Mayfair is scheduled to release an English version of its popular German boardgame Journey to the Center of the Earth on September 11, 2008. The game, designed by Rüdiger Dorn, is based on Jules Verne’s classic novel of the same name.

The premise of the game is to travel through Verne’s famous volcano, across a vast underworld ocean and make it back to the surface of the planet before your two competitors. Along the way you pick up artifacts and gems which add value to your final score.

I’m anticipating that this game will be a hot commodity in Britain and the US, just on the heels of a summer movie by the same name. Brandon Frasier’s performance in Journey to the Center of the Earth may not win him an Oscar, but it has been much loved by the under 11 set.

The first edition 1874

Just for fun, here’s an image of an 1874 English edition of Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne. Many of Verne’s stories have aged well into the 21st century as he often explored scientific ideas with his fiction. Verne is the original sci-fi author, after all.

But Voyage au centre de la Terre was not one of them, mostly because the center of the Earth turned out not to be filled with dinosaurs, or have a express tunnel to Southern Italy. Alas.

Some of Verne’s correct predictions include television, air conditioning, submarines, helicopters, and even the Internet. His work was an inspiration to countless children ...