Bushbuck Charms, Viking Ships and Dodo Eggs is a marvelous educational game from the early nineties. The game is premised on an international treasure hunt, with the treasures being odd cultural objects such as a "plate of Kartoffelpuffers," (potato pancakes from Leipzig, Germany) or a "Calpac" (a felt hat from Ankara, Turkey). The game serves not only to teach geography, but also to teach select tidbits of culture and history from each of the countries and cities to which the gamer travels. This is a very odd and unique edutainment title.
There are three difficulties: beginner, intermediate, and advanced; and three modes of play available - one player alone, one player with a computer competitor, and two players. If you choose to play with a computer competitor, you'll be facing Frenchman Pierre in beginner, a Russian lady by the name of Natasha in intermediate, and a tricky, circumspect German aristocrat named Otto in advanced. Each character is fun and unique in his or her own way.
Basically, the game begins in a randomly selected city which becomes the home base of the competition, and a list of five items available to find are posted (there are fifteen items to seek per round). You, as the player, have to fly from city to city gaining information and
collecting clues as to the whereabouts of the cultural treasures you seek. It is very Carmen Sandiego-esque, without the V.I.L.E. henchmen. Each treasure is tied to its respective city, and won't appear anywhere else. Once you have found one or more of these exotic treasures, you head back to the home base city to turn in the treasures for points and plane tickets. You begin the round with a specific number of tickets (sixty in beginner, fifty in intermediate, and forty in advanced), and each ticket will give you one flight between two cities.
In order to actually get your treasures, methods differ from level to level. As a beginner, you are given a thermometer-like gauge that gets "warmer" as you get closer. In intermediate, this gauge has been replaced by a button with an eye which lights up when you're in the same city as a treasure, allowing you to click the eye to retrieve the item. In advanced mode, the eye no longer lights up, so you must check the city you think your item is in by pressing the eye when you land.
As well as dealing with your competitors, and seeking clues, you will have to contend with weather, having to decide whether or not to take the risk of flying into storms and typhoons, or taking the long way around and risking your chance of getting to the treasure first. If you unsuccessfully attempt to fly through a storm, it'll cost you one to three tickets to pay for plane damages, and will rough up any on-board items, causing them to lose point value.
The game is great fun, but it is important to note certain features which were accurate at the time, but are no longer, due to the time the game was made. Not only is the USSR still on the map, bur Czechoslovakia is also still intact. Overall, however, it details countries and their heritages that are still valid, today.
This is certainly a great game for players of any age and great throwback for those of us who played it as children. Full of valuable cultural information for countries all over the world the game is informative and fun - get ready for the hunt!
