Jumanji Deluxe Game Review

Immediately evident about Jumanji Deluxe is the robust presence of the game board. It really is a striking facsimile of it’s on screen inspiration. It goes a long way for immersion, and gives off a feeling of quality. Open the board up and you’ll be greeted with very loud sound effects! This plays every time you open the board, which is cool, but an option to skip would have been appreciated. Once the music dies down, you can appreciate the excellent graphic design on this board. The illustration is chock-full of detail everywhere you look. The visuals alone make this edition of Jumanji truly live up to its deluxe label.

As for gameplay? It’s a simple concept at the core. Every player starts out in a corner of the board and rolls the two standard dice to move forward. The object of the game is to reach the center and yell Jumanji! This is a cooperative game, so if one player wins, so does everyone else. If one player loses all their hit points, everyone loses! It’s in your best interest to help everyone survive. Survive what you ask? Well, the jungle has many dangerous surprises for you. After moving, players press the green dome to find out what challenge awaits them in a display of visuals and sounds. It could be a riddle, which you’ll have to solve using visual clues on your challenge cards (which are scattered face up during gameplay.) Solve the riddle and pick up the corresponding card to see the challenge. The challenge may be to tell a relevantly themed story, a test of knowledge like naming or listing animals, or an act-it-out style challenge, like fleeing a hungry baboon. On occasion, events will occur, instead of riddles. Consult the game instructions to find out what each animal event entails. Succeed at the challenge to avoid losing life. You may even gain life, if you are skilled enough. Just hope you don’t encounter Hippo. Hippo just wrecks you, takes your life, and moves you back. That’s rough! Weather these challenges and make it to the middle of the board to escape, and win the game!

Jumanji Deluxe can be played by up to four people. If you have 3 people, then players can have 4 life points each instead of 3. Some challenges will require use of the four challenge dice, consult each card’s challenge to see what you need to roll for.