Java Man (1979)

From the publisher's advertisement in The Dragon #42:

COULD YOU LIVE WITHOUT METAL, POTTERY, FARMING OR FIRE?

Well, Java Man could ... sometimes. Java Man is the colloquial term for Homo Erectus, the earliest of our ancestors to deserve the title "man." Remains of Java Man were first discovered in Java, where the species did not survive, and later in Africa, where it did, although no one really knows why.

Now, Java Man is a challenging simulation game for one or more players. As leader of a tribe of Java Men, can you gather enough food to keep the tribe alive? Can you conjure up good medicine to make the tribe grow? Can you avoid natural disasters and the depredations of other hungry tribes? And, if the answer to all these questions is "yes," can you persuade the tribe to let you try? Find out now; play Java Man.

Java Man features die-cut counters, four-color map, rules booklet and player record sheets packaged in a rugged, 4-mil zip-lock bag. Send check or money order for $5.00 per copy, or ask your local retailer for Java Man.

From the game's back-cover blurb:

Java Man is a simulation game of tribal politics and survival in the pre-historic, pre-agricultural, pre-civilized era. Each player attempts to control a single tribe, to ensure the survival of his tribe, and to boost it along the road to civilization. Towards this end, players work to control the normally random movements of their tribes across a hexagon grid representing a typical area of the pre-historic world, so as to avoid or destroy hostile tribes, contact friendly tribes, and gather as much food as possible.

The success or failure of previous actions influences a tribe's willingness to obey a leader's orders. Tribes may be ordered, among other things, to go on the warpath against other tribes, to strip the immediate area bare of food, or to conduct mystic rituals, which may have dire results. A unique aspect of this simulation is that, theoretically, a player may win by ordering nothing at all. Of course, victory is more likely if the leader seizes control of the tribe and leads it boldly into the future... or perhaps into a tar pit.

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