There's nothing quite like a good old-fashioned board game, is there? In The Great Desert Race, you'll be able to join Tomos, Nabile, Brucey B and Lady Osiri as they travel the suspiciously square-shaped Lost Desert avoiding sand traps, tug-o-wars, and hazards aplenty!
How to Play
In single-player mode, you and the computer control two characters each (you choose the characters). In multi-player mode, you can choose to play with up to three friends, each controlling one character; however, you cannot send your score. Multi-player mode here consists of you and your friends all sitting in front of the same computer; you cannot play together remotely.
To play, click the die in the corner of the screen. When the die is rolled, you must click your character (in multi-player mode) or may choose either character (in single-player mode) in order to move about the board. When reaching the end of the board, you must roll the exact number required to land on the last square; otherwise you will forfeit your turn.
Places and Hazards
As with all good board games, there are plenty of hazards to encounter as you make your way around the board.
Sand: Transports you to a different sand square on another section of the board.
Ummagine: By itself, it does nothing; if you land on the thief and have one of these, he will let you pass. Otherwise, you will miss a turn.
Thief: Sakhmet's leading vegetable-based thief
Stan is back - and he still wants that ummagine! (see above)
Red Whirlpools: Landing on one of these transports you, tornado-style, to the end of the row of whirlpools.
Bag of Neopoints: Awards between 5-15 NP (in-game only, not to your account!).
Food Items: Pick up any one of these and you can pass the Mummy without moving back two squares.
Map Piece: Does nothing on its own, but comes in handy at Sutek's Tomb (see below).
Sutek's Tomb: Go back to the start, unless you have the Map Piece, in which case nothing happens.
Coltzan's Shrine: Random outcome: lose a few Neopoints, gain a few Neopoints (You suddenly feel richer), or nothing happens.
Scamander: Moves up and down the board randomly each turn. If you land on it, a screen will pop up asking you to choose an exit. The result is random; either you move up 5 spaces, or lose food or Neopoints.
Using the whirlwind at the end of the board will deduct 60 points from your character's balance.
You'll receive 25 points upon completion of the game, so keep that in mind if you're aiming for a particular score. Otherwise, you can also quit at any time and keep the score you currently have.
Earning Points
You receive 1 point for each tile that a character travels forward (the number you rolled on the die). However, there are many additional ways to earn points in the game.
- Passing over a set of red whirlpools awards +5 points.
- Landing on a bag of Neopoints awards +5, +10, +15 or +20 points.
- Landing on Coltzan's Shrine can award +25-50 points, or lose -10 points (or do nothing).
- Just as you gain +1 point for each tile traveled forward, you lose -1 point for each tile traveled backwards due to an obstacle.
- You lose -60 points for being sent backward by the final whirlpool.
- You gain +25 points for reaching the final tile.
Strategy
Like most simple board games, The Great Desert Race doesn't entail a whole lot of strategy. As the winner is determined by points accrued in-game, and not necessarily by which character reaches the end first, it may be advisable to aim for bags of Neopoints, food items, et cetera.
If you wish to achieve a high score in the game, try to get one of your characters to the last square (but not out) first. Then, with the second character, keep going around the board. To do this you will want to land on the whirlpool square that is near the end of the board. If you cannot land on it exactly, just give the roll to your first character who hasn't finished, and do this until you can land on the whirlpool. The whirlpool will send you back to just before Tug-O-War. You then want your second character to land exactly on the Tug-O-War square. If you roll a 4, 5, or 6, you get another 100pts! Keep doing this until you achieve your high score. It can be quite time-consuming, but it is an easy trophy if you're patient. (Thanks to hi_im_liinda for this tip.)
