Boston Herald Staff November 2004 USA

Throw away the Rand McNally atlas, ditch the AAA TripTik printouts because planning a tour of the United States just go a whole lot easier, and more fun.

10 Days in the USA is an easy-to-learn board game that involves two-thirds of a tank of strategy and some added luck as 2 to 4 players try to become the first to complete their journey.

The game comes with 50 color-coded state tiles (made out of thick cardboard), 16 transportation tiles and four wooden tile holders. There's a map of the country that serves more as a reference point than a game board. The actual playing takes place on the tile holders. Part of the game is to hide the trip plans from the other players.

Travel between adjacent states is a breeze, however a car tile must be used when traveling to a state that is two states away -- say between Florida and South Carolina. Large gaps are covered by airplane tiles. There are special rules for flights to Alaska and Hawaii.

The strategy revolves around which day to place the tiles on. If New York is on Day 1 and Pennsylvania on Day 3, then a car tile will have to go down on Day 2. If no car tile comes up, the player will have to ditch one of those states into the discard pile, leaving it available to the next player.

Children will not realize their picking up geography knowledge as they play. While not part of the play, each state tile includes a map of the state, the state's capitol city, population and size.

Once players think they have United States geometry down, try a game without the map. Better yet, move on to '10 Days in Africa'.

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