February's game is Go.
No, we're not talking about the ancient Chinese game involving little black and white counters. We're talking about Go, the 60's board game that takes you around the world on the hunt for souvenirs. While this is part of our charity shop collection, it is also one of the few that we went hunting for rather than stumbling upon. Joe's mum played this game as a child and Joe has fond memories of playing it too.
The premise is fairly simple - travel from city to city to collect a fixed number of souvenirs and then race to be the first back to London. As with every game there are the spaces everybody wants to land on (Thomas Cook - tickets and bureau de change under one roof), and those everyone avoids (Customs!). Some precise dice rolling is needed to get you from country to country while avoiding the hazards that might befall every traveler. It is a rare game where a freak storm does not whip an unwary passenger from their route and park them in an obscure part of the board - that's all part of the fun (though mighty frustrating if you were almost back to London and suddenly you find yourself in the Falkland Isles!).
One of the joys of the game are the details, and none more so that the range of currencies you need to use to buy your tickets and souvenirs. From Deutchmarks in Germany to Yen in Japan all with different exchange rates, its worth picking yourself a good banker for this one! Fortunately a handy chart is provided to make things easier.
I'd say this is one of the favourites on our shelf. Even the most cunning of players can be derailed by an unlucky dice throw and that makes it a good game for all the family.
Catch up with previous Life's a Game posts here.