To avoid confusion lets start with the title. Elfenland is the base game and Elfengold is the expansion, which adds to the base game but makes it play many times better. For this reason this review is of the expanded Elfengold game play and I would recommend that you play with the expansion if at all possible. Ok that's settled. Elfengold was created by an industry guru in Alan Moon. The premise is simple like most good games. Each player is an elf embarking on a trial to adulthood. The aim is to visit as many of the 20 elvish cities as possible in only 6 game turns, using a variety of weird and wonderful transportation. Transport options include dragons, magic clouds, troll wagons, unicorns, wild pigs, elf cycles, ferries and wizards. The cities are dotted all over the game board and various terrains must be travelled through to reach each one. However each of the transport choices can only be used in certain terrains and even then some terrains are more expensive to travel through with some transports than others. The main game mechanic is the selection of transportation used to travel to the various cities. In order to travel a particular route a legal transport token for that terrain must be placed on it and the player must have the matching transport card in their hand. To ensure things are not too simple, each turn sees each player only receive two transport tokens to place on the board. The active player for the round then draws a further 8 random transport tokens. Each player must then bid on these tokens in an auction and of course the transport cards in their hands (between 1-6 usually) will dictate to a large degree which ones they require most. Their position on the board and the terrains that surround them are also an important consideration. Once all transport tokens have been purchased or passed up, players in turn can place these tokens on any given route. The aim being to create a continuous route to as many of the elvish cities as possible each turn. Once a route has been assigned a transport token, another one cannot be placed there by another player. This lends the game much of its strategy as players aim to limit the travelling options of their opponents whilst at the same time try to make best use of their tokens and those of others that may be within travelling distance. Each city has a value, which each player receives in the form of gold pieces for reaching it and these are used in future auction situations. At the end of turn 6 the best travelled elf wins.

Elfengold is an extremely fun game to play and it so well balanced that winning is usually a close run affair, which keeps all players interested to the end. The map's design is very stimulating and has been intricately created to offer player's immeasurable travelling options. The inclusion of hazard tiles allows the players to inhibit the best-laid plans of their opponents and as such these invoke fierce bidding wars at auction time. Elfengold can be learned in under 30 minutes and promises many years of enjoyment for gamers of all ages and experience levels.