Designer: Michael Rieneck

Artist: Dirk Hoffmann, Franz Vohwinkel, Bernd Wagenfeld

Publisher: KOSMOS

Successfully converting a popular intellectual property into a solid game can be challenging. For some fantasy-based IPs like Cthulu, Star Wars, the characters and background are well fleshed out and this provides a wealth of information to craft a mechanism that best captures the flavor of the IP. This is probably not as easy for some lesser known IPs or standalone books. There have been several popular books by classic authors like H.G. Wells and Jules Verne that have been ported into games and Around the World in 80 Days from Verne is one of them. I have coveted Mr. Rieneck’s design for a while now given that it checks all the boxes of a game that I would enjoy – manageable length, interactive with low rules overhead. Based on the story, I expected the game to have a race element and I was not surprised to see one. Overall, I think that Mr. Rieneck has successfully captured the thematic essence of the book and incorporated enough elements of the narrative – both within the race mechanism as well as in the flavor text on the game board and event cards – to make the game feel like tight adaption of the book.

Players race each other and against time to circumnavigate the globe…… just as in the book

80 Days come packaged with few components. Indeed, I find the game box much too large for the handful of wooden tokens, cardboard chits and a small deck of cards included in the game. However, the game board is quite big and unfolded, features the world map along with the route that the protagonist, Phileas Fogg, took to circumnavigate the globe. In his wager, Mr. Fogg proclaimed that he could circle the world in 80 days. Printed on the board is the east to west route Fogg took around the globe which starts and ends in London. The game tries to recreate the tension of the book by allowing players to race against the game system and each other in order to be the first to reach London within the 80 day period. The “score track” around the edge of the board is used to denote the amount of time it takes for each player to go around the globe. The winner is the player who reaches London in the fewest number of days. If all players exceed 80 days, then the first to arrive in London will win the game. In a very clever twist to push the pace of the game, the first player to reach London will trigger a penalty for all remaining players by tagging one extra day to each action taken thereafter. This penalty injects tension to the game by pushing the laggards who may decide to move slowly and mop up bonuses on the board during the race. Furthermore, the winner cannot be the last person to reach London regardless of the amount of time it takes to get there. That means you cannot game the system by moving at snail’s pace and collecting cards to reduce travel time as the game immediately ends when all but one player arrives at London. These end of game requirements really sets the the tone for the race to London and pretty much forces the entire group to move at about the same pace.

So, what is the core mechanism for travel? One of the most prominent aspect of the book describes the different modes of travel the party took from continent to continent. We have balloon rides, steam ships, railroads and even elephant rides. It is this part of the book that Mr. Rieneck decided to adapt as the core mechanism. Players must collect and play transportation cards to move between cities, with some cards costing more in terms of the time taken for travel. Some travel may take longer and require multiple cards of the same or different types. To spice things up, for similar modes of transport, players have the option of playing the same card to reduce the number of travel days. Thus, instead of playing two cards and combining the values, playing two cards of the same type counts only once toward the number of travel days. This feature produces a push pull between staying pat in a city to draft valuable cards in order to reduce the number of travel days versus pushing the pace and moving on to the next city by paying the transport costs. These moments do not occur often, but when it does, represents a critical decision point in the game where one must balance optimization of card play versus expediency. The urge is always to grab that matching card from the drafting pool but at the cost of falling behind the pack. Sometimes it is hard to tell which approach is better, but much depends on group dynamics. If only one person rushes forward at great cost, then staying with the pack may still make sense, but if several are pushing the pace, then avoiding coming in last is obviously a priority. I love games where to group dynamics is baked into decision making. This is what player interaction is all about.

Drafting action cards and bonus actions to propel forward movement

In a clever way, card drafting is also associated with bonus actions. Each round, cards are placed on a pre-printed slot on the board with a bonus action. This may include getting a coin which has multiple uses in the game, become a start player, draw an event card or reducing travel time by flying in a balloon. This makes the card drafting a slightly more colorful affair with a few things to consider. A timely bonus action can really make travel more efficient. One bonus action in particular – moving the detective is particularly delightful as readers from the book will recall that a London inspector is hounding Fogg as he believed that the entire wager is a ruse for Fogg to conceal his guilt. Hence, he pursues the party across different continents in order to stop them. In the game, if players end up in the same city as the inspector, they will be questioned and that tags an extra day to the itinerary. The bonus action allows one to move the inspector to specific cities as a means to slow the leader of the pack. While not overtly powerful, the contribution of the inspector is more toward the theme of the game. Another aspect of the game, the event cards, also help to integrate a few subplots of the book in the game, including the overland travel in India via elephants. Overall, the game mirrors quite a number of elements in the book.

In summary

Truth be told, this game has been on my radar for a long time and represents a “grail” game for a while even though I used to own, but never played it. I foolishly traded away the game during a period of time when I was largely into more complex games. Having finally tabling this game, I have no regrets in bringing the game back to my collection. First and foremost, the game is dripping with theme, particularly in how the end of game conditions reflects precisely, the entire narrative arc of the book. The race between players to get back to London is well captured throughout the game in multiple ways described in the previous sections. Top notch effort here by the designer to craft a rule set that captures the flavor of the book. As the entire party crosses the American continent and sets sail across the Atlantic, the final few legs of the journey is remarkably exciting. However, the weight of the game still falls in the light-to-mid scale with few rules and components. Much of what you will do during the game is deciding when to play travel cards or how best to collect them. The game is not layered with a ton of complexity or nuances which require lots of analysis. That said, there are some tough decisions to be made and cost-benefit to weigh – all of which will influence a player’s positioning in the race. Overall, the game is suited for both casual and hobby gamers alike. There is something for both groups of people and a think a mixture of both in the same session would not be frustrating for either parties. A strong recommendation.

Initial impression: Good