Rush Hour

Review by Lee Enderlin

The Everyday Game Company, P0. Box 808, Purcellville, VA 22132
Released: 1981
Catalog No.: 101
Price: $15.95
Complexity: Beginner
Solitaire Suitability: Good

In RUSH HOUR, the idea is to drop off your carpoolers and get to work before the other players. That description is pretty bland, but then, too, so is the game. The components are put together well--a mounted mapboard, four sets of uncoated cards (one set denotes the passengers and their destinations, the other three are various random events which are quaintly printed on red, yellow, and green stock), a pair of dice, and six generic plastic pawns. Cars would obviously have been more appropriate, but small companies have to cut corners somewhere and custom plastic injection molding is very expensive.

The map is cleverly arranged in several segments: the Neighborhood jaunt, the Suburban Gauntlet, the Interstate 500, and the Inner City The sole decisions to make in the game are whether to take the Suburban Gauntlet or the Interstate 500 (longer, but faster), or which Inner City streets to take (although many of them are one-way and vour decision is made for you).

The rules are simple, taking up only 2 1/2 pages of a four-page 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" booklet. Optional rules take another page.

Play consists of rolling dice, moving the number indicated, and following the directions on the space. Some of these will cause you to lose or gain spaces, a turn, etc. Since there is no money in the game, there are only a very limited number of ways to penalize or reward players. This limitation makes it all pretty boring.

There are some cute touches to the game such as getting a bumper sticker in the package (which has nothing to do with play, but advertises the game) or determining the first player. After rolling to see who is high roller, the winning player must then 11 offer to yield the right of way to the driver on his immediate right ... by frowning and making impatient gestures with his hand." This player then has the option of going first or yielding the right of way again.

The random events cards called Hazard, Caution, and Turmoil generally have the same results as the spaces, although the circumstances described can be amusing. A few cards are Bribe-A-Cop which translates as Get Out of jail Free.

The problem with RUSH HOUR is that it is a hybrid; it is neither a child's game nor an adult game. For adults, there is very little to hold their interest beyond two games. indeed, the sole reason for playing that often is that some of the events which can happen are kind of funny Once the jokes have been read, however, there is nothing to draw you back. There is simply no substance to this game-no decisions to make, no Special knowledge requiired, no risks to take, no suspense. Everything is controlled by the luck of the die roll.

Although at first glance, RUSH HOUR appears to be perfect for an evening, I believe that much more than adult jokes are required to make a game of it. For example, players are given both cop-bribing and drug references as play options. One can lose a turn while one of your passengers attempts to buy some marijuana and another when one passenger makes an obscene gesture at a cop. There is another card in one of the decks that penalizes you a turn while you discuss sex with your commuters.

RUSH HOUR's game mechanics are suited to the five-to-ten-year-old crowd; however, there is simply nothing there for anyone older.

The Everyday Game Company missed the mark with this one because it couldn't resist the temptation to glorify adult situations which are inappropriate for a younger market. (Oddly, there are no references to drunk driving.) Without those references, I could have recommended this game highly as a family game. However, they opted to make it an adult game even though it is nothing more than a mindless dice-rolling exercise. Pass it by. I gave it the extra 1/2 star only because I've played a game, currently on the market, that is even worse.

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