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Do you know what I love? The world. Yep. Big fan, can’t get enough of it. You know what else I love doing? Having a look at it. Now, day-to-day life is good - we’ve got these fantastic board game things to keep us entertained - but every once in a while it’s good to have a change of scene, recharge the batteries, liven up the brain, fill your phone with photos you’ll never look at again. Well, let me introduce you to Trekking The World from Underdog Games, the ideal game for folks like you and I - and it’s live on Kickstarter right now.
Take on the role of a seasoned globetrotter as you race to visit new landmarks, have delightful encounters, and gain powers. Race your family and friends across the world in this competitive, strategic, and fun adventure! Easy to learn, exciting, and accessible for all levels of gamers. We spent years testing combos and powers to create the ultimate fun adventure.
A lot of you will recognise this game from its first edition, and certainly some of you will own it. So this is old news, right? Um, nope. In this second edition the design team have gone through every aspect of this game from the ground up. This isn’t a couple of tweaks or an upgrade to the game pieces or an expansion stuffed in with the original. They’ve gone through several hundred playtests, read thousands of reviews on Amazon and analysed the comments, good and bad,
In the team’s own words:
In 1st Edition, you manage a hand of cards and the rules tell you how you can spend them. Now in 2nd edition, the hands are gone. Instead, you start your turn by choosing an itinerary card which tells you three things you’ll do on the current leg of your journey:
- Move across the world map
- Withdraw money from your bank account
- If you’re in a certain location, get one or two souvenirs
However, where you can move, the amount of money you withdraw, and the number and type of souvenirs you can get are all different from card to card, and balanced between one another.
This creates variety and nuance, and also feels a little more thematic because an itinerary is a real thing in travel and an abstract hand of cards isn’t.
My initial thought here is that the sense of immersion in the game world should be a dramatic step up from the 1st edition. The itinerary will give your journey a feeling of purpose, and make your aims in the game very personal. We all have those places we want to visit and those activities we want to do when on holiday, so I think this is an excellent thematic change.
An example of another change that seems small, but which actually makes a big difference: in the original version, the encounter element of the cards was written in the 3rd person. This time around, it’s written in the 2nd, which puts you – the player – in the heart of the gameplay.
A third example: In the original version of Trekking the World, there are special “power” cards called Journey Cards. Two are available every game, and you can activate each whenever you want, by paying cards out of your hand.
After the game was launched the team found – from reviews and the results of playtest observations - that many players ignored the Journey Cards, despite their strategic value, apparently due to loss aversion. 1st edition has a “tight” card economy where players often feel short on cards. Consequently many feel like they can’t “afford” to activate Journey Cards. This issue limits the game's variability, as Journey Cards are the main source of game-to-game variability.
In the new version of Trekking the World, Journey Cards are replaced with Encounter cards. At all times, there are 4 Encounter cards available. Each represents something that can happen to you in your travels at a certain location, and each gives you a special power. When you travel to that location, you get that card, for “free”. It’s a physical object that becomes yours, and only you can have its power.
This isn’t all, far from it. There will be a solo mode out of the box, the basic components will get improvements, such as the suitcase element getting a redesign to better hold the cubes that track your progress, the fab artwork on the cards will be more visible than before, the rulebook will be shorter and clearer, and on, and on.
The team have a blog on their website which is surprisingly and entertainingly open about their plans for 2024 and the reasons behind them, and it’s a recommended read that takes you deep into their design decisions. They’re looking to take what was good in their games and rework them so that good becomes great.
A final note about their campaign, and it’s something I’m particularly pleased about: there’s only two levels of reward. You can get the game, or you can get the game with an additional mini-expansion for a small amount extra. Brilliant. No fretting about missing out on slightly better player pieces in some super deluxe edition. You want the game, you get the game.
So, what are you waiting for? Trekking The World 2nd Edition is live on Kickstarter NOW, go there, get that: 🌍 Trekking the World 2nd Edition & Bucket List Expansion by Underdog Games — Kickstarter You can also catch up with the team here at their website: Trekking the World (2nd Edition) (underdoggames.com) And here on Instagram: Underdog Games (@underdog.games) • Instagram photos and videos
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