I’ve been itching to play this new Slugfest game ever since Kevin Bender returned with it from GenCon. What attracted me to the game was the quirky theme: islanders racing to the top of a volcano in order to sacrifice themselves to that the island can be saved from disaster. There aren’t many games wherein the winner is the one who kills himself to a volcano god.

I don’t own the game – nor after one playing do I have the desire to – so my description here won’t be highly detailed and will come from my admittedly faulty memory. Basically, the board depicts a portion of an island, which is dominated by Tiki Mountain, an active volcano that is threatening to erupt, thereby destroying the idyllic community. Various pathways wind there way up the mountain, eventually culminating at the red-hot crater. Players begin in the village at the base of the mountain, and the first player to brave the various perils, overcome the hazards employed by their opponents, and be found worthy to toss himself into the crater is victorious. Well, sort of, since the player is consumed by the volcano, the victory is sort of Pyrrhic in nature.

Each player receives a mat wherein he tracks his earth, water and fire totems, and places up to three items that he can use in his ascent. Players begin with seven action cards, and fill their hand back to this total on each turn. A player’s turn consists of playing one climb card, coupled with as many “climb better”, items and event cards as desired. The only restriction is that no two “climb better” cards can be identical. The combination of climb and climb better cards determines how far along the pathway a player may move. Generally, the further, the better, as this is a race to the top.

Item cards can usually supplement a player’s movement rate, or confer some other benefit. Often, the items can be used to ignore certain hazards that may suddenly appear along the path. These can include gas vents, mudslides, hot lava and other nasty obstacles. Players must navigate these obstacles with the use of items or other event cards.

Many cards require the expenditure of totems to use. Totems are acquired at the end of a player’s turn, the amount and type being determined by a spinner. Ultimately, a player must expend one of each type of totem in order to attempt the god-required lava leap, but further totems may also be required. So, players are wise to be judicious in the expenditure of their totems.

After each turn, a “volcano” card is taken that usually triggers an adverse event affecting all players. Many of these are earthquakes that cause players to partially slide down the mountain. Certain items can mitigate this slide. A few volcano cards are beneficial, but we didn’t see many of those.

When a player reaches the top of the mountain, he may attempt to toss himself into the lava to appease the volcano god. As mentioned, he must expend one totem of each type, and be found worthy. A volcano card is drawn, and if the conditions on the card are met – usually the expenditure of certain totems – the player is successful, the god is appeased, and the island is saved. The player is dead, but he has won the game and the eternal gratitude of the islanders. If the player fails, he can try again on subsequent turns.

The game certainly has a “take that!” aspect, as players constantly play cards on their opponents to impede their progress. Most of these take the form of introducing hazards and obstacles, most of which are minor annoyances rather than harsh setbacks. The exception to this is the “switcharoo” cards, which allows the player to switch places with any other player on the path. This can – and usually does – cause a player to go from a leader position to the back of the pack, often losing considerable ground. There are a few “Tiki Magic” cards that can prevent this, but possessing one is a matter of chance.

The game suffers from another common problem that is pandemic to games utilizing cards with copious amounts of text. Namely, it takes a considerable amount of time to continuously read the text on the cards, which results in periods of “dead” time. “Dead” time translates into dull. Players are constantly shuffling through their cards, reading the text and deciding which cards to use. The fact that a player’s hand is not re-filled until the BEGINNING of his next turn compounds this problem, as when cards are drawn, the player must take time to read and understand each card. This causes the game to drag, and forces everyone to wait while the active player reads his cards.

The game feels like one that would be fun for families, but the theme might be a concern for those with younger children, and the “take that” aspect of the card play might be a bit harsh for some folks. I don’t think most will mind it, however. The game certainly has more to offer than most of the family games found on the shelves of most retail giants, and I’d be happy to play it in an environment that includes children. For adults, however, the game is lacking, and just fails to generate much excitement. It is passable … but that’s about it. I want the games I play to be more than just “passable”.