Rio Grande Games Elfenroads - Strategic Board Game for Family & Friends | Fun Adventure for Game Nights & Gatherings

There are three "variants" in the box; Elfenland (the original game), Elfengold, and Elfensea. Elfenland is a lot of fun, and a great place to start if you've never played the game before. Elfengold adds a significant amount of complexity and time, so I wouldn't recommend playing it with people who get easily distracted, or who lose interest relatively quickly. Our first game if it took about twice as long as a typical Elfenland game. Elfensea is easily the best variant of the game. It has a new board, it slims down the methods of travel while adding one in, and introduces a new scoring mechanism that makes it impossible to know who won until after the final round is finished. Elfensea isn't very long, and the game plays fluidly in a great way. I loved Elfenland for years, and this new box set is fantastic.Elfenland was one of our all time favorites. It's been out of print for years, so we were thrilled to get this version. It includes three games: Elfenland and two expansions. Elfenland does have a downside, in that it has limited replayability. The expansions answer that concern nicely. I strongly recommend this game for family play, especially if you like games similar to the "Ticket to Ride" series.When first learning the game, you might consider removing the "broken path" tokens. In fact, we rarely use them (they are kind of mean spirited). Maybe add them back after you learn the game.The kids and I love this game! With the expansions you could play for hours. Saw this game on a anime episode (my kids watch it) and thought it would be fun.I used to own this game as a child and loved it back then and still do now. Only problem is the color of the board is very yellow so sometimes it's hard to tell what's the woods and what's a field. Someone needs to fix the printer! Very annoying.Trash from a previous era of games.In case you didn't get the joke, this game was designed by Alan R. Moon, and won the Game of the Year (Spiel des Jahres) award even before the now ubiquitous Ticket To Ride. And even though there are no trains or tunnels in this game, a few plays will make it evident that Mr. Moon is the king of travel-themed games, and that this award was well-deserved.Elfenroads is actually three games in one: Elfenland, Elfengold (an expansion), and Elfensea (a second standalone game). In each game, players take the role of young elves whose task it is to travel around the land and visit as many cities as possible before becoming adults. And to do so, they will need to ride on wild boars, magic clouds, dragons, unicorns, and more to reach their various exotic destinations.The theme is light and fun, and yet the games themselves require a good amount of strategic thought. Planning out your route isn't easy, especially when the other players also plan on using the same route but with different forms of transportation! Depending on which version you play your cards may be determined by blind luck, but whatever your game you're sure to be in for a treat.THE BREAKDOWNDecisions: 4/5. Depending on which game you're playing, your travel cards may be drafted randomly or chosen with care, and you may or may not get the travel tokens you thought you needed. But where there's a will there's a way, and if you look closely enough you can almost always come up with a change of plans (which is needed more often than not).Artwork: 5/5. The artwork is charming, and helps transform a game about card management into a memorable adventure. And the maps are superbly hand-illustrated as well. What more can I say?Replayability: 5/5. If this game just came with Elfenland and Elfensea, I would give this a 4 out of 5. But the addition of Elfengold adds a crazy amount of new dynamic possibilities. I'm confident that this game will keep hitting the table time and again for years to come.Awesomeness: 5/5. I actually like this better than Ticket To Ride. Unlike the latter game, you are never permanently blocked anywhere; you can always find a way, even if it costs you more than you want to pay. And why would I take a train when I can ride an Elfcycle or a dragon?Bottom line: This is a box full of possibilities. There are enough Elfen-variants and Elfen-expansion elements to keep players happily adventuring for years. Highly recommended!Good game for replay potential. The expansions and variations give the possibility of playing with many combinations of rules so everything stays fresh. Also, you can sort of decide how long you want things to take without feeling like you are playing the "short" version--there are just several equally intriguing versions.El juego es excelente, sólo que tuve problemas para guardarlo ya que la caja está muy grande :')