As strange as it may sound to those who have only experienced movies in the digital age, playing board games based on movies used to be the thing to do. In recent years, the fad has become popular again. If you want to get in on the action, here is a look at five board games that are based on popular movies that you can try your hand at.
1. E.T. the Extra Terrestrial
This is a comparatively simple strategy board game. Each player is supposed to collect several items E.T. needs in order to phone home. They do this by rolling a dice and moving about on the gameboard. Along the way, the players need to hide E.T. from parents, using a clever Halloween costume. Another quest is traversing the heavens on a magical bicycle. This board game is obviously designed for kids, but it provides for hours of fun.
2. 007 James Bond: Goldfinger
This is an intriguing game based on the 1964 James Bond movie: Goldfinger. However, the board game itself only came out in 1985. It is a strictly a two-player game. One player assumes the role of James Bond as he evades Odd Job and Korean Guards in his Aston Martin DB V.
The gameboard simulates the grounds of Auric Enterprises. The quest is to find the Tilly Masterson card before moving off the board to win. The Bond Aston Martin has several special weapons, along with a smoke screen, oil slick, and ejection seat. The player uses these to overcome four enemy cars.
3. Escape from New York
Escape from New York is a post-apocalyptic science fiction movie released in 1981. In the game, players assume the role of Snake Plissken, the main protagonist in the movie. The challenge is to locate the President of the United States, who is being held captive on what is the prison island of Manhattan. If the player cannot locate the president, they have a secondary quest of locating the cassette tape he had in his possession. Failing to accomplish either mission results in death. Two to four players can compete in the strategy game.
4. Star Wars: Rebellion
Star Wars: Rebellion is the most engrossing board game based on the epic Star Wars movie series. Two to four players can participate in this galactic faceoff of the fledgling Rebel Alliance against the might of the Galactic Empire. As the player on the Imperial side, you have the chance to control swarming masses of stormtroopers, squadrons of TIEs, or even the Death Star itself. With the might of the empire behind you, you have the challenge of rooting out the rebels by finding their base and obliterating it. The player on the rebels’ side will have to marshal dozens of rebel troopers, Corellian corvettes, T-47 airspeeders, and fighter squadrons. Vastly overwhelmed by the might of the imperial forces, the rebel player must quickly build interplanetary alliances, sabotage the imperial industrial war machine, and steal valuable intelligence.
5. The Godfather: Corleone’s Empire
Filled with just as much intrigue and murder as the thrilling crime movies it is based on, The Godfather: Corleone’s Empire is a board game fit for every collector. Two to five players can participate in this strategy game. Each player is assigned a small mob of uniquely sculpted miniatures. The miniatures consist of family members and henchmen. Rival players compete for control of key areas of New York, and make use of resources like money, jobs and, of course, henchmen who perform the dirty work.
