Pretty funny...

The Hobbit... the game?!

When we last spoke, I asked everyone how they would like to see The Hobbit as a board game!? You shared with me some AWESOME ideas, and I want to hear even more! I've done some research about what game-makers have already created, inspired by Tolkien's work. After you read, I want you to post your thoughts on how to create the coolest game for The Hobbit.



The Hobbit in Games & Entertainment

The Hobbit has been developed into various entertainment media.

In board games, the strategy game "Battle of the Five Armies" was released as a Risk-style board game where players took on one of the five armies in an attempt to conquer the other four. The game was released in the 1970s and proved unpopular for its unclear rules.

Next was "The Lonely Mountain" in 1985 which was unique in its use of a hex grid for spaces to move on (as opposed to a traditional "trail" or "grid" layout), its use of both a dice and card game (similar to Monopoly) and a guessing game (players searched for the treasure card among the other cards that included Smaug as an outcome).

The "Middle Earth Role-Playing Game" is a dice & chart combination game based on both The Hobbit and the trilogy Lord of the Rings. This started in 1984 and has seen various incarnations since.

In video games, The Hobbit was first published on PC by Beam Software in 1982.

Then again, in 2003, it was released on PC, Sony PlayStation 2, Microsoft XBox, and the Nintendo GameCube. It was unique once again in that it was a combination of a Platformer and an Action RPG.

Don't forget to post your ideas!

Upon Request... Here are some facts about Thorin!

Information on...
Thorin Oakenshield

• Thorin is referred to several times in the novel as "King Under the Mountain."
• The "King in the Mountain" is a motif of various fairy tales. This variation with "Under" is most often found in Celtic tradition.
• Tolkien uses "King Under the Mountain" to refer to the Dwarven king throned in the Lonely Mountain of the region of Erebor.
  
• Thorin is of the bloodline of Durin I, also known as Deathless Durin, because he grew to be the oldest recorded person of the Dwarfs. Durin's tribe is known as the Longbeards and they are royal bloodline who have always taken the title "King Under the Mountain." They are also sometimes referred to as Durin's folk because he was their first king.
  
• Thorin is most often introduced as "Thorin Oakenshield, son of Thrain, son of Thror." This line of ancestry directly relates him all the way back to Durin.
• Thorin enjoys both singing and playing the harp. One of his songs is about the treasure of the Lonely Mountain.
• Thorin is a "warrior king." He is a brave warrior and a strong combatant. He proves to be very smart in battle, cunning and capable. However, he not a charismatic, eloquently inspiring, or very strategic when it comes to actual leadership. In The Hobbit, he more often refers to Gandalf or even Bilbo for some sort of leadership. His decision to hole up in the Lonely Mountain against Bard and the people of Lake-Town soon proves not only stubborn, but fatal.
  
• Thorin's strong military sense but lack of leadership skill has been likened to president Andrew Jackson, a great military general.
  
• Thorin's last words: "If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world. But, sad or meery, I must leave it now. Farewell." Important as he was addressing Bilbo, who exhibited these characteristics and Thorin did not realize this importance until the very end of his life.
• Thorin was born in 2746 and was driven from Erebor by Smaug the Dragon in 2770.
• In 2799, Thorin was 53 and was in the ranks of the Dwarf army during the War of Dwarves and Orcs. In a battle at Dimrill Dale (or, more often, called Nanduhirion), Thorin charged into battle and his shield was destroyed. With his ax, he hacked off a huge branch of an oak tree and used it as his protection. This is how he gained the name "Oakenshield."