OBJECTIVE: Climb the volcano, dodge lava balls, and be the first player to collect all of the treasure
NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2 – 4 players
MATERIALS: Volcano board, 4 player boards, 48 climber cards, 12 explorer pawns, 18 gear cards, 3 lava balls, 3 boulder blockers, and 24 treasure tokens
TYPE OF GAME: Dexterity board game
AUDIENCE: Ages 7+
OVERVIEW OF GAME
Oh No, Volcano! is a Plinko style board game in which players are trying to complete their treasure collection by climbing the dangerous volcano. Play cards to move up the volcano while dodging fiery lava balls of death. Use special gear and boulder blockers to protect yourself and propel up the volcano faster. The first person to complete their treasure collection wins the game.
WHAT’S IN THE BOX
The volcano board needs to be constructed by connecting the pieces and attaching it to the box bottom. This is essentially a Plinko style board. One double sided player board is included for up to four players on which players will keep track of the treasure they’ve collected as well as their climber cards. Four different color sets of explorer pawns are used to race up the volcano. An eighteen card gear deck includes cards that will assist players on their climb. Three lava balls are used to (hopefully) knock opponents off of the volcano. Also, three boulder blockers are used to protect explorers from being knocked down. Twenty four treasure tokens including emeralds, rubies, and sapphires are what players are trying to collect.
SETUP
Assemble the volcano and attach it to the box bottom. Put all of the treasure tokens and boulder blockers within reach of all players. Place the shuffled gear card deck face down in the center of the table. The three lava balls go in the box bottom at the base of the volcano. Each player chooses a pawn color and gets the matching player board and climber cards. Use the 2 player side of the player board for a 2 player game, and the 3-4 player side for a game with that many players. Shuffle the climber cards before placing them face down on the player board. Draw three cards from your climber card deck to form your starting hand.
THE PLAY
Begin your turn by playing one card from your hand or one gear card. Gear cards are collected after you fall from the volcano, and they are kept above your player board. You are only allowed to have three gear cards at most.
Complete all of the actions on the card played in order from top to bottom. The three actions include: move, place boulder blocker, and drop lava ball.
MOVE
The move action tells you which pawn you may move and how many spaces to move it. A question mark on the move action image means you may choose which pawn to move. Pawns starting on the player board must first be placed on the bottom row of pegs, and this counts as one movement. From there, pawns may be moved left, right, or up the volcano at an angle. Each peg counts as one move. You may now move explorer pawns through other pawns or boulder blockers. Moving the full number of spaces is not required. In fact, a player does not have to move their pawn at all. Sometimes movement will not be possible.
After landing on a treasure space, the player may collect that particular treasure. The treasure may only be collected if the player has that space empty on their player board. Once a player has filled all of the spaces of that particular type of treasure, they cannot collect more of it. Reaching the very top of the volcano gives the player the ability to collect an emerald and move that piece to their player card immediately. Pawns cannot remain at the top row of the volcano.
There are two cave entrances that act as shortcuts. Landing on a cave entrance exactly allows the player to move the pawn up the volcano to its matching cave exit. Pawns can only move up the volcano. If the exit space is occupied by another player, the cave shortcut cannot be used.
PLACE A BOULDER BLOCKER
Take one of the boulder blockers and put it on the volcano resting on two of the pegs. If all three blockers are in use, choose one to carefully remove and place it where you wish. Boulder blockers cannot be placed in an occupied space or on the top row of the volcano.
DROP A LAVA BALL
Choose one of the lava balls and drop it into the matching numbered chute. The lava ball might make it all the way down the board without knocking anyone off. If it does, count your blessings. Any explorer pawns that are knocked off of the volcano are returned to their player boards. A pawn that is hit but does not fall off of its original space is considered safe. Getting a pawn knocked off by a falling pawn is considered to have been hit by the lava ball. Even if a pawn does not fall all the way down the volcano, it is still returned to its player board. Potentially, the lava ball can get stuck with no damage done. Return the lava ball to its space on the board.
Players who have pawns knocked from the volcano collect gear cards in turn order (one gear card for each pawn knocked down). A player may only have three gear cards. If the player has four or more gear cards after drawing, they must discard down to three.
CONTINUING PLAY
After completing all of the actions on the card played, discard it to the appropriate discard pile. If you played a climber card, draw back up to three climber cards in your hand. Playing a gear card means you do not draw.
Turn order continues left around the table.
WINNING
The first person to fill each of their treasure spaces with a treasure token wins the game. On rare occasions, the game will end due to a player running out of cards to play. If this occurs, each player scores 3 points per emerald collected, 2 points per ruby, and 1 point per sapphire. Whoever has the most points wins.
- TRIPLE SNAKES - February 15, 2021