Some of you may have fond memories of a 1986 game called Fireball Island, which was notable for incorporating physical obstacles into play, in the form of marbles that rolled down random paths on the 3D board, knocking over player figures. That got a middling 2018 rework in the form of Fireball Island: The Curse of Vul-Kar (see it at Amazon), but if you want similar game concepts at a cheaper price, married to a blockbuster movie licence, then Jumanji Stampede is the game for you. And right now it’s on sale at Amazon for just $9.06, which is less than the cost of lunch.
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Jumanji Stampede
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Jumanji Stampede is a cooperative board game in which players move around the 3D island, uncovering tokens that will either result in the drawing a card, for good or bad effects, or finding one of the crystals they’ll need to win the game. Crystals need to be returned to the correct locations for victory but there’s also a villain figure who moves according to a dice roll, and you all lose if he reaches the mountaintop before you finish placing crystals. It’s a fun race, in other words, with lots of excitement and some basic tactical elements that make it a great family board game or board game for kids.
What makes it stand out, however, are the dangers lurking at spots around the island. Boulders will roll down paths, animals will physically launch out of trees or hidey-holes and fly over the board. Anything in their way gets knocked over, in a moment of high tension as you wait to see what will collide with what. Player figures lose life bars, which is another way to lose the game if too many injuries are accumulated.
While Jumanji Stampede isn’t about to win any awards in the hobby gaming sphere, it does what it does extremely well. It looks great on the tabletop, appealing to the primal part of all of us that likes silly, novel toys, but also uses those components in a fast, fun game with plenty of surprises and some basic strategy that doesn’t run on and outstay its welcome.
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Matt Thrower is a contributing freelance writer for IGN, specializing in tabletop games. You can reach him on BlueSky at @mattthr.bsky.social.
