Your first Knizia game

Designer: Reiner Knizia | Publisher: Gamelyn Games

It may have first released almost two decades ago, but even now Dragonland does not feel dated. A Renier Knizia game, it seems, remains feeling fresh even many years later and even if you may have played a variation of this design several times over. This time, players venture into the volcanic lands of dragons, looking for treasure and precious dragon eggs to collect. The choice of what to do is simple: roll the dice, move your pawns and if you find yourself atop of a volcano pick up some treasure.

Unlike many other move-pawnalong- the-track games, Dragonland does not simply let its players be ruled by the luck of the roll. There are plenty of decisions to be made each turn and seemingly small rules have a large impact on the overall gameplay. For example, the track is not linear, and players can move their three pawns each turn based on the rolls in whichever direction they wish to, including cutting off their opponents and stealing gems right under their noses. In fact, a race to a particularly large volcano may be a good strategy. Yet, even if you don’t come first, you will never walk away with nothing. While having a lot of gems certainly moves a player up on the victory track, collecting sets of gems of unique colours brings significantly more points at the end of the game. The special power tokens also should not be underestimated as their abilities allow players to manipulate actions and movement, making the game so much more exciting than travelling on a predetermined track.