Escape from Pompeii

Pompeii is known for being the Roman city destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. The remains of residents of Pompeii were preserved by the ash that rained down on the city. Before the eruption of Vesuvius, Pompeii had been a thriving and prosperous Roman city. Its population has been estimated as between 10,000-20,000 inhabitants but only 1,150 bodies have been discovered in the archeological excavation of the site. That means around 90% of the population managed to escape from Pompeii on the first day of the eruption and before the city was engulfed by the volcano's deadly pyroclastic flow. This game from Exekias puts the 2-4 players in the position of the residents of Pompeii from the start of the eruption. Will you escape the city or will you perish?

Actually mere escaping is pretty easy - barely an inconvenience. You just have to reach one of the city gates. Escape from Pompeii is an old-style roll&move game where players roll two dice and move their player piece the number of spaces indicated on their dice. You roll, you move, you take the action on any space on which you land, and you flip one of the face-down volcano tiles that surround the board. The action spaces you might land on could include drawing an Event card or a Trivia card. Some Event cards apply just to the player that drew them; others apply to all players. Rest cards, which you can collect at the Baths and Amphitheatre, can be spent to give you immunity from a negative Event card effect. If you land on a Trivia space (space showing a question mark), another player should draw the card for you and read out the trivia question. If you get it right you get to roll an additional die (in effect, giving you an extra turn).

If the volcano tile you flip has text on it, that gets applied to the next player. You could therefore just make your way straight to the nearest gate and ensure your own safety. For you the game will be over; you'll have escaped from Pompeii but you probably won't have won the game. The game only ends when the last volcano file is flipped (after a total of 36 turns in a two-player game rising to 60 turns in a four-player game) and the win goes to the player who has escaped the city with the most 'Favour of the gods'.

You collect Favour by visiting locations on the board, picking up a card at that location, and delivering it to the appropriate temple. Winning therefore in Escape from Pompeii involves embarking on a series of pick up & deliver tasks. You want to keep going as long as possible to amass more Favour but you need to keep a weather eye on how many volcano tiles remain unflipped and try to ensure you have enough time (turns and remaining dice rolls) to make your escape.

Escape from Pompeii is a game where the tension certainly steps up as players perceive the end is nigh and they are left with a dilemma over how much to push their luck. Its core roll&move mechanic makes Escape from Pompeii accessible even to players who have never experienced a game any more complex than Monopoly but the pick up & deliver and push-your-luck elements make this a playable family game that can appeal to more hardened gamers, especially if you incorporate some of the optional rules suggested in the rulebook. We particularly appreciated the additional tension generated by the 'Tax the Rich' variant that introduced a fine of one Favour per turn for early escapees and 'Revoke the gods' variant that grants an instant win to a player who escapes holding two of each resource and Rest cards, eschewing the option of trading them in at the temples for Favour of the gods tokens. If you're going for this victory condition, however, you'll have to make do with just a single die each turn if you're weighed down by carrying more than five cards.

You can add more of a 'take that' element by playing with an optional rule extending the use of Rest cards so that they aren't just for protecting against negative Events but can also be played to cancel an Event that gives a benefit to an opponent. There's even a suggested option for replacing the roll&move mechanic with a movement checklist allowing players to choose how far they move and then crossing that number off the list so it can't be used again, tho' if you want to play with this option you may find it easiest to give each player a suit of traditional playing cards to use for their movement.

Escape from Pompeii is designed by Sam Rapier and Fin Stanbridge. Both have degrees in Classics and Ancient History, and their knowledge of the period comes through strongly in the game. Art is by Rob Ingle. The game plays in around 30-45 minutes, depending on the number of players. If you can't find Escape from Pompeii at your local games store, click here to order it direct from Exekias Games.

(Review by Selwyn Ward)

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