“This secluded elephant pool has never before been seen by civilized man. And looking at everyone on this boat, it still hasn’t.”

“If you need to exchange foreign currency during your travels, don’t worry — there are banks all along these rivers.”

“Bamboo can grow to be six stories tall…although this bamboo looks about seven stories tall. But that’s a whole other story.”

These jokes probably sound very familiar if you’ve spent time aboard the Jungle Cruise ride at Disneyland or Disney World. 

And playing Disney Jungle Cruise Adventure Game by Ravensburger, you’ll get to tell a whole bunch more!

But telling jokes isn’t the crux of the game, it’s just a by-product. Instead, the game pits players against each other racing along the river, collecting cargo, and keeping their passengers safe.

Ready to captain your boat to victory?

 

How to play Disney Jungle Cruise Adventure Game

The objective of the Disney Jungle Cruise Adventure Game is to get the most points from safely carrying valuable cargo and families of passengers to headquarters.

To begin, each player gets their own boat player board and set of passengers. They arrange their passengers any way they’d like in the 4 sections of their boat — port, starboard, center and stern. They also place their corresponding boat marker on the starting space of the river. Then the race is on!

On a player’s turn, they can first choose to rearrange the passengers and cargo on their boat (it’s safer in the center of the boat). Then they roll the Speed die and move their boat marker ahead that many spaces.

Players then draw 4 Navigation cards from the deck. These cards represent dangers that may make players lose passengers or cargo. Players then “encounter” the number of dangers as spaces they moved. For example, if they moved 2 spaces, then they need to choose 2 of the drawn Navigation cards to face.

For each card, the player rolls the number of Peril dice equal to the danger level shown (red X’s on the card – 1, 2, or 3). For each resulting Peril symbol, the player must lose that many tokens from the indicated section of their boat. This could be either cargo or passengers. Any cargo lost is out of the game. Whereas passengers become “Lost Passengers” and are placed next to the board.

Along the river are Outpost and Clue spaces. If a player’s route passes by an Outpost or Clue space, they must stop.

When at an Outpost, if the player has an empty space on their boat, they may either take a Cargo token from the Outpost or pick up a Lost Passenger.

When at a Clue space, the player secretly looks at the Clue token in that space. Each Clue token shows one of the Family groups in the game. There is also 1 Clue token at Headquarters. Passengers from the Family named on this token are special — they’re worth more points. By looking at the Clue tokens in the Clue spaces, players can better guess which Family passengers will be worth the most points at the end of the game — and thus better choose which passengers to keep safe in their boat and pick up along the way.

When a player ends a move on an empty space in the river, they draw a random Lost & Found token and place it in their boat (if there’s room).

When a player reaches Headquarters at the end of the river, they claim a Tip token. When their turn comes around again, instead of taking a normal turn, they claim another Tip token. When the last Tip token is taken, the game immediately ends and players total up their points (Passengers, Cargo, and Tips).

The Clue token at Headquarters is revealed. Each passenger with this Family icon is worth 5 points. Each other passenger is worth 3 points. Each set of 3 different types of cargo is worth 10 points. Each set of 2 different types of cargo is worth 4 points. And each cargo that is not a part of a set is worth 1 point. Each Tip is worth the point value shown on it (1, 2, or 3).

The player with the most points wins!

 

Can the whole family enjoy Jungle Cruise?

Just like the Disney ride, the Jungle Cruise board game is totally targeted at family play. That’s how it’s meant to be played.

It’s a light game that’s mostly driven by the luck of the dice rolls. First is the rolling for movement. And second is the rolling for Peril. And that’s pretty easy for players of all ages to pick up on.

However, there’s also a deduction / guessing element involved in the game. Knowing that passengers from the special Family will be worth 5 points, players will benefit from looking at Clue tokens along the way to narrow down which may be worth the most points.

But the catch is that traveling to Clue spaces will take longer. So will taking shorter routes and skipping Clue tokens be beneficial is you get to Headquarters first and get more tips? Maybe you can just watch what other players, who are looking at the Clue tokens, are doing. Which Family passengers are they picking up along the way?

Or do you try to pick up more sets of Cargo for points?

So there are some decisions to make throughout the game, but they aren’t brain-burners. They’re simple choices that work well for families with young kids.

Another example of choices to make along the way is how to arrange your passengers and tokens in your boat.

Players draw 4 Navigation cards each turn and only face the number of spaces they traveled. It may seem like an easy choice to face the Perils that are of a lower danger level. After all, rolling 1 die vs 3 means you’re less likely to lose something from your boat. However, each Peril also shows which part of the boat will be impacted.

So if you rearrange passengers and cargo so that all spaces at the Stern of your boat are empty, then facing a Level 3 danger card isn’t a problem at all if it impacts the Stern of your boat. Go ahead and roll 3 dice – you won’t lose anything anyway!

Thus, planning can pan out.

At the start of the game, players also get a random Skipper Specialty that gives them a special power that other players won’t have. For example, getting an extra point per cargo, drawing 5 Navigation cards, or drawing extra Lost and Found tokens to choose from. These little twists help change the game up every time you play.

Another element that we didn’t mention in the How to Play section that’s helpful for family play is that each player gets a Warning Flare token. Players can exhaust their Warning Flare to re-roll Peril dice. And when at an Outpost space, they get to reset their Warning Flare token.

What about the famous Jungle Cruise jokes?

Oh, there’s a ton in the game!

Each Navigation card has a Jungle Cruise joke on it. And the rules specifically say that when players draw their 4 Navigation cards on their turn, they must reach the jokes out loud.

Which means, the flavor of the Jungle Cruise ride will come shining through.

Unfortunately, this also means the game lasts longer than it needs to.

Based on how long the river is, players will most likely go through the Navigation deck at least once. And after you’ve read all the jokes on the cards, you’ll skip reading all the jokes the next time through the deck. Which means the game will go much faster after that.

In fact, all future plays will go faster if you skip reading the jokes.

Please don’t misunderstand — the jokes are great. It’s just that they aren’t funny when repeated over and over.

And for a light game with plenty of dice rolls, it’s nice when it doesn’t drag out too long. So skipping the jokes on repeated plays is the way to go.

We’ll also mention that the production quality of the board game is great. Ravensburger puts a lot of attention into the artwork details and component quality and it shows. Nicely done!

 

How does Jungle Cruise score on our “Let’s Play Again” game meter?

Disney Jungle Cruise Adventure Game is in the mid-range on our “let’s play again” game meter. But that’s mostly because our kids are grown. The sweet spot for the game is for families with kids in the age range of 6-14. We can totally see such families enjoying many plays of the Jungle Cruise game.

The gameplay is straightforward. The rules are easy to remember. There’s a strong element of luck to keep everyone in the running for the best score. And there are enough choices to make the game interesting.

Plus, if you’re a Disneyland or Disney World fan, the game theme is awesome!

You can enjoy the game (and the jokes) without waiting in a long line!

We’d like to thank Ravensburger for a review copy of the Disney Jungle Cruise Adventure Game.