Travel the world with Expedition: Famous Explorers

Expedition Famous Explorers board game — Ready to travel world?

As we draw to the close of summer, many families are fondly looking back on their fun family vacations. Others are still trying to cram in a trip in the last weeks before kids head back to school.

Whether it’s still to come or just happened, family vacations can be a blast.

With a couple family reunions and our own special family vacation this year, we’ve had some great times together and have seen some great places.

In June we reviewed some fun family board games about traveling – the 10 Days series (10 Days in the Americas & 10 Days in Africa). And now we’re wrapping up summer with another fun family board game about traveling.

But this time we’re setting off on expeditions around the world with Expedition: Famous Explorers.

See how to play and what we think of the board game in Caleb’s video review:

Can the whole family enjoy Expedition: Famous Explorers?

One of the things we love about Expedition: Famous Explorers is that 6 people can play. And for a family of 6, that’s perfect. We can all join in the fun.

As you can see in the video review, the game play is very simple. Young kids can understand how to add a colored arrow to a route to extend it in a continuos direction. However, this is a game where players need to be able to read. So we don’t recommend it for young kids in the family.

But once they can read, they’re in.

The 3 Expeditions
Another element we like about the game is having 3 different expeditions heading around the world at a time (red, blue, yellow). All players can take part in each expedition by simply adding another colored arrow to that route, trying to influence the direction of travel.

All players are trying to get the expeditions to pass through a destination/location that match an Expedition card in their hand. If any of the 3 expeditions passes one of their destinations, they get a point. (It doesn’t matter who places the market that connects that location.) If it passes one of their destinations with their token on the board, they get 2 points.

Since a player’s destinations will be scattered all over the world, being able to influence 3 different expeditions is quite necessary.

And that’s what leads to a lot of strategy as well!

Because in addition to placing a route arrow on the board each turn, players can also turn in Tickets to place extra arrows. And if they place an arrow that leads to a green dot, they can immediately place another arrow.

String them together at the right time and you can dramatically change the direction of an expedition.

It’s really a lot of fun when you hear other players moan and complain about the new direction you’ve sent the expedition.

Tickets can also be used to remove an end arrow from any expedition, replace Expedition cards in your hand, or buy an Event or Explorer Card. (That last option is just when using the advanced rules.)

So many great locations
Of course, the game would be kind of dull if it was just connecting dots. What makes Expedition: Famous Explorers shine are the locations all over the world.

And every Expedition card has an explanation of that location or the person who first explored it.

Did you know that Qaanaaq is one of the northernmost towns in the world that was first settled in 2000 BC although the town wasn’t established until 1953?

Or that Vasco Nunez de Balboa was the first European to discover the Pacific Ocean?

And we had no idea that Icaria, Greece is known for having the highest percentage of inhabitants living past 90.

So even while you’re waiting for your turn, you can discover interesting things about the world and famous explorers.

Advanced Rules
Though Caleb didn’t cover it in his video review, the game includes some advanced rules of play as well. Playing with the additional rules adds in a bit more strategy. And since the additional rules really aren’t that difficult, we’d suggest playing with them most times.

Advanced play adds in Secret Destinations, Explorer Cards and Event Cards. The Explorer Cards grant bonus points for certain conditions and can be purchased using Tickets. Event Cards can also be purchased with Tickets and can grant advantages (deducting a point from the leader, drawing extra Expedition cards, placing extra arrows, or gaining an extra point).

Secret Destinations are placed face-down next to the 6 public destinations on display and can be peaked at by players when they reach a green dot (instead of placing an extra arrow). When that player places an arrow leading to a secret destination they’ve seen, they get another point.

Essentially, the advanced rules are great to play with if you’re looking for some added strategy to the game.

If you’re looking for a family board game that has you virtually roaming the world and dreaming of visiting far off places, then Expedition: Famous Explorers is for you.

Thanks 8th Summit and Cool Stuff Inc for Expedition: Famous Explorers.