Pyramid Review
Lord of the Rings: The Search Boardgame
Published by Rio Grande Games
Written by Peter Neugebauer
Illustrated by John Howe
$19.95
Over the years Tolkien's Middle Earth has been the inspiration for numerous boardgames, two RPGs (with a third on the way) and a CCG (with a second also on the way). The latest boardgame to join this list is Lord of the Rings: The Search, a semi-sequel to The Hobbit, also from Rio Grande games.
The Search is a two-player game designed for players aged ten and over. It is described as an "exciting tile-laying and exploring game," but really it is a tile-laying exploring game that ends in a race! Each player controls a Hobbit, either Frodo or Sam (appropriately enough as they are the last two Ring Bearers), as they lay down tiles to create a map of Middle Earth and then search it for both the Ring and the location of Mount Doom. Once both are found, they race to be the first to the mountain where they can dispose of the Ring.
The game comes in an eight-inch square box, an inch deep. Inside are forty-eight land tiles; eight encounter tokens each for water (colored blue), fields (colored yellow) and forests (colored brown); twenty brown encounter tokens for mountain regions; two boat tokens; one Mount Doom standee; and two plastic hobbit figures -- one yellow for Frodo and one blue-green for Sam. The quality of the components is good; both tokens and tiles are painted on 1/16th inch thick card and given a matt finish. Only the Hobbit figures disappoint. . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: October 19, 2001
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