So I got a unique chance to play a new game a couple of weeks back.  Anyone who knows me probably knows that I rarely get a chance to play anything nowadays, but I was at an open house for one of our distributors and got a chance to play Escape from the Temple.

Twenty- five words or less: Think the beginning scene to Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, and you pretty much have this game nailed.

That's right, you're playing explorers in a temple full of booby traps.  The game plays in 10 minutes.  I'm not kidding.  There is a sound track to the game that marks out how much time you have left.  Everyone gets five dice and are all rolling at the same time to explore the temple.  You're trying to roll your dice to as fast as you can to open up new rooms and unlock the way out.

Explore as much and as fast as you can, the way out in in the stack of tiles.  But beware, twice a game a gong will sound.  That means that someone has tripped a trap and now you have forty seconds to get back to the starting tile before the doors slam shut.  If you don't make it to the starting tile, you lose a die permanently.

Finding the way out is only half the battle.  The door is locked by these magical gems.  Luckily there are rooms inside the temple that allow you to eliminate gems from the door along the way.

Cooperative game play, so you can use your friend's dice to help complete objectives or to unlock cursed dice.  Easy mechanics to learn, it took me longer to write this review of the game.  The only time it's every man for himself is when you are exiting the temple, because you have to rely on your own dice to get you through.  I got out with less than ten seconds to spare.

I can't wait for this to hit the shelves!