Goliath Games The Floor is Lava: Hot Zone Edition Game Review by Guest Writer George Gensler, @chocophilenyc @GoliathGamesUS #GoliathGamesandToys #TheFloorisLava #MakeEveryDayGameDay #gifted

Goliath Games’ The Floor is Lava: Hot Zone Edition is two games in one! You can play the original The Floor is Lava AND you can play the Hot Zone rules. The Floor is Lava is a great way to keep your kids active, but not overly rambunctious, even if they don’t want to go outside or the weather keeps them inside. It takes the classic “The Floor is Lava” that had your mother yelling at you to stay off the furniture and makes it into a fun, safe game that keeps the furniture intact.

What’s in the box?

The Floor is Lava Hot Zone edition comes with everything from The Floor is Lava game: 24 colored foam stones; 27 Challenge Cards; and a Game Spinner. For the Hot Zone Edition, It includes 4 Get Out of the Lava cards and six special foam stones: two of each of the Start, Finish, and Hot Stones (it’s the one with the flame on it). The instruction booklet gives clear and separate instructions for both games.

 

How to play Goliath Games’ The Floor is Lava:

You need at least 3 people to play The Floor is Lava: one referee and two players, but you can easily have more players involved. Remove the three special Hot Zone foam stones (Start, Finish, and Hot Stone) from the stack of stones and scatter them randomly around the play area. Make sure you don’t have the colors too close together – try to get a good random spread and make sure the stones don’t touch. Each player finds a stone to start on and that’s all you need to do to start the game!

The Referee then spins the spinner, calling “The floor is lava!” and then the color the spinner stops on. The player then have to move from stone to stone (even if they’re already on that color) until they land on a stone that’s the color the referee called. As long as they don’t touch the floor while moving to each new stone, they’re safe.

If a player lands on a stone with a question mark (?), they raise their hand to let the referee know and that’s when the Challenge cards come into the game. The referee picks a Challenge card from the deck and the player must complete the challenge without falling into the lava. Any player that touches the floor is out of the game and can then assist the referee for the remainder of the game. When the safe players are on their new stones, the referee (and any assistants they’ve acquired) pick up the stones the players were originally standing on, taking them out of the play area.

The referee then starts a new round by spinning for a new color. If there aren’t any stones left of that color, the referee just spins again until they get a color that still has stones on the floor. If there aren’t enough stones of the called color for each player (only one player per stone), the player(s) who didn’t get to the safe color are out.

TOP TIP: It gets more challenging to get to a safe stone as more and more stones are removed from the play area, so you could set a rule that if the player can’t get to a stone without taking a flying leap (which could be dangerous to the players and your bric-a-brac and/or knick knacks, they have to step out of the game. Could be a teachable moment in when to bow out gracefully, kind of like resigning your king in chess.

How to Win Goliath Games’ The Floor is Lava Game:

Winning is easy! You just have to be the last player on the right color stone. So, maybe not so easy with four or five players trying to get to the last stone of the called color, but it is easy to know who won!

How to play Goliath Games’ The Floor is Lava: Hot Zone Edition:

The set-up is slightly different for the Hot Zone edition of the The Floor is Lava. You still spread the stones across the play area, but it’s a more structured game area, than the scattering of the original version. First, line up one Start, one Finish, and one Hot Stone at the edge of the play area. Then, scatter eight random stones next to them. Make a bridge by lining up two rows of four stones (random colors) spreading from the center edge of the first play area. At the other end of the bridge, scatter another eight random stones, then at the opposite side of the scattered stones, place the other Start, Finish, and Hot Stones. The play area will kind of look like a barbell.

The Hot Zone edition can be played with just two players or two teams of two or more players each. In this version, the referee can also be on a team (especially if you need to match the numbers). Each team picks a Start Stone and the youngest player on each team stands on it, with the rest of the team waiting their turn behind the Start Stone. Don’t worry! The Floor is Lava only between sets of special stones. The players waiting their turn are safe until they step on the Start stone. If the referee is also playing, they are safe from the lava only when they are spinning and drawing cards.

Each player on each team gets a Get Out of Lava card at the start of the game. If there are more than four players, give the additional players a Challenge card that they can use as a Get Out of Lava card. If a player touches the floor, they can save themselves with their Get Out of Lava card, but only once per game.

In the Hot Zone, the game play is like Capture the Flag. Each team is moving towards the other team’s zone with the goal of capturing their Hot Stone and bringing it safely back to their own zone’s Finish stone. As with The Floor is Lava, the referee calls out “The Floor is Lava!” and spins the spinner. The first player from each team has to move to a stone of that color, stepping on as many stones as they need to get to the right color. For each round, the referee spins and calls the color and the players move, even if they are already standing on that color. The Challenge cards are used here, as well, with the players notifying the referee that they’re on a Challenge stone (with a ?).

With each turn, the players move onto the board until all are playing and each player is trying to get their team closer to the other team’s Hot Stone. Once they are close enough to grab it without touch the floor (lava!), they can pick it up and start moving back towards the Finish Stone in their own zone.

How to Win Goliath Games’ The Floor is Lava: Hot Zone Edition Game:

Team members can pass the Hot Stone to each other in an effort to get the Hot Stone back to their Finish stone more quickly, BUT, the referee has to call out the color of the Finish stone in order for your team to step onto it. The first team to get the other team’s Hot Stone back to their Finish Stone wins.

Goliath Games’ The Floor is Lava: Hot Zone Edition requires a minimum of three players, with a minimum recommended age of 4, for either version. The length of game play for the original version would vary depending on how many people are playing (not including the ref), but you could shorten it by setting up a smaller arena with fewer stones. It also varies for the Hot Zone version, because of the specific goal of crossing the play field twice, but only by the specific colors called. The Floor is Lava, either original game play or the Hot Zone edition, would be a fun party game, too. And there’s an outdoor version, too, called The Lawn is Lava, played with water balloons, so a great summer-time activity that will both burn off energy and cool you off while playing.

٭٭٭٭٭Highly Recommended