Expedition Alpha (1980) by Parker Brothers - Sci-Fi Space Exploration Vintage Board Game Review

Episode 112
Attic Raiders Retro Reviews takes a look at the German game Expedition Alpha, a puzzling planetary exploration game released by Parker Brothers in 1980.
From the manufacturers:
"Exciting search for clues with the astro-visor.
The green Mars-Maxis and the red Terra-Tellis have landed on the distant planet Alpha.
Both have equipped an expedition to traverse Alpha.
The expedition base at the centre of the planet is a stopover.
The brave astronauts have to overcome countless difficulties. They protect themselves against the dazzling sunlight of the universe with the asto-visor, but at the same time this makes them "blind" to the tracks of others. Only the best reach the opposite base."
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[@MaestroDrake]

Looks very cool. Most games use the red lenses instead of green to decode certain hidden messages on a board. Welcome back! I got Heroes of the Maze recently and got addicted with mods and kits.

[@kidcardco]

Very interesting mechanism. Never knew about this game. Awesome stuff Mark! Thanks for the review!

[@AtticRaidersRetroReviews]

Always glad to unearth old forgotten things Matt. Speaking of which, I think I see a comment from Bernardo... 😉

[@Taterniac]

love the review, i can see why it never came out in the uk. HMMMM

[@foubrat777]

As you say, 'what a shame'. Fantastic idea, but not quite there. Although, being born in 1975, I do remember the excitement of getting the red and green glasses from the Jaws film in Cornflake packets; with the 3-D pictures on the back of the box. ;-) Really appreciate the review, though, because I'd never heard of that game whatsoever. :-)

[@AtticRaidersRetroReviews]

Sadly I missed out on that being born in '83 (love jaws!) - my cereal excitement was the Dungeons & Dragons holograms on packs. I also collected the partworks Dinosaurs! magazine which came with T-Rex shaped 3D glasses for viewing the in-magazine posters. That was cool!

[@nickthetrex]

Do a walkthrough of Volcano Island Countdown.

[@TabletopIsland]

Ya beat me to this one haha. I looked at my notes on it and I think I have a fix for it. I’ll have to come back to it at a later time to verify. Great review!

[@AtticRaidersRetroReviews]

Hmmm... Tricky to fix it - unless you impose a minimum viewing distance?!

[@FedoraMark]

I wonder if they could make a new version with better printing and color choices. Or maybe using black light ink to hide things.

[@AtticRaidersRetroReviews]

I can't see why not - it really just needs the tiles printed with a slight alteration to the original image. Black light would be cool (like Vampire Hunters) but I'm not sure how that would work so that both players see the same area in two different ways at the same time.

[@gallery7596]

@@AtticRaidersRetroReviews Yeah, I had "Vampire Hunter." Cool game- except the light broke after the first play. Still have it, though.