Overview
Magic Maze is a fun, collaborative game which will keep players own their toes. Your aim is to work together to position each of the four hero pawns – the Dwarf, the Elf, the Mage and the Barbarian – to retrieve their stolen item from the shopping mall and then escape to their exit – all before the timer runs out. And you have to do it in complete silence! It is the ultimate game to test your ability to think as one.
The Setup
Magic Maze is simple to setup and play. Just place the starting tile in the centre with the four hero pawns on it and put the the rest of the mall tiles that you are using in a shuffled stack within reach of all players. Then, deal out an action card to each player which they should align with the north arrow on the starting tile. To begin the game, flip over the sand timer.
The Premise
At the start of the game, each player is given an action tile. These action tiles are cleverly designed to split the different actions between the players so that they all have their own set of abilities. All players must align the north arrow their action tile with the north arrow on the centre tile. This is because each player’s action tile will have one or more arrows on it. These indicate the direction in which that player can move the hero pawns. None of the hero pawns belong to a specific player but you all instead share the responsibility to move them to their desired destination. Some of the action tiles also provide the player with another type of action in addition to being able to move the hero pawns in one of the four compass directions. Using these abilities, you must firstly navigate the hero pawns to the exploration spaces of their colour, therefore revealing another tile to add to the maze. It is only by expanding the maze that you are able to find the tiles on which the hero pawns are able to obtain their stolen object and subsequently find their exit to the maze.
The Timer
Throughout the game, you will find yourself anxiously eyeing up the timer, desperately trying to finish the game before it runs out. Fortunately, you have a tool which can allow you to stop the top of the sand timer from completely emptying. Across all the tiles, there are several timer spaces which allow you to flip the timer over, thus hopefully lengthening the window of time for your escape. But be careful! The longer you leave it, the more likely that someone will forget that they are supposed to always keep one eye on the timer.
The Scenarios
The game comes with 17 different scenarios which are essentially different starting configurations of the game. They direct you which tiles to use in the game and as such change the difficulty of the game. As you work through them, they introduce new rules and mechanics, such as passing your action card around the table or giving each of the different hero pawns their own special ability. This gradually builds up the rules making the game extremely easy to pick up and learn. The last 10 scenarios do not introduce new rules but instead provide different versions of play to adapt the level of challenge.
Similar Games
Have you have enjoyed playing Magic Maze? Here are some other games you should know about.
If you have fallen in love with this game but think it a little too complicated for the youngest members of your friends and family, fear not since there is the perfect game for you: Magic Maze Kids. It employs similar mechanics to the main game whilst simplifying it enough to be playable with children.
If Magic Maze has been your first entrance to the world of collaborative games, here are a few others which you should definitely check out:
Pandemic is the king of collaborative games. You must work together to fight a group of potentially world-ending diseases. You are each assigned a unique role which gives you certain abilities throughout the game. Pandemic is in many ways similar to Magic Maze but without the time element. It is a great, strategic game in which one wrong move could end the world!
Another game you should look at is The Mind. It involves all the players silently working together to get inside each other’s heads and place their cards in numerical order. It is a great game, especially if you have liked the peace and quiet Magic Maze brings to your game table.
Final Thoughts
Magic Maze is a great game for families and friends alike. Playable with up to eight people, it give you the flexibility of a party game whilst also providing a good amount of fast-paced, thoughtful strategy. It even comes with a single player version! It is no mystery why it was nominated for the 2017 Spiel des Jahres award.
