Long before The Lord of the Rings was written (the movies were still decades away), J.R.R. Tolkien sent Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit, along with a company of thirteen dwarves on a quest to retrieve their dragon-guarded mountain and treasure, and now LEGO has given us The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey board game to journey through.
SPOILER: it is in The Hobbit that Bilbo finds the ring!
Take it from a first-hand Tolkien nut that played this board game at its New York Comic Con 2012 premiere, The Hobbit LEGO game is a great way to involve kids (Ages 7+) in the greatest tale crafted in the twentieth century.
Before the hunt for the Lonely Mountain’s secret door and a way to defeat the infinitely strong and wicked dragon Smaug, LEGO Bilbo must come his furry hobbit toes and search the Shire for Gandalf and his dwarven companions, because . . . alas . . . he has woken late to start on his journey.
The LEGO board game includes a nice pivoting board – for multiple set-ups – that can be set up with Hobbiton once and it will stay in place (so you do not have to rebuild the Shire over again and again).
The object of the memory journey here is to remember where Gandalf and the dwarves are hiding out in and find your companions before they have drunk too much ale.
Who can get the most dwarves the fastest amongst myriad obstacles, traps, and tricks?
Please let me play it