One of the many things I love about Marathon Girl is that she’s an excellent gift giver. She has this second sense about what people need or want so when it comes to your birthday, Christmas, or any other reason to give a present, you can be 99 percent sure that you will be pleased with what Marathon Girl gives you. So this Christmas after opening all my presents, I happy with everything she gave me except one: a game based on the LOST television show. I usually go out of my way to avoid games that are based on TV shows. Not much thought is usually put into them and they’re simply an excuse to make a couple of extra dollars off those who like the show. I was a little perplexed as to why Marathon Girl bought this game for me. She knows I love LOST but also know that I despise games based on pop culture sensations. However, later in the day I opened the game and read how to play, I realized that LOST: The Game isn’t your typical, run of the mill TV show game. Some actual thought went into making an entertaining and very addictive game.
The best way I can describe the game is that it’s a mix between The Settlers of Catan and Risk. The game comes with Location Tiles that you use to build the island. (The size of the island varies depending on the number of players and how long you want to play.) It’s nearly impossible to draw the same island tiles over and over again so each game you’re playing on a new island. You then have a main character that you move around the island exploring, trying to survive, trap other players, or picking up other characters to become part of your time. The object of the game is to become the leader of all the other characters on the island. It’s not as easy as you think. To do this requires a lot of strategy, planning, and a lot of luck. There are also things like The Monster and The Others to contend with and if you’re not careful your character or those that are following you could end up dead. (During one of the first test games I played, my main character died off after two moves. Talk about bad luck.)
The best thing about the game is that you don’t have to be a fan of the show to enjoy the game. I played it with two of my brother-in-laws last week who have never seen an episode of LOST and they both really enjoyed playing the game. If you’re a fan of the show, you’ll understand the why some characters have certain special abilities and why The Monster is so powerful and unpredictable so it simply adds to your enjoyment of the game.
My only complaint about the game is that the instructions that initially came with it sucked. Not only did they do a poor job explaining how the game was played, they were poorly written and could have used some diagrams. (I can say this since I’m a recovering technical writer.) Fortunately the people that put the game together realized this and released some updated instructions (links to PDF) on the LOST game website. (Thank goodness for the Internet.) These instructions to a much better job of explaining how the game is played and erase a lot of the confusion I had when first learning the game.
The came has quite a bit of a learning curve and takes a few times before you get the hang of it and understand some of the strategy needed to win. Anyone who wonders if this game is something they’d be interested in playing should check out the website and instructions on how to play. For those who are willing to invest a little time into learning the game, it will give you hours of fun.
(Jon you need to come over and play this game. I think you would love it. Bring your friends.)
Speaking of Jon and good Christmas gifts, he gave me Prince’s Purple Rain CD for Christmas. This is significant for several reasons: 1) I can actually say that I now own a CD. 2) If I ever thought of owning a CD, never in my wildest dreams would I have thought it would be one by Prince 3) I’ve been listening to it quite a bit. In fact, I had it turned up rather loud at work in the mornings before anyone else comes into the office. From six to eight a.m. I’m partying like it’s 1999. 4) I’m starting to look forward to the Super Bowl halftime show.
Can Marathon Girl and I accompany you and Maria to Vegas to see him perform?
