Sunday, March 06, 2022

#66: The Downfall of Pompeii (Mark's Top 100 2022)



The Downfall of Pompeii

  • rank: 585
  • rating: 7.1
  • published: 2004
Print Status
  • in print
Why It's On The List
  • An odd and possibly disturbing theme (the volcanic destruction of the Roman city of Pompeii) turns to make a very nice tactical placement & movement game... along with a healthy helping of "throw your neighbor under the metaphorical bus".
Tips & Tricks:
    • Do not neglect the power of family members - use your cards wisely to set yourself up to place extra "dudes" on the board.
    • Easy to miss rule: if an area is filled, you can use those numbered cards as wild cards BUT you can't place family members when you do that.
    • Tactics is totally dependent on who's playing... I've been in games where folks didn't mess each other over (much) and scores were high, and I've been in games where filling the volcano with pieces seemed like the goal. 
    Extras
    • I was pleasantly surprised to find that this game not only worked as an "adult" version of Midnight Party - but also worked great with my then (gamer) 5 year old son as a 2 player game. (He's 16 now and still enjoys it.)
    • I have The Dancing Flames expansion (created by designer Morgan Dontanville) that adds a couple of twists to the lava draws... I like it a lot.

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