Destination Unknown - A Review

Destination Unknown is a car game put out by the company Skiddley Games. The general premise of the game is to go to a city you want to explore, but have no preconceived plans of where you are going to go and what you want to do. Using a deck of playing cards that offer instructions on where to go you follow the directions until you go through the deck and then explore. The artwork on the cards, is beautiful by the way, and actually that is what got my attention when I saw an ad for this game on my social media feed.

As you are following the directions, you are also looking for places of interest. You follow the directions until you go through the deck and then you stop and explore wherever you end up. 

The premise is pretty good, but the logistics aren't as easy to make happen as one would assume. For example some of the cards call for you to tail a certain vehicle, but often it can be difficult to follow a specific vehicle. And going through the whole deck of cards could require quite a commitment of time.

Another thing is this particular game seems to have been created for use in European countries, some of the verbiage and card directions are better suited for those areas than the United States.

I'd like to share our experience as my husband and I played this game. We went to the city of Springfield, MO. It is about an hour and a half away from Green Forest, AR where we live. There are lots of things to do and many, many places to explore. It is a perfect location to play Destination Unknown.

We began the game as soon as we came in the city limits of Springfield, MO.... well after we stopped at our much beloved favorite stores: Hobby Lobby, Mardels, and Barnes and Noble. But after our ritualistic shopping spree, we began our game. 

After about 30 minutes of playing the game, it became clear we would need to modify the rules and some of the cards' objectives. One of the first modifications we had to make was to include stops along the way. We began to create a pattern of five cards and then search for a place of interest.  This was fun, because we were forced to look at smaller mom and pop type stores that we normally would just overlook. 

One store we visited was called "Wild About Birds." Normally, we wouldn't really entertain this type of store as a necessary stop, but it seemed interesting, so we stopped in. I thought it might be a pet store specializing in birds or something, but I was a bit off...

Rather than it being a place that sold birds, it was a place that sold things like bird seed, bird houses, feeders, CD's of bird sounds, bird themed clothing...etc.... We didn't buy anything at the store, though we contemplated getting a hummingbird feeder and we may still do so in the future.

The next place we stopped at was a little store called Dogs and Cats. I guess we were on an animal kick or something during this trip. It was a nice little store, but what intrigued me was the gourmet doggy treats. I picked up a few for my dog, Sadie.

I foresee a Weekend Trip with Sadie in the future. This store had the gourmet treats, a dog washing station (upscale) it was like a little doggy spa, and offered grooming services as well.

The next rule we had to change happened shortly after this. We kept getting stuck wandering around residential areas. While some of the houses were unique to look at, they weren't really what I had in mind when I considered exploring the city. So we changed the rules to exclude residential areas unless they were specific to one of the clues on the card.

About this time, my husband and I were getting hungry and we had planned to eat at a nicer restaurant for our anniversary. As we followed the cards we searched for a suitable restaurant. We settled on a restaurant called, Hinode, a hibachi grill style restaurant.

After a delicious and fun meal, we went on exploring. We stumbled upon a National Cemetery. I didn't even know it existed. I have visited Springfield, Mo many times, but I guess because I wasn't really "looking" for sights of interest, I just missed it. But it was really quite a site and gave me a sense of national pride. We stopped to pay our respects to the service men buried there.  

The last rule we modified was the rule that the game keeps going until ALL the cards in the deck have been gone through. Instead, we gave ourselves a time we wanted to end our game and made sure that our last stop included a unique place of interest. Our Destination Unknown final destination was the Bass Pro Shop. Such a fun place to finish the game and end our wonderful day out.

This game is a good addition to a Staycation where families are trying to stick to a budget. I loved the unique idea behind the game. I also loved the artwork on the cards and enjoyed exploring places I wouldn't normally visit. Another feature I loved was the versatility, because it could be played in any decent sized city. But it wasn't as easy to execute as I had hoped and there were several times we had to make adjustments to the game. I also want to note that I own the base pack, but there is an expansion pack that includes an activity deck. I plan to get the expansion and see how that enhances the game.

I think it would also be fun, if there were Destination Unknown decks for specific cities and certain landmarks and different modes of transportation, especially unique ones, included in the deck.

While I would play the game again, I would probably give this game a rating of 4-5. Good, but there is room for improvement. 

I'd encourage you to try it for yourselves and leave a comment to let me know your thoughts.