Sit Down, Magic Maze, Strategy Card Game, Ages 8+, 1-8 Players, 15+ Minutes Playing Time

Product Information

The gem of a twist with this game is how it’s cooperative and players are not able to communicate in speech or visual, and the fantasy setting is quite unique as it’s within a shopping mall, and you’re all stealing. Best Suited for Families and Groups – 8+ Oh, did I forget to mention that part? That’s right, you can’t talk. You do however receive a large red wooden pawn called the “Do Something” pawn. This is a fantastic tool for ruining relationships, frustrating your wife, or for looking like a fool. You can’t do anything else to communicate other than place this pawn in front of another player. The fastpaced interaction between players while progressing through harder scenarios keeps players wanting to restart the next level of the game which gives it some points in the replayability department as well as player engagement.

When I first heard about this game I thought it sounded interesting. I enjoy co-operative games and I enjoy real-time games. This seemed right up my alley. Well it took up the whole neighbourhood, destroyed it, and built a shopping mall in its place. It has planted it’s foundations and cemented it’s place in my collection. Alright that’s enough building related puns. You, and only you, have mastered teleportation and are able to send the Hero Pawns hurtling through a vortex. When a Hero Pawn is placed on a Vortex Space you can move the Hero Pawn on to any other Vortex Space of the same colour. This is a crucially useful way of covering long distances with speed. This is a basic overview of some of the actions that should give you a good idea of what’s happening during a game.Scenario two is mostly the same as scenario one, with just a slight variation on the end condition. That’s the thing with the scenarios; they are slight rules changes from the previous scenario. Even so, the seventhscenario is such a different game experience than the first. It was quite a surprise to see Magic Maze On Mars published in 2019, and it has been a hit. It has a lot of the same mechanics going on and a lot of other different stuff! Likes & Dislikes This is the defining moment for your group. Do you decide you’ve had enough already and can’t bear to go on? Or do you fight? You’ve been pretending to be heroes for the past two hours so why stop now?

Make sure the Action Tiles are aligned using the Starting Mall Tile’s north arrow. It saves a tonne of confusion. To begin a game of Magic Maze, all players will get a tile that will tell them the actions they can take throughout the game. All of the tiles will have arrows telling you where you can move the characters, and most will also have a special action. I like that the game slowly teaches how everything works as you play through those early scenarios. Th rules are pretty basic in the early scenarios, but the game gets more interesting as you progress. Each player can only perform actions displayed on their Action Tile, however all players can perform actions at any time. You don’t have to take turns. The only rule is that if another player has committed to doing something then you cannot stop them (don’t grab the Hero Pawn out their hands and commit to rude gestures) until they have let go of the Hero Pawn they are moving. If they’ve made a blunder, simply wait until they’ve finished before correcting. You’ve learned to walk! Amazing. However, you only practised walking in one direction? You can only walk either up, down, left or right depending on the Action Tile in front of you. Each Player can move a Hero Pawn any number of spaces and at any time in their designated direction. Heroes cannot pass through walls or through each other. (Remember to keep the north arrow on each Action Tile aligned with the Mall’s Starting Tile)

Perhaps the best component is what I call ‘the big red dobber'. This is essentially a massive red pawn that you can slam in front of someone when you think they should be taking a move. Which is hilarious until it is done to you. I mention all this, as for the people I have played with, this is the only thing they have said they didn’t like. So, if you don’t mind the idea of “Do Something” pawn or think your friends can play with this piece in a nicer manner than mine, then this game could be for you. With great tension, comes great cheering There are two twists. First, the game is timed, and as such, very tense. Most games come very close, victory or otherwise. Secondly, you cannot talk. This was the huge twist in the first game that captivated people. A co-op game where you cannot talk with your friends. Some people will absolutely hate that giant pawn. It’s already a tense game and is made even more tense when someone is hammering that big pawn on the table in front of you.