Lord of the Rings (board game)
Encyclopedia
Lord of the Rings is a board game
designed by Reiner Knizia
based on The Lord of the Rings
by J. R. R. Tolkien
. The game was published in 2000 by Kosmos
and Fantasy Flight Games
, and won a Spiel des Jahres
special award for best use of literature in a game. It features artwork by illustrator John Howe. In 2004 it won the Games Magazine Games 100 Honor in the Family Strategy category.
The board game was highly unusual when it was published, because it is a cooperative board game
— each player plays a hobbit
in the party, and the party will succeed or fail as a group to destroy the One Ring
, thus winning or losing the game.
. In dire situations, tokens may be spent to call for the assistance of Gandalf
, or the One Ring may be used to speed advancement at the cost of moving closer toward Sauron. On the master board there are three locations Bag End, Rivendell
, and Lothlórien. The game starts at Bag End and each player becomes a Hobbit
to begin the game; which is done by drawing cards. Each Hobbit has a special ability. Each player is dealt cards that allow them to complete 4 different activities: traveling, hiding, friendship or fighting. One hobbit is initially assigned to be the "ring bearer," but a new hobbit may become the ring bearer after each scenario is completed. The journey through the game calls for jumping back and forth between the main board and the four other boards. You will go through stages such as Rivendell, Lothlórien, Moria
, Helm's Deep
, Shelob
’s Lair, and Mordor
; all while trying to stay away from the dark lord Sauron. You will get eliminated if you are on the same space as Sauron, or are behind him. The other ways the game can conclude are if the fellowship reaches Mount Doom
and destroy the Ring, the ring bearer is eliminated, or if the Fellowship reaches Mount Doom yet are eliminated before the ring is destroyed. Players need to cooperate and work together in order to beat this game. You also have to have strategy and a little luck. Knowledge of The Lord of the Rings plot isn’t needed to play the game, yet might help in some situations.
and plays against all others, and Battlefields.
gold
One Ring. List price for this version was approximately $300 US.
German-style board game
German-style board games, frequently referred to in gaming circles as Euro Games or Euro-style, are a broad class of tabletop games that generally have simple rules, short to medium playing times, indirect player interaction and abstract physical components...
designed by Reiner Knizia
Reiner Knizia
Reiner Knizia is a prolific German-style board game designer. Born in Germany, he developed his first game at the age of eight. He has a PhD in mathematics, and has been a full-time game designer since 1997, when he quit his job from the board of a large international bank...
based on The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
by J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
. The game was published in 2000 by Kosmos
Kosmos (game publisher)
Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co. is a media publishing house based in Stuttgart, Germany, founded in 1822 by Johann Friedrich Franckh. In the nineteenth century the company published the fairy tales of Wilhelm Hauff as well as works by Wilhelm Waiblinger and Eduard Mörike.The "Friends of Nature...
and Fantasy Flight Games
Fantasy Flight Games
Fantasy Flight Games is a Roseville, Minnesota-based game company that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games. Fantasy Flight Publishing was founded in 1995 by its CEO, Christian T. Petersen. Since the release of its first game product in 1997, the company has been doing...
, and won a Spiel des Jahres
Spiel des Jahres
The Spiel des Jahres is an award for board and card games, created in 1978 with the stated purpose of rewarding excellence in game design, and promoting top-quality games in the German market. It is thought that the existence and popularity of the award is one of the major drivers of the quality...
special award for best use of literature in a game. It features artwork by illustrator John Howe. In 2004 it won the Games Magazine Games 100 Honor in the Family Strategy category.
The board game was highly unusual when it was published, because it is a cooperative board game
Cooperative board game
In a cooperative board game, players work together in order to achieve a goal, either winning or losing as a group. As the name suggests, cooperative games stress cooperation over competition. Participants typically play against the game, and sometimes against one or two other players as well, who...
— each player plays a hobbit
Hobbit
Hobbits are a fictional diminutive race who inhabit the lands of Middle-earth in J. R. R. Tolkien's fiction.Hobbits first appeared in the novel The Hobbit, in which the main protagonist, Bilbo Baggins, is the titular hobbit...
in the party, and the party will succeed or fail as a group to destroy the One Ring
One Ring
The One Ring is a fictional artifact that appears as the central plot element in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy novels. It is described in an earlier story, The Hobbit , as a magic ring of invisibility. The sequel The Lord of the Rings describes its powers as being more encompassing than...
, thus winning or losing the game.
Game Play
Game play is centered on advancement through series of scenarios corresponding to the adventures of the books. Players turn tiles and play cards in order to move forward, and collect and spend tokens to avoid advancement toward the Dark Lord SauronSauron
Sauron is the primary antagonist and titular character of the epic fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien.In the same work, he is revealed to be the same character as "the Necromancer" from Tolkien's earlier novel The Hobbit...
. In dire situations, tokens may be spent to call for the assistance of Gandalf
Gandalf
Gandalf is a character in J. R. R. Tolkien's novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. In these stories, Gandalf appears as a wizard, member and later the head of the order known as the Istari, as well as leader of the Fellowship of the Ring and the army of the West...
, or the One Ring may be used to speed advancement at the cost of moving closer toward Sauron. On the master board there are three locations Bag End, Rivendell
Rivendell
Rivendell is an Elven outpost in Middle-earth, a fictional realm created by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was established and ruled by Elrond in the Second Age of Middle-earth...
, and Lothlórien. The game starts at Bag End and each player becomes a Hobbit
Hobbit
Hobbits are a fictional diminutive race who inhabit the lands of Middle-earth in J. R. R. Tolkien's fiction.Hobbits first appeared in the novel The Hobbit, in which the main protagonist, Bilbo Baggins, is the titular hobbit...
to begin the game; which is done by drawing cards. Each Hobbit has a special ability. Each player is dealt cards that allow them to complete 4 different activities: traveling, hiding, friendship or fighting. One hobbit is initially assigned to be the "ring bearer," but a new hobbit may become the ring bearer after each scenario is completed. The journey through the game calls for jumping back and forth between the main board and the four other boards. You will go through stages such as Rivendell, Lothlórien, Moria
Moria (Middle-earth)
In the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, Moria was the name given by the Eldar to an enormous underground complex in north-western Middle-earth, comprising a vast network of tunnels, chambers, mines and huge halls or 'mansions', that ran under and ultimately through the Misty Mountains...
, Helm's Deep
Helm's Deep
In J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth writings, Helm's Deep was a large valley in the north-western Ered Nimrais .The valley was described as being blocked over its entire width by the natural series of hills called Helm's Dike and behind that lay the fortress of Aglarond or the Hornburg, at the...
, Shelob
Shelob
Shelob is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. She appears at the end of the fourth book, second volume , of The Lord of the Rings.-Literature:...
’s Lair, and Mordor
Mordor
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth, Mordor or Morhdorh was the dwelling place of Sauron, in the southeast of northwestern Middle-earth to the East of Anduin, the great river. Orodruin, a volcano in Mordor, was the destination of the Fellowship of the Ring in the quest to...
; all while trying to stay away from the dark lord Sauron. You will get eliminated if you are on the same space as Sauron, or are behind him. The other ways the game can conclude are if the fellowship reaches Mount Doom
Mount Doom
Mount Doom is a volcano in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. It is located in the heart of the black land of Mordor and close to Barad-dûr, it is approximately high. Alternative names, in Tolkien's invented language of Sindarin, include Orodruin and Amon Amarth...
and destroy the Ring, the ring bearer is eliminated, or if the Fellowship reaches Mount Doom yet are eliminated before the ring is destroyed. Players need to cooperate and work together in order to beat this game. You also have to have strategy and a little luck. Knowledge of The Lord of the Rings plot isn’t needed to play the game, yet might help in some situations.
Expansion Packs
Three expansions currently exist, the Friends & Foes Expansion, Sauron Expansion, in which one player takes the role of SauronSauron
Sauron is the primary antagonist and titular character of the epic fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien.In the same work, he is revealed to be the same character as "the Necromancer" from Tolkien's earlier novel The Hobbit...
and plays against all others, and Battlefields.
Limited Edition
The game was also released in a "Limited Edition" version, limited to 250 German and 500 English copies. The set features a box signed by game designer Knizia and illustrator Howe, as well as an art print limited to 750 copies, created and signed by Howe. The game board and pieces are identical to the standard version, with the exception of pewter hobbit character pieces and a 22-kt.Carat (purity)
The karat or carat is a unit of purity for gold alloys.- Measure :Karat purity is measured as 24 times the purity by mass:where...
gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
One Ring. List price for this version was approximately $300 US.
External links
- Lord of the Rings Board Game FAQ containing detailed, expanded rules approved by Reiner Knizia
- Main page on FantasyFlightGames.com
- http://boardgames.lovetoknow.com/Lord_of_the_Rings_Board_Game