Barter resources in hell, and defeat Lucifer to win. All player tokens begin on distinct resource spaces on level one. A dice roll determines which spaces will produce one of four colors of resources for their occupants. Roll a seven, and a demon enters the board to harass players until a specified dice roll defeats it. Spend resources to add a token, move a token, descend a level, or gradually build the second through eighth levels of hell by adding a tile at a time. Wise spending is hellishly difficult, for you may only amass up to nine of each resource.

Lucifer alone stands on the ninth circle of hell; eventually, he will be conquered by a plucky player with a lucky dice roll. Patient speed demons will fare well in this game.

First up -- my official review would be 3 and a half stars. Here's why...

Art -- The art on the pieces, the box, the tiles (especially the tiles) and the tokens is beautiful. I have never seen colour that rich and vibrant ever before in a game.

Rules -- Very thorough, very well written. There were a couple discrepancies but we worked through them.

Pieces -- Poor to Good. They used cheap little cardboard squares to mark how many resources you have. As well, the little tracks you use to move your resource counters are packed too tight. It is very easy by accident or 'by accident on purpose' for a marker on 3 to become a a marker on 5. The miniatures are wonderful with lots of detail. Lucifer looks so real I thought I heard him talk.

Play -- The play is sort of a Settlers of Catan hybrid. If you get the right rolls you get certain resources. However, you need certain recipies made from each of the four types of resources to do certain things. To move an opponent costs one blue, but to reroll a die costs one resource of each colour. This is very well done.

However.... The resource aquisition is too slow -- no matter how many people we played by the end we were begging Lucifer to let ANY player win so the game would be over. Solutions involve extra start resources or bonus resources for each roll. I don't know.

As well, the game says 3-6 players. We tried it with 2 players. It worked just as well (slow).

All in all I believe there is a great design mind or team behind this game. Although this one wasn't a smash hit, it showed enough creativity and beauty that I look forward to their next one.

Zoz

P.S. For obvious reasons (lust, greed , demons, lucifer, killing etc.) this game should be considered at least PG-13.

Our gaming group tried this game one time... we fought our way through half a game (and I had to beg the group to go that far - the gameplay in this game is atrocious), and now the box is on its way to the city dump. It was that bad.