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Reise zum Mittelpunkt der Erde
Author: Rüdiger Dorn
Publisher: Kosmos
Year: 2008


review by

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Jules Verne has written several fantastic books. Literally ‘fantastic’: he described places where in those days, no one had ever been, such as the moon, the deep sea or the centre of the earth, so he had to use his imagination. But on a scientific level, his books were more than just fiction; although maybe not everything he described has proven to be exactly correct, he clearly had a lot of scientific knowledge, which makes his books still fascinating to read today.
...not only did he have a well educated fantasy, he clearly read the current newspapers: the invention of the Ruhmkorfflamp from 1862 (source: German Jules Verne site) was made two years before he wrote his book.




the Ruhmkorfflamp
collection Teylers Museum Haarlem
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still from the film 'Journey to the
center of the earth' from1959
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For those who are unaware of the contents of his book ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth’: three men, also accompanied by a goose in the 1959 film of the book, descend to the centre of the earth through a crater in Iceland, they cross a subterranean lake, and they emerge again on the island Stromboli on a stream of lava. As you can imagine, in this unfamiliar world we can expect lots of adventures and valuable treasures: the ideal setting for a board game!

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The game is divided into three phases: the descent, the crossing of the lake, and the bumpy ride on the lava stream. In the first phase, we see a cross section of a mountain; the three researchers red, yellow and blue are placed at the top, and they will go all the way to the bottom of the mountain via a grid. Naturally, they will run into obstacles as well as opportunities on their journey down! The players take turns in moving any of the researchers; there are no player colours.
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The researchers are moved using cards of their colour. In principal, movement costs one card per space, but spaces with rocks cost one or two additional cards. Obstacles can be tackled using equipment cards: playing a compass card allows a player to move a researcher diagonally, and a pickaxe reduces the cost of the spaces with rocks to one card. A food card allows movement of two additional spaces, and a rope can be used to cross a pit. Instead of playing cards to move a researcher, a player may draw three new cards. The card limit of 10 researcher cards and 5 equipment cards may not be exceeded!
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Luckily, it’s not only drawbacks and obstacles we find on our way down; there’s also some good stuff! When a researcher ends his movement on a space depicting one or more equipment-symbols, the player may play the depicted cards, and draw fossil cards in exchange. The fossil cards score points at the end of the game; some of them are ‘just’ 2 points, while others become more valuable when you collect more of them, and some cards only score points when you have a complete set.





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Additionally, question marks and water drops are depicted in some spaces. When a researcher passes a space with one of these symbols, he may draw an event card (always positive!) or a waterstone, respectively. As soon as one of the three researchers has reached the bottom, the phase ends. The active player gets four bonus points for ending the phase. Before continuing with phase 2, the players first have to hand in one waterstone for every three fossil cards they have collected. If you don’t have enough waterstones, you have to discard the fossil cards you can’t ‘keep wet’.
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xx The three researchers are placed on the raft, and pushed onto the lake for phase number 2. This phase is similar to the first phase, with some alterations: because the playing figures are now stuck to one raft, they can’t be moved separately anymore. To move the raft, players play cards of one colour, but which colour this is, is irrelevant. If the active player ends the movement of the raft on a space where fossils can be found, he may discard the demanded equipment cards in exchange for fossils as usual, but after him, the other players are also allowed to have a go. We’re all together on the same raft now, aren’t we!
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After every raft movement, the active player draws an adventure card; on this card, we can see what disaster is coming for us this time, how we can counter it, and what the penalty is if we don’t. Here, too, the active player gets the first chance, and then all the other players.

When we’ve crossed the lake, we immediately push the raft onto the lava stream. Please hold on tight, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride, seatbelts are not available on this raft, and the organisation does not accept liability for the loss of any fossils! This phase is really short: one player draws a researcher card, and moves the raft to the first space on the track of that colour. If this space depicts a fossil card, we have a problem: all players must discard one of their fossil cards. There is one last option: one equipment card is drawn from the deck, and every player that can play the same equipment card from his hand may keep his fossils. Then, the next card is drawn, and the raft moves further up the stream, until we emerge at the top of the volcano. All players add up the value of the fossils they managed to rescue, and the player with the highest total wins.
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‘Reise zum Mittelpunkt’ has an original mechanism; in the first phase there are three researchers to play with, and in the last two phases they are ‘pooled’ to form one team. This results in an interesting balance between working together and hindering each other. In the first phase, you want to collect as many fossils as possible, but you don’t want to leave the researcher in such a position that the player after you can do the same.
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Take the goodies, and leave the researcher in a deserted corner between the rocks, that’s the idea. But, when it’s your turn again, he will probably still stand there in his impossible position.... This means that it is unavoidable to spend some turns just drawing cards, to stock up to be able to remove a researcher from his awkward position. That makes the first phase a bit slow and long.
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The final phase doesn’t add anything to the game; it is very short, and it’s based purely on coincidence and luck. And why is it so necessary to rid us of our hard-earned fossil cards on our final ride to the surface?
Once the researchers are on the raft, there are even more reasons to consider the options of the other players, because in this phase all players are allowed to collect fossils, in your turn! While the active player has to spend the researcher- and equipment cards to reach the space where the fossils can be found, the other players are in for a free ride! But when you are the one who moves the raft, at least you can decide to what ‘fossil site’ it will go, based on the demanded equipment cards.

another still from the film:
the underground city
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It’s difficult to say for what player groups the game is most suitable. It’s too complex and it has way too many little rules, details and inconsistencies to be a family game, but the regular player will soon be annoyed by the huge amount of randomness, coincidence and luck that are introduced by the researcher-and equipment cards, but also the event-, fossil- and adventure cards. Despite this, ‘Reise zum Mittelpunkt’ is not at all a bad game. It has a great atmosphere, it looks very good and it’s fun to play. And a dose of randomness and luck is something that we can deal with every once in a while!
© 2008 Barbara van Vugt
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Reise zum Mittelpunkt der Erde, Rüdiger Dorn, Kosmos, 2008 - 2 to 4 players, 10 years and up, 60-75 minutes


Proper transition supplies pleasant game, also because of the sedate illustrations by Franz Vohwinkel
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x xxx''Journey to the center of the earth' - Rick Wakeman, 1974
xxx'another fragment
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