Certain chambers have magic gem icons. Next to each gem icon is a combination of dice symbols – usually four keys or four torches. If you manage to roll those symbols while in the gem chamber, you ‘activate’ one gem. Take one gem from the gem depot and place it in the chamber. Congratulations – you’ve just made it easier to escape! To escape, you have to roll the number and one extra of ‘key’ symbols as there are magic gems left in the depot (i.e. if there were 5 gems left, you’d need to roll 6 keys to escape).

In addition, there are four special gem chambers. These allow you to activate 1, 2 or 3 gems – although for 2 or 3 you’ll need to roll 7 and 10 keys or torches respectively. If other players are in the same chamber as you, you can all contribute dice towards that total. So what are the mask symbols for…? Escape: The Curse of the Temple is real time game, which means you’re not going to be waiting patiently for your turn. Everyone’s going to be in a dice-rolling frenzy, all at the same time. I've played over a dozen times with many different players, and I haven't tired of it yet, and that's mostly playing the basic version. I've put in the Curses and Treasures modules, but I haven't even broken into the Illusions expansion other than to add the 6th player. Generally Escape isn't the only game I'll want to play on a game night, since I do like having something meatier for the main course, but it makes a great appetizer or dessert (or both). A golden mask – each such symbol counteracts two cursed masks, either your own or those of another explorer in the same room. Since it’s a cooperative board game, Escape is a great game to play with the whole family. While we don’t recommend it for kids under 5, we do recommend it for everyone else.Now that those rules are out of the way you’re probably asking ‘how do I play?’ It’s fairly simple; you roll dice. The game comes with some custom dice and each face represents an action you are able to perform or store.

Place the gem depot to the side with gems on it; the number of gems depends on the number of players. Also, place two gems next to the depot. Start the CD (or the sand timer) and you're ready to escape!We have people in our gaming group that don’t enjoy that aspect of it, but I find the immersive feelings integral to the experience. That’s the challenge: you don’t just have to escape, but you have to escape NOW. It was published in 2012, but we finally bought a copy this summer. And already it’s closed in on one of our most-played board games this year.

Escape: If you make it to the exit chamber, you must roll as many keys as there are gems left in the depot plus one — by yourself. So if there are two gems left in the depot, you must roll three keys to escape. If you escape successfully, you may give one of your dice to another player still in the temple and they can start using it immediately. After the door slams shut, you can continue to explore the temple, proceeding from the chamber where you're currently located. The third count- down starts with three bangs of a gong and ends with the sound of the temple collapsing; this signals the end of the game after exactly 10 minutes. First I’m going to say: buy this game. Buy it, because there’s nothing like it in your board game library and you WILL find this fun, trust me.While searching for the exit, the players will discover new chambers - but they'll need the right combination of adventurer, key and torch icons to enter and explore these chambers. Chaos PAP and Danu Statues: Treyarch, Pepergogo, Scobalula, DTZxPorter, Madgaz, HarryBo21, Frost Iceforge, Zeroy, Sonic the Hedgehog, Sphynx

Steam Park makes the list of board games like Escape: The Curse of the Temple because of the real time nature of the dice roll. When you are figuring out what actions you are going to take, you roll dice as many times as you want. Whoever stops first gets one of the best perks. That little dice rolling dexterity changes the mood of the game into one you want to stand to play instead of sit down. Escape: The Curse of the Temple is a real time game in which you and your fellow players have 10 minutes to escape a cursed temple before it collapses. You’ll achieve this by rolling your five dice, which will enable you to discover and explore the temple chamber by chamber. You'll activate magic gems to break the temple’s curse and then find the exit chamber and escape. Even though there are other cooperative board games that my group likes a bit more than Escape, it will definitely be staying in our collection since it works great as a filler game and it is one of the better cooperative family games out there. It also works quite well as a two-player game.The dice rolling mechanic is NOT just chance, you have to think twice and use strategy to cooperate with other players. Escape: The Curse of the Temple is a real time game in which you and your fellow players have 10 minutes to escape a cursed temple before it collapses. You’ll achieve this by rolling your five dice, which will enable you to discover and explore the temple chamber by chamber. You’ll activate magic gems to break the temple’s curse and then find the exit chamber and escape.