Review of the board game The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit… This sentence begins the great literary adventure of the esteemed Mr. Bilbo Baggins, penned by the master J. R. R. Tolkien. Everyone who has had the pleasure of reading The Lord of the Rings has surely reached for this slim volume eventually (or was it the other way around for you?), from which Peter Jackson drew inspiration for three feature films released between 2012 and 2014 (beloved by some, reviled by others – everyone has their own opinion on that). Thanks to playing this Hobbit game, I even dove into the extended editions for the first time and was truly amazed.

The Hobbit has been around many times, long before the live-action films, for instance as animated attempts (one of them even directed by the Czech-American Adolf Born in 1966). You can play as hobbits on the Playstation 2, and a few board games have already been released in Czech. We just love hobbits.

A new dice game from Middle-earth

This year, thanks to Asmodee, a new roll-and-write dice game The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey arrived in the Czech Republic, designed by Reiner Knizia, a well-known German game creator with many titles under his belt (e.g., Keltis or Euphrat & Tigris). Today, we’ll take a look at how it plays and how beautiful it looks.

In this game, you draft dice, and thanks to their symbols, players create paths, collect resources, and perform magical or burglar actions that help them meet the victory conditions.

If you love rolling dice, are obsessed with Middle-earth, and enjoy good games that also look beautiful, this is the right game for you.

Visuals that capture the heart

This game catches your eye immediately with its visuals. On the box, you look through the door of Bag End at the Lonely Mountain, while a brave hobbit sets off on a journey. The game components are also a feast for the eyes – the game is for up to 4 players, so each person gets their own adventure guide, which is a beautiful laminated book with a truly fairy-tale charm and eight scenarios that players work through together. There is also a solo mode.

Besides these, the box contains dry-erase markers, a set of dice, tokens for bread, swords, and pinecones, a token for solo play, and a twelve-sided die. The whole set feels pleasantly minimalist and is compact enough to take on your travels – easily just with the booklets, dice, and markers.

Eight chapters of the Hobbit expedition

The game is divided into 8 chapters, and as a player, you will work your way through all the major challenges that Bilbo faced on his journey. From connecting the dwarves with Bag End to trolls, goblins in the Misty Mountains, riddles in the dark, spiders in the forest, and finally the confrontation with Smaug the dragon. Everything is beautifully chronological, just like in the book.

The Hobbit is also a competitive game, which can be tricky. When another player meets a chapter condition before you, the game ends – and your dwarves might stay hungry while your opponent celebrates victory.

Simple rules, clever tactics

The game system is clear and easy to understand. You roll five dice with symbols for paths, resources, and actions. You choose one die, draw a path or gain a resource, and then the others choose. The last player without a die becomes the starting player for the next round.

Bread is used to feed the dwarves, swords to solve dangers, and Gandalf's hats allow for spells and special actions. In addition, you can use the burglar action, which allows you to exchange a die for other resources according to the chapter rules.

A flexible game for an evening or a whole day

Rounds repeat until someone meets the chapter goal, then points are tallied. The game is very flexible – you can play one chapter in an evening or go through all eight scenarios in one day and experience a full-fledged Hobbit expedition.

Each chapter brings new conditions, a different focus on resources, and sometimes a change in mechanics – for example, the chapters with Gollum use a twelve-sided die and specific shapes for drawing.

Solo and multiplayer

In the solo variant, the number of turns is limited, which significantly increases the tension and difficulty. In multiplayer, the game feels more relaxed, offering space for tactics, planning, and light teasing – especially when the bread you need just won't roll.

During your first playthrough, you will also experience the joy of discovery that each new chapter brings. If you still haven't had enough of Hobbit expeditions, set off on the journey with Bilbo again. Smaug is still waiting there.

author Jana Mrkvicová