Emperor's Challenge (1986)

Overview

There once lived an emperor who had ruled wisely over his kingdom for 33 years. But the emperor was tired and ready to retire. So one morning he summoned his children. "I am prepared to hand over the kingdom to one of you.", he said. "But first, you must pass a test --the same test I passed, and my father before me, and my grandmother before him. You must go out into the land and find four Jewels of Justice and a crown which I have hidden. You must uncover the Ruby of Love, Emerald of Faith, Sapphire of Wisdom, Amethyst of Truth and the Crown of Enlightenment. The first of you who finds these precious objects and brings them to me will have demonstrated worthiness. This is the one who will rule the kingdom". Not wanting to be recognised by their enemies and delayed in their quest, the children disguised themselves as sage old men. And, leaving the safety of the castle, they ventured out into the world --each with a guardian dragon, each hoping to be the one who returned with the four Jewels of justice and the fabulous Crown of Enlightenment.

The object of the game is to find a Crown of Enlightenment and one of each color of the four Jewels of Justice and return to home base with them. The first player to do so inherits the kingdom and wins the game.

The rules include several variants.

Also included are rules for "Emperor's Chess", which is considerably different, and two more two-player games (The Emperor's Secret and Sage & Dragon Sets).

Lovely bits.