Cool Toy Of The Week: Darkness Falls On Sevinpold

If you enjoy board games with elements of fantasy and sword and sorcery, but you don't want to invest half your life into learning the rules and playing them, then Darkness Falls On Sevinpold is the game for you.

This is a great board game that up to six people can play. It depicts a classic battle between good and evil, and a quest to reunite a scepter with the Castle Of The Living Throne. Set in the mystical land of Sevinpold, gameplayers explore 32 castles looking for treasures to help them complete their quest. The good guys are The Valiant. One player in each game represents The Darkness (not to be confused with the band, The Darkness), and commands up to 10 evil game pieces. The Good guys each control one Valiant piece, but they work as a team, so that if six people are playing, it's possible for five to win. This sort of team play is unique in the board game world.

You get all the trappings of a Dungeons and Dragons-like game, but you can play Darkness Falls On Sevinpold in 30 minutes. It's got enough variables to make repeated play fun, but you don't have to hold marathon gaming sessions in order to enjoy it. Plus, it's great for kids, who can grasp the rules fairly quickly. The Sevinpold website has a short tutorial on the rules that you can watch to get an idea of how the game plays.

You can order Darkness Falls On Sevinpold directly from their website, but it can also be found at Amazon.com and other online board game retailers. It'll set you back $30 plus shipping, but it could be a great addition to a family game night, and it might keep junior away from the X-Box.