Because of Pokemon...Dork Tower

We won a raffle at the homeschooling conference this weekend. The prize: Dork Tower, the game.

The game is based on an old RPG game called Dark Tower, published in 1981. Dork Tower is a gentle satire of this game, with item and character names that poke fun at the RPG genre. It's also "cute".

The recommended age is 11 and up. My 9 and 6 year olds had no problem figuring out how to play. For the time being, Pokemon has been put to the side to play Dork Tower...all...day.

It's a long game. Longer than Pokemon. And there is a specific strategy that has to be played or the game never ends. Movement around the board is somewhat random. Our six year old plays and plays and never really improves her character, racking up money and experience in a big pile in front of her. (Although, that's slowly changing as she's getting a hang for what she can do with all her money and experience.)

I enjoy the game because it reminds me of the first RPG I ever played - Dungeons and Dragons on Intellivision. This was a first person dungeon crawling game where the point was to gather enough equipment and spells to beat the main guy, who always had the same stats. This is where I had my first real introduction to magic and strategic resource gathering games. I was hooked from the get go.

The simplicity of the game makes it easy for the kids to play. The strategy makes it fun for me to play. And all the while, we can throw curses at each other, trying to keep each other from winning the game. The way to win? Beat the big bad boss at the end of course. He's not that hard to beat if you know what equipment to gather, and with a little bit of planned luck (like a spell that allows you to roll an automatic 6).

For our family, this game gets a 4.5 out of 5 stars.