Review

Descend into a dormant volcano, cross a turbulent sea and escape a volcanic eruption with Mayfair Games' Journey to the Center of the Earth. In this tactical game, players assume the roles of the three explorers from Jules Verne's classic novel and explore the inside of the earth, discovering fossils and other treasures in order to claim the best artifact collection and earn fame points.

The game is for two to four players, ages 10 and up. Playing time is approximately 60 to 75 minutes. Journey to the Center of the Earth comes with a sturdy game board, three detailed explorer figures, one raft, 20 water-stones, 10 sea adventure cards, two bonus cards, 64 fossil cards, 16 event cards, 45 equipment cards, 63 explorer cards and a four-page rulebook.

The game is played in three stages: descending a volcano, crossing an underground sea and escaping through an erupting volcano. The rulebook shows where to place card decks and game pieces on the board, so setup is fairly simple. Learning the rules and uses of the cards takes the most time, and the rulebook is a great resource with examples and illustrations.

Each player starts with six explorer cards, three equipment cards and a water-stone. During his turn, a player can move any one of the three explorers or draw three cards (explorer cards and/or equipment cards). When moving an explorer figure, the player must play explorer cards of the same color as the figure moved. Each space costs the player one explorer card, and no more than five cards can be played on a turn. Some spaces contain obstacles such as ravines, granite and rocks. There are five equipment cards (rope, compass, hardtack, pickaxe and electric lamp) that players can use to overcome these obstacles. For example, a rope equipment card allows a player to cross a ravine. Spaces containing granite cannot be entered. If a player ends his movement on a discovery space, he can collect fossils by paying the equipment cards shown on the space. Should a player land on or move through a space with a question mark, he can draw an event card. These cards are always helpful to the player.

Stage 1 ends as soon as a player moves an explorer figure onto the last space and receives the bonus "mushroom forest" card. Each player must pay one water-stone for every three fossil cards in his possession.

In stage 2, the three explorers move together on the raft, and the rules change slightly. If a player stops on a discovery space, each player can pay the equipment cards to collect the fossils. At the end of each turn, the active player must draw a sea adventure card. The stage ends when a player moves the raft onto the last space and takes the "city ruins" bonus card.

Stage 3 takes the least time to play as the explorers escape through a volcanic eruption. Any explorer cards in players' possession can be discarded. On his turn, a player flips the top card of the explorer deck and moves the raft up to the next space with a raft of the same color as on the card. If the raft lands on a space that has crossed-out fossil cards, each player will lose fossil cards unless he discards specific equipment cards. The game ends when a player draws an explorer card with no matching color above it on the track and must move the raft out of the volcano.

Players then add up the fame points for their fossil cards, bonus cards and sea adventure cards. Remaining water-stones from stage one are worth one fame point each. The player with the most fame points wins.

The difficulty of the game depends on players' tactics. The game can be very competitive when players move the explorers strategically to prevent other players from collecting fossils and points.

With all the different types of cards, game pieces and rules, Journey to the Center of the Earth might intimidate those who aren't regular board-game players. Learning the game is the most difficult part, since there are a number of rules to synthesize. However, once a player has a feel for the game, play speeds up tremendously.