Landmarks

Although the story of Landmarks is that you are stuck on an island, looking for treasure before finding the exit, really this is a really more a word-association game than an immersive adventure. One player – the Navigator – knows where the treasures and traps are in landscape, and it’s their job to guide the others.

The board – actually a cloth – shows the island itself, but set-up is randomised by a deck of cards: the navigator player uses one of these cards but only they can look at it. Each card gives you three starting words and specific hexes the words start on: from there, the navigator will try and guide their team-mates to the correct hexes (treasure to collect, water to replenish the limited tile supply; eventually, the exit) whilst hoping to avoid traps (which negate water) and curses (which force you to lose the game, although you can negate one curse with an amulet).

Unlike traditional navigation such as maps or even just looking and pointing, the navigator will write a word on a tile and give it to their team-mates, hoping they’ll put it on the board in the right place. The navigator’s job is tricky because this is their only mode of communication: no clueing or face-pulling aloud! Their team-mates look for connections between their new word and the words already on the map, before placing it. Then the navigator reveals what they have found and the effect – if there is one – gets activated. Ideally, the goal is to collect all three treasures before making the exit, but if tiles are running out then two or even one treasure could be considered a victory of sorts – at least you got out alive!