Kids love dragons. Not sure why. Like a mythical disaster capitalist, they’ll lay waste to entire communities and then horde all their wealth to themselves.
And who could have predicted (do we still have to say SPOILERS for Game of Thrones? Surely everyone’s caught up by now and/or decided it’s best not to ruin a good thing by watching the last few episodes? Anyway, SPOILERS) that the nice lady who toasted all her friends and enemies alive could turn out to be such a wrong’un.
So they’re not exactly the best role models. And you’re going against a pretty big one in this game from the mid-00s.
But it’s not the bad guy. You are, for you’re intending to break into its home, steal its cash, followed by nicking its unborn children. You absolute rotter.
Straight from opening the box this becomes E’s new favourite game. The motorised green dragon makes for a scene-stealing centre-piece, incorporating a similar movement to those jointed plastic toy snakes that has made for many a stocking-filler.
While we wait to get new batteries, she’s wandering round the home wiggling the dragon’s neck around.
Once the batteries are located, the game is, on paper, pretty simple. A standard old-school roll-and-move with a literal twist and some bog-standard decisions to make to get a blue and red gem back to the lair entrance; these can then be used to unlock the dragon’s lair to steal its golden eggs.
However, the dragon will attempt to recover its treasures and a roll of a three or five will cause it to be activated and thrash its head wildly about.
First to get the eggs back to the entrance wins.
And look at the damage this bad mother-fryer can do, who... well OK, isn’t that vicious. It flails about and just knocks things off the top of your head, which, considering that’s its kids you’re trying to steal, is getting off lightly.
It’s a fun game, for kids, but the gameplay is a little unclear. The instructions, like a bewildering number from this era, are poorly written. Do you take the gems back to the entrance, then to the chamber entrance? Are you supposed to do this one at a time? Where are you supposed to put the gems once they’ve been knocked off? Either I’m still none the wiser, or don’t think the official rules make for the most fun.
So you have to make up your own house rules a bit. For example, we place the gems back on the nearest space to which they rest, which may be good or bad luck for the person who had it knocked off. In the example in the video above, it’s pretty good luck.
Also, once the eggs are taken from the chamber, it’s a free for all and anyone can steal them by landing on the same space, as the new owner, or being lucky if they fall off in the right place. So don’t expect too much strategy or sense as to the outcome.
But no matter: even if the too-often-used retro plot line of ‘pinch things that don’t belong to you’ isn’t cool, dragons are. Especially green, battery-operated ones with a twisty neck and a terrible sense of home security.
E’s review
What do you like best about the game?
“The dragon and it is knocking you over”
Is it tricky?
“Yeah, really difficult”
Marks out of 10
“10”
My review
Advised age range
6+
Set-up time
A couple of minutes
Price
About £15-£20 for a complete game on eBay
Practicality
The box isn’t that big for a vintage game. Requires 3 AA batteries. It makes a bit of noise, but only for a few seconds at a time.
Fun for parents
For such a simple game, complete with outdated roll-and-move mechanics, the rules are bewildering and not helped by unclear instructions. But that dragon’s a show-stopper. And the kids are going to love it.