Two and a half minutes! That is all Magic Rabbit affords the playing group. Two and a half minutes and your result will be in. It’s such a lovely little puzzling game.
It’s Magic
Magic Rabbit is for 1-5 players, working together to win the game. The clever thing about it, is players are not allowed to communicate. Only one nod of the head to indicate passing play to the next person. This makes everything so much more challenging, least of all a co-operative board game.
There are 9 rabbits labelled with a number and 9 hats labelled with the same numbers, 1-9. The objective is to get all the rabbits lined up from 1 to 9 with the correct hat on top as well. The magician is positioned to the left and the pigeons are lined up from the left from the magician. Randomly lay the 9 rabbits face down in this line, then play the 9 hats randomly on top of the 9 bunnies.
Depending on how many players you have will determine how many doves are also set on top of some of the hats. Does block looking at the rabbit under a hat. Which leads me into turn on action. On a turn a player can either look at a rabbit below an available hat, switch hats on top of rabbit or switch rabbits with the hats on top of them. This took me a moment to get my head around but after playing through it made sense. After the action is taken players can choose to move a dove.
Obviously before any of this the timer is started and the two and a half minutes is on. You will either get the rabbits and hats lined up in time, or you won’t. But no communicating when the clock is on.
Showtime
The quality of the products and the game box itself was very good. The components feel great and the artwork is simple but right on point making it very effective. The game also sets up in a very small space, minimal room is required for play.
Can you pull the rabbit out the hat?
There are no two ways about it, the more people sat around the table makes this game harder and harder. I’ve found the solo play quite straight forward as I can quickly sit and resolve the game but adding team mates in makes the game that bit harder each time. Solo play has the most doves included and these get progressively removed as more people are added, but this is not a fair trade off.
What’s cool is the creators have provided useful tips for making the game easier and harder for the team of people. If you have a group of competitive gamers or you are introducing children to the game, they have made allowances for whichever group. It is really helpful to maintain that balance in the game.
They have also further developed the game by adding the secret envelopes in and I’m not spoiling what is in these, but they are a treat if you are enjoying the play. For such a small and simple game there is a surprising amount of depth in it and it is by no means a given you will win every time, particularly when playing as a larger group. Solo play unfortunately is far more straightforward if you get the hang of things.
Final Trick
Magic Rabbit really is a delightfully fun game that is rapid to play and fun for all. It doesn’t take itself too seriously and just provides a lot of enjoyment, arguably a great way to warm up or close out a gaming evening. I can happily recommend it.
