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Emerald by Rudiger Dorn

EMERALD by Rudiger Dorn art n/a publish Abacus/Rio Grande Players: 2-5 Duration: 30 mins Type: Board: racing, majority scoring Setting: Adventurers seek trasure in dragon's cave. PACE: Quick. COMPLEXITY: Light. But not fluffy. Tactical decisions every turn trying to maximize your move and limit your opponents' options. Quite easy to learn. LUCK: Low-Medium. With 4 or 5 players, so much happens between your turn that you may not get a shot at some of the best treasure cards, but with 3 players, this game becomes much more tactical. Luck in the dragon movement, but can be mitigated by clever movement. TENSION: Medium. A good game with interesting decisions, not ultra-tense, but the when the dragon moves.... VICIOUS: Medium. You can often move your knights to deny an important prize to an opponent, not to mention the clever ways one can get the dragon to eat other players' pawns! SOCIALIZING: Medium. The game is light enough to socialize, and the dragon movement ellicits pleas of mercy. VISUALS: Excellent. Gorgeous -- and I do mean gorgeous -- board art and card art. Nice big, red, wooden drahon piece. The knights could be a bit nicer, but sturdy wooden pieces work. THEME: Certainly a bit abstract, but the theme fits well, and makes for a wonderful, short board game. GAMER APPEAL: Yes. But only with 3 players. NON-GAMER APPEAL: Yes. Very appealing theme, art, and tactics. Borderline addictive. 2 PLAYERS: Low. Just seems unexciting with 2, though it does work. REPLAY: Very Good. I play this game all the time. The short duration, nice compnents, and interesting gameplay make this one a good game to pick up, especially for families. I've played 20+ times. Good with 3-5 players. Best with 3 players.

by Rudiger Dorn

Quick summary | Racing from the castle into the belly of the earth to steal gems and gold from the dragon while trying to avoid the dragon herself! Using a unique movement mechanism whereby players can influence the other players' movement options with their own decisions, Emerald succeeds in being a highly tactical game that plays in 30 minutes. player try and manipulate their movement in such a way as to get the more valuable gold pieces, and majorities in several of the colors of gems, and if they can make it thru the cave without being the devoured by the dragon, they score 5 bonus points. Should the adventurer come face to face with the dragon, he may save his life by tossing away a gold card, distracting the dragon so that the adventurer may live to fight another day. Movement is difficult to describe concisely, but suffice it to say that it is simple enough for a child to remember, and interesting enough to give the best gamer some interesting and clever plays to make. Add to all this the best artwork I have yet to see in a game, and you have an absolute winner in Emerald. Winner of the Best Family Board Game for the 2003 GAMES 100 awards.

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