to those Unoccupied Countries.
Then there are two types of cards that help you slow down your opponents:
- Ambush Cards allow you to draw a card from their hand and Hostage Cards allow you to move any player to any unoccupied Country Space.
All cards must be played as a ‘turn’. When a card is played, you draw another from the deck.
So for a board game quickly produced to appeal to those who enjoyed the Movie, it actually has some fun concepts.
Players move around the board, drawing and playing cards which each have special qualities. The goal of collecting 3 specific cards, while slowing down opponents or keeping them from reaching the Ark’s location with the 3 cards, keeps players always on alert.
Yes, the question is, ‘Who will be the first player to obtain the Staff of Ra, seek out the Map Room, and find the Sacred Ark?’ AND reach the location with those 3 in hand?
Ambush cards can come at any time and are a surprise! Can you sneak to the Ark’s Location without being Ambushed or facing other obstacles?
Best of luck!
Play a game, any game today!
