The Ultimate Game

Review by Kerry Lloyd

Designed by Joseph Gubocki
Written by Edward J. Kopp
Ideal Ideas Co. PQ Box 25577, Chicago, IL 60625
Released: July, 1984
Catalog No.: G-1001
Price: $19.50
Complexity: Experienced
Solitaire Suitability: Low

It is indeed a tragedy when one receives a beautifully produced game and is unable to play it because one cannot understand the rules. The Ultimate Game has one of the most finely-illustrated gameboards it has ever been my pleasure to own, and other excellently designed components; but in three weeks of reading the rules and trying to understand them so a session (requiring a minimum of four people) could be organized, I have failed miserably.

The Ultimate Game is packaged in a 26" long, 2" diameter tube. An interesting logo of the outlines of the six player-symbols dominates the background, black printed in white. Inside can be found the magnificent gameboard, six board stock tokens with which to identify the players with plastic stands to hold them upright, six pawns for movement on the board, two regular dice and a special "magic" die with four red sides and two black, a dice cup (one of the players is apparently supposed to conceal and lie about the results of his rolls), and $2,000,000 in assorted bills ranging from $50 to $50,000. Also included is a 24-page 5/2" x 8" rules book and six (one for each of the six player-symbols) supplementary four page folders of the same size. The quality of the components is quite good, particularly the gameboard poster, a 24" x 36" surrealistic painting covering various broadly defined portions of reality and, I suspect, some portions of fantasy and supernatural belief as well.

The game requires a minimum of four players, and six appears to be both the maximum and the optimum number for a game. Unfortunately, despite the attempts me and my friends to decipher the rules, we were unable to get a session of play arranged. The rules are "organized" according to some plan which I am unable to decipher, with portions of the rules being placed in various and assorted areas, including the six supplementary rules folders. If we had ever been able to get a session started, I'm sure the game would have presented an enjoyable challenge, but....

For someone willing to spend the time to study the rules, or for someone who wants an excellent poster for his wall and is willing to pay for it (the basic set costs $19.50), The Ultimate Game could have value. For the average gamer, it would be an expensive luxury.

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