My in-laws recently wanted to give me a nice, small gift for acting as a chauffeur to my young sister-in-law. Bless their hearts, they have a vague sense that I am a board game enthusiast. That, coupled with the few discussions we’ve had at thanksgiving dinner wherein I’ve spouted some liberal claptrap about the environment, must have compelled them to buy a game for me that I never would have bought for myself: Planet Earth, The Interactive DVD Game.

That’s not to say that PE is a bad game, by any means. I own Scene It? - Movie as well, and these two games are quite similar in terms of mechanics and play. But like Scene It, PE will someday soon begin collecting dust on my shelf; DVD trivia games often present some real fun the first few times, but then run out of original questions and novelty. And, let’s face it, you’re much more likely to be at party full of film buffs than one full of people willing to discuss the mating habits of the Atlantic Puffin. Unless you watch a fair amount of Discovery Channel or Animal Planet, you’ll find yourself guessing at many answers. Fortunately, they’re multiple choice.

Components:
Everything is of the highest quality; the game clearly displays its high production values. A circular board folds into quarters and fits nicely into a sturdy, square box. Very little box space is wasted. The player pieces are those glass beads… you know, the melted marble kind, and the game comes with a standard six-sided die and a little felt drawstring bag to hold it all in. Very classy. For a description of the interactive DVD, see below.


Mechanics and play:
Like Scene It, the DVD contains a helpful “how to play” video that will have your group up and going within three minutes. Let the video do the teaching, then off you go. Not that there’s a lot of teaching to be done; this is a simple roll-and-move trivia game. Like Trivial Pursuit, you roll, then may move in either direction around a circular board. Most of the board is made up of “question” spaces, and when you land on these you have the DVD narrator ask you a random multiple choice (or true/false) question on a random environmental topic. If you answer correctly, you get to go again.



You are trying to make your way to the main “Puzzle Piece Spaces”, where you will answer a question on a specific topic. The topics are as follows, and may be selected specifically from the DVD menu: the yellow space is about caves and mountains; the red space is about deserts and great plains; the gray space is about the poles; the dark blue space is about the ocean; the green space is about the rain forests and jungles; and the light blue space is about freshwater bodies. If you answer one of these questions correctly, you earn a “Puzzle Piece”, then your turn ends immediately (so unlike Trivial Pursuit, a genius can’t win the game in a single turn. He must be stopped at these spaces).

And this is where PE is unique. You are trying to get the most pieces of a puzzle of the planet earth (the puzzle is two-sided, and the other side has a game logo on it) so that you can be the one to put the last piece in its place. Though the rules don’t say so, I assume that every time you get a piece, you put it down in its proper space immediately. The game board has an imprint of what the planet earth puzzle should look like directly on it, so it’s just a matter of placing the piece over the picture. But what if you choose to use the other side (the logo)? Is puzzle-building prowess a necessity for playing? The game rules are unclear on this.



This is also where things get a little hairy… I’m not going to say “broken”, but I can foresee problems arising: One player could let all the others do the grunt work, putting the whole puzzle together, then just be the one to answer the last vital question. The game, in this way, could reward something very different from knowledge of trivia, and the win could come off as arbitrary.

The Interactive DVD:
The DVD itself has all the beauty and artistry you would expect from a BBC nature documentary. Before each question, you will be treated to short documentary featuring skillful shots and informed narration.



Whether you answer correctly or not, you’ll learn something. Again, if you love nature documentaries, and have 5 other friends who do too, you’ll enjoy this experience. The DVD is also rather clever. It’s able to record and keep track of how many puzzle pieces have been collected, and will let you know when the last one was picked up, indicating a winner.

Final thoughts:
It is important to note that unlike Scene It, there is no time limit for questions. This may be a pro or a con for you, but there you have it. This means that unless you set a limit yourself, people could talk or think for minutes before answering. Yesterday, I wrote a review of Pride and Prejudice the Board Game. I think that both P&P and PE have rather limited appeal, but both could be used as great teaching tools in secondary education. I could certainly see this being used in a high school environmental science class, perhaps as a reward or a review.

The Breakdown:
Component Quality: High
Learning Time: 3 minutes
Play Time: Less than an hour
Appeal: Family game night or educational use

Enjoy!

Edited for some typos and to add pictures