Hello, this blog post is about a book I read and the board game I made based off of it.
The book I read is called: The Unexplainable Disappearances Of Mars Patel, by Sheela Chari. The book is about a group of friends, Mars, Caddie, Toothpick, and JP who go on an adventure in search for their friends, Jonas and Aurarah, who go missing. The friends find out that the multi-tech billionaire, Oliver Pruitt has been stealing kids from all over the world and they believe he is holding them at his elite school, Pruitt Prep. The story is not as simple as it seems and this is what makes it a great adventure!
I really enjoyed this book because of the suspense and the twists and turns. I chose to create a board game so that my friends could experience the excitement of the book, but better, because they would be able to go on the journey to the school Pruitt Prep in the game. The board game connects to the book because at every turn of the game, a podcast is read out from the book so the players know where in the adventure they are. At the end of the game you make it to Pruitt Prep.
This game connects to my book in the following ways: it has a podcast at every turn. Just like in the book, whenever there is a big twist, there is a podcast. When you get to the end of the game there is this big building figure Pruitt Prep (I made the entire thing), and on some of the battle cards (to be explained shortly), there are obstacles straight out from the book like drones or sulking.
Here’s how you play my board game: you start off with an introduction that is read, telling you that your friends Jonah and Emily are missing, after that you listen to a podcast from out of the book. Once you are done listening to the podcast you each get your own dice and whoever rolls the highest number goes first. The dice is a standard six sided dice. Depending on what you roll will determine how far you go on the board, but if you land on a square with two boxes filled in it means that you have landed on a battle card square. If you land on a battle square it means you will have to pick up a battle card from the deck. Each card is different, some relate to the story and tell you where to move on the board, depending on what happens on the card, and some make you ‘battle’ it out with your dice. As you make your way through the game at every turn there will be a weird looking box. Everyone must stop at that box, no matter what number is rolled, because there will be another podcast for you to hear. When you start to reach the end of the game the boxes get smaller till you make it to the school Pruitt Prep (the coolest school on the planet, at least in my opinion). Once you get inside the school, the game ends and the winner gets an envelope. You want to know what’s inside? Get to the end of the game and find out!
If I was starting this project again, I would spend more time planning the game because I felt it was a little rushed. I also think that I should have decorated it a little more because I think it looks too bland. Finally, I think I should have added more types of battle cards, like “you all start to feel like a family with you and your friends and you feel the happiest, Jim move up 3 spaces.”
Overall, I think that it is an amazing book and game because there are twists and turns and the suspense will drive you crazy! Playing my game might even make you want to actually read the book! Thank you for reading. To the stars!
