Lego was kind enough to send me a Lego The Hobbit Game to review.
My son and I had just been to see the film of The Hobbit and so we were pretty excited about playing the game.
Over the holidays our kids sat down and constructed the game (Lego Games come with instruction books just like sets) and then we all played The Hobbit as a family.
The Hobbit Game
Lego Set Number: 3920
Pieces: 394
Minifigures: 4 Mini-Minifigures
Price: £24.99 / US$34.99 / AUS$49.99
Ages: 7+
Released: January 2013
Theme: Lego Games
Instructions in PDF: Available at Lego.com
Best Prices: Amazon I Amazon UK I Fishpond AUS
Lego The Hobbit Game – Description
The Lego Hobbit Game is a memory game.
By rolling a die, players move around the various Hobbit holes on the game board.
Concealed in each Hobbit hole are two tiles, each with an image printed on them.
Once players land on a Hobbit Hole they select the top tile in that Hole and then, depending on the tile revealed, perform another task with the eventual goal of collecting the most dwarf tiles.
For example, if a player finds a Dwarf tile then they keep it and play moves on.
However if they find a Rune, Hobbit or Food tile, then they must try to find a matching tile from any other Hobbit hole on the board.
If two matching tiles are found, the player is able to perform another task which will hopefully result in a dwarf being found.
Once all ten dwarves have been found the game ends and the player with the most dwarf tiles is the winner.
Gameplay takes about 20 minutes and the game is recommended for 2-4 players 7 years and older.
Official Description:
A buildable and fun twist on a memory game for 2 to 4 players.
The game is all about finding the missing Dwarves who have gotten lost in Hobbiton, using hints left by Gandalf the Grey and some Hobbits to help you search. If you are up to the challenge you can transform the board during the game, testing your memory skills to the max. Once the board is built it is easy to store and quick to take out to play again.
Contents:
• 1 buildable LEGO Dice
• 4 LEGO micro figures: Gandalf the Grey, Kili the dwarf, Fili the dwarf, Dwalin the dwarf
• 389 LEGO pieces
• Rules booklet
• Building instructions
Lego The Hobbit Gameplay
Step One : Read the Instructions
Before I start to review the game you should know two things about me:
1. I have a terrible memory – Which means memory games are essentially a torture device for me…and
2. I tend not to read instructions as thoroughly as I should – which can lead to frustration and misunderstanding.
When we first started playing the game I was overwhelmed – moving the figures stud-by-stud across the board was taking a long time to get from one Hobbit home to another. Surely it couldn’t be this tedious?
Then I re-read the instructions. Ah, yes…
When the die is rolled players move from one hobbit hole to another, not one Lego stud at a time…speeds things up very nicely.
Guess who was responsible for reading instructions the first time… Cough, cough. 🙂
After we rectified this slight misunderstanding the game became enjoyable and, importantly, fast paced.
A Moveable Feast
Once constructed the game board has hinges on three sides so the game layout can be changed in a number of ways without actually taking the board apart.
The game board can also fit neatly back into the game box once in the square layout which is a wonderful timesaver (and storage space saver).
There are four game figures : Gandalf the Grey, Kili the dwarf, Fili the dwarf and Dwalin the dwarf.
Each figure is highly distinctive, minute and cute (I should note that after seeing the film we all wanted to be either Fili or Kili).
Also worth noting is the presence of two additional and unique tiles (Thorin and Bilbo) which can be added to the game for a variation on gameplay.
The rule book also includes a number of other suggested ways to mix up the game and, as with other Lego games, the rules of The Hobbit are open for interpretation by players and may be altered to make gameplay more simple or complex.
Lego The Hobbit Game – Brick Life Rating
Value For Money: Small Pieces but lots of printed tiles
Play Experience: Fast and varied – mix it up as desired
Pieces & Minifigures: All printed pieces (no stickers) and Mini Fili & Kili!
Value For Kids: Great for younger fans and families
My family liked the Hobbit Game (eventually – see above note) and appreciated the different playing options which will ultimately extend it’s life in our household.
The game board is gorgeous and manages to convey the spirit of The Shire with minimal amount of pieces (just check out those Hobbit holes – ingenious!).
The figures are very cute and I have already seen a few of them wandering through my childrens’ Lego sets.
The set probably won’t appeal to older fans (as is the case with many of the Lego Games) but is recommended for families and younger fans familiar with the series.
P.S Thanks to Lego and the folks at One Green Bean for sending me the set 🙂