Lord of the Rings (board game)

Lord of the Rings

Designer(s)	Reiner Knizia
Publisher(s)	Kosmos Fantasy Flight Games 999 Games
Players	2–5
Setup time	5 minutes
Playing time	45–75 minutes
Random chance	Medium (Cards, Dice)
Skill(s) required	Cooperation

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.

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 Sauron. 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.

Expansion Packs

Three expansions currently exist, the Friends & Foes Expansion, Sauron Expansion, in which one player takes the role of Sauron 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. gold One Ring. List price for this version was approximately $300 US.

External links

• Lord of the Rings, Friends & Foes expansion and Sauron expansion at BoardGameGeek
• 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