Have you visited www.HansoExposed.com lately? Have you ever heard of Apollo Chocolate Bars? Have you read “Bad Twin” yet?

If you’re a BGG member that has clicked on a review of “Lost: The Boardgame”, chances are you’re just geeky enough to answer yes to at least one of those questions. As of this review (just before the third season of “Lost” begins), the producers, marketers, and executives of ABC have created a literal flood of subtle clues and hints throughout the media of what’s in store for the hit show. This includes a multitude of websites, Easter eggs, video clips, and special events. And all of these affairs maintain an amazing appearance of reality and the utmost in quality in their creation and execution.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t hold true for the one thing that the “Lost” fans here on BGG were most anticipating: the boardgame. Like many, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the game; and now, like many, I’m quite disappointed in its execution. There is no way this game will make any impact in either the boardgame world or the “Lost” world.

Currently the game is only available at Walmart, Target, and similar distributors. Obviously a mass market game, and we shouldn’t expect anything less. However, the look of the cheesy tin box it comes in reeks of the other television licensed junk out there. I seriously thought I was picking up a trivia game reminiscent of that for “Friends”.

Okay, so they want to get the attention of the mainstream viewers rather than the hardcore gamers. So you open the box to see that it still has potential to be a great gamers’ game. Then you see the ten pages of small font rules. Ten pages?! There are four pages for “Beginner’s Play” and four pages for “Advanced Play” and a two page cheat sheet. No pictures, no visual examples, small print. This thing looks boring even to me and I read games rules for fun in my leisure time!

Alright, fine. Obviously with that many rules the game is going to be a heavier strategy game with lots to offer the BGG gamer. Not really. The rulebook is completely redundant, giving the same information over and over. I am certain these rules could have been written in a bigger font on just one to two pages along with some full color examples.

Here is the game:

You set up a board of random face-down hexes and place your character markers at a start. Each character has a power number and special ability, and some of them have their own victory conditions. Each turn you move your character(s) one hex, flip over the tile and do what it says. If it’s already face up you can engage the location (do what it says) or engage another character on that piece. Engaging a character means you either try to take control of them or do their special ability (ie, healing).

Throughout the game more non-player characters can pop up for players to try to take control of and use to strengthen their party or explore more of the island hexes. Most hexes will make you flip over a fate card.

And these fate cards deliver a fatal blow to the game. Since your turn basically consists of moving each of your characters one hex and doing what you are told on the new hex, your fate literally balances on these fate cards. Some of them are beneficial and can go into your hand for future use (event cards), some can be equipped to the character finding them (equipment cards), and some are very detrimental and can kill off your character before you know what hit you (encounter cards). If your character is hit once it is injured, if it’s hit again while it’s still injured, it is killed. If your character is killed you are out of the game and get to watch the other players (or go watch the season finale again.)

Interaction between the encounter cards and other players is based on two numbers: the power value of your character – which can be enhanced by equipment, fate cards, and your other characters in the same area – and a six-sided die roll. This is the engine of the game. If you run into one of the Others with power 14 and you have power 5, you obviously know that there is no way you can win. Of course, you can combine forces later, but by then it’s too late and your first character is probably injured or even dead.

And once you do have a caravan of characters with a combined higher power running around, so do your opponents. The game then turns into a race to see if the higher power players can get to and kill the lower power players. Once those characters are defeated, the higher power player can then take control of them and become even stronger. Player elimination combined with the rich get richer. This ain’t Monopoly, but it sure does sound like it!

The point of the game is to kill or neutralize (ie, control) all other player’s characters. This makes absolutely no sense considering the television series and the intention of the show. The show is so rich in depth and thought provoking experiences that this game of moving and killing just defeats the purpose. There are so many different ways they could have taken this game and incorporated it into the “Lost” mythos and marketing that it is truly disappointing to see how it ended up.

If you are a fan of the “Lost” television show and a fan of good boardgames, you will not be a fan of this game.

Not meant as a criticism of your review (which is well done), but... What, you expected a boardgame based on 'LOST' to be any different? Come on, this is another in the endless series of Madison Avenue mass-market TV show tie-in games. Almost without exception, they're all total crap!

I'd venture to guess that anyone who's a regular visitor to this site could easily put together a FAR better game based on the TV series in a couple of weeks than this rush-job piece of garbage -- and more to the point, many of us would be willing to do it gratis providing they were willing to put our name in the game credits. But that doesn't matter to big-pocket corporate hacks who probably haven't played a boardgame since they lost at 'Monopoly' in 4th grade. The fact that they specifically targeted the product to retail at WalMart, Target and other big-box stores (as clearly stated in their press releases about the game) should be a clear tip off that this product would likely have the same effect as nails on a blackboard to a BGG regular.

Sometimes a good TV show game comes along. You don't know until you try it.

The only thing I needed to know about this was that it's published by Cardinal. This company has no idea how to make a game. They make thrift store fodder/crap

Thank you for this review. My wife and I love LOST and were thinking of picking up the game when Season 2 came out on DVD. I think this is much much less of a possibility now. The question that I would have is as follows. Is it possible for a BGGer to use the pieces that come with the game and change the way it is played to make it a better game? I would rather have a game about LOST and use totally different rules that make it a good game then not. It boils down to 'is the game at least salvigable?'

I bought it the first day I saw it. It still hasn't come yet. Hopefully I don't regret it as much as you do. Player elimination!

I'm afraid I have to take the counterpoint to this review. I love the show LOST and I bought the game with some hesitation, but not much. At $20, it isn't too much of a strain on the wallet.

This is not a deep strategy game or an instant classic. Heck, it's not really a classic at all. What it is is a VERY simple and very fun game that rewards viewers of the show with a fun way to be a part of the action.

The island exploration concept is very clever and the Fate cards are chock-full of references to the two seasons of the show. Sure, the actual gameplay is overly simple and the endgame is really just a race, but the point of this game is not to try and set a new standard for gaming, but to appeal to Lost fans.

Oh, and here is my BIGGEST issue with this review:

The point of the game is to kill or neutralize (ie, control) all other player’s characters.

Not at all. The point of the game is to lead all of the characters on the island. This means you have to try to convert them to your side. In the two games I have played, only two characters ever died, and the "neutralized" characters were only out of action for a handful of turns.

If you look at the show, the survivors are constantly trying to get the other survivors to group up to accomplish tasks or go a certain way. In this respect, the game hits the mark.

Personally, I would rate the game a 7 out of 10. It's not perfect, but for what it is (and thank goodness it's not just a bland licensed game), it does very well.

I agree with Chris's review. spot on. I rate it a 7 as well.
The advanced game is much better than the basic game as well. Check out the forum on the official website for errata as well.

I was not impressed with the game. It is my intention to see if I can come up with a better execution using the components involved. If I can, I will post the details. My initial thought is to try making it start off more cooperative. I may add special secret objectives that people either start off with, or get at some point in the game (some of which may hinder the group's primary objective). I am also toying with having the players not actually BE the characters from the show, but just other people from the crash site, trying to interact with the characters. Anyhow, I will see what I can come up with.

Amen, Brother. I have never made such a dissapoining purchase to date. The whole objective of the game makes no sense--so you beat up one character of each player, or beat up everybody. Then what? It seems this game is more of a trivia game with dice and a wildly unfriendly method of competition--by trivia, I mean knowing the reference from whence the Fate card that you just flipped over that injured your character (again).
So, trying to resurrect the Lost game for all the fans out there. Yep. If anyone has any ideas for a complete overhaul, I'm game. I've got a few theories of my own. Seems to me this game should have been more like Lord of the Rings or Shadows over Camelot--a competition against the forces of (un)natural elements of the island. Instead of "Injured", each character has a set of specific sufferings (with specific penalties) that gets turned over, instead of the standard Hit Point mechanic (i.e., Charlie suffers from his addictions and clingy personality, Jack works himself to extreme exhaustion, Locke further isolates himself from the rest of the group, and so on). Also use "Survivor" tokens/meeples as the extras that don't have a full story, but have a "Star-Trek-Red-Shirt" tendency for getting into dire situations. Lose 'em all, and its all over. Use a dice or card mechanic for what the players can offer to stay alive and win.
Hmm. For all the possibilities for this game, the Official Lost Boardgame is a travesty.

Wow. I expected this game to be good. I mean I am a big fan of the show and Boardgames. But this?!?! No way. Looks awful.

BattleStar Galatica!