Survivor board game

by Christian

(Pennsauken, NJ)

Game:
Survivor
Board game manufacturer:
Mattel
Number of players:
4-8

Quick verdict

As interesting as it is surprising, the Survivor board game mimics the idea behind the show as best as possible, without transporting the players out to a deserted island.

The game and gameplay

Back when the television show of the same name was at its television height: Rupert was winning the hearts of America, while Ryan was lying about a dead grandmother to win a challenge.

Survivor was what everyone talked about! So like any other fad in American culture, a board game was manufactured.

This was a game I was forced to buy back when my gang and I were on our board game kick. The joke had become, “Off the island!”, which could be heard all throughout my street.

In the beginning, players are merged into groups who play against another group. You can’t really call them teams, ’cause eventually the groups are separated into individual players who must play against one another. The game doesn’t support the idea of ‘team’ play.What looks like a neat board game is really a set up of a cheap, plastic island with four inlays to split up the 250 challenge cards. In the center is a ballot box and they even provide you the pencils to write in what unlucky soul is thrown off the island.

First, the Survivor board game players compete in group-styled activities where players choose a group leader who speaks for them. After a few rounds, no set given amount of time, the groups break up into individuals who then compete in guessing games, memory and Pictionary-style games as well as Scruples-based riddles.

Each winner gains a token which acts as various items used for survival, which may be applied to other future challenges. Then there is the infamous Immunity Stick, which excludes a player from the elimination at the tribal meeting where players vote for what players are booted from the island.

When two players are left, it comes down to the rest of exiled players to vote on who the one true survivor is in the game.

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Pros and cons

The Survivor board game is not highly recommended for anyone under the drinking age. The Survivor board game reflects the time when adult board games were all the rage.

Personally, I need a six pack to play this game. Its rule book is flaky at best, which means if you have never seen an episode of the show then you’re lost as to how the game is run.

Not to mention, the challenges aren’t even challenges. If anything, the game humiliates those who fail the activities, ’cause of the sheer simplicity of what the game considers a challenge.

I must find a saving grace for the game. I would have to say as much as it doesn’t promote teamwork, it sure does bring a group of people together on a boring Saturday night.

The verdict

As weak as the challenges are in the Survivor board game, they still represent good fun and I believe that was what the game designers were shooting for, good fun masked with a vicious bloodthirsty television show for its base. Go figure.