Magic Maze

Sometimes the lines between fantasy and reality get blurred a bit. What seems extraordinary and weirdly intriguing can sometimes turn out to be more mundane upon closer inspection, like electricity or a rainbow.



Today I'm going to be taking a look at a game called Magic Maze by publishers Sitdown, no that wasn't a command you must remain standing while reading my review!

Magic Maze takes place in a deserted shopping mall, which nicely illustrates my earlier point about the magically mundane, and you play four adventurers traversing the escalators and shops trying to find their weapon of choice. That's easier said than done however as there are a couple of twists in this tale:

First off each player playing has at least one of seven actions given to them on a randomly determined card; Move forward, backwards, left, right, move up an escalator, search for another room and use a portal. 

This element means there is teamwork required as players only have access to the action on the card they have. For example; James may be able to move forward but needs Claire to move an adventurer to the left. Players cannot perform actions that do not appear on their card. While making your way through the shopping mall you will come across escalators and portal squares both of which can take adventurers to different levels or places in the mall but the adventures can only be moved to the new locations by the player with the corresponding action on their card. The player with the search (magnifying glass) action is the only player that can expand the shopping mall, there are doorways at the edge of each tile where that player can add a new tile to the play area.

Secondly, there is a timer involved which adds an element of haste to the game but fear not, there are also squares that if landed on can stop the timer and flip it over to give players a little bit of breathing space. Use these wisely though as once a time square is used it cannot be used again and you don't always know where the next one will be if you haven't discovered enough new tiles.

All in all Magic Maze could go down as a nice, fast paced coop game where no one gets hurt and everyone is friends afterwards. It could, but it isn't.
The last twist in this rollercoaster ride that is a review is that players can't talk to each other during gameplay which creates a dilemma; do you play with people that you don't like talking to or people you do like but talk too much? Not really but either way you will end up hating your fellow players when all the adventuring is said and done. The lack of communication is circumvented somewhat by letting players lose with a big red totem piece which is used to get the attention of a certain player for a certain action, however just smashing the table with this totem can still be futile as they may move the wrong adventurer the wrong way.

The temptation to start wailing on your companions with the totem will increase as the game continues so luckily Magic Maze isn't a long game but what is there for me is substantial and fun, in a loose sense of the word anyway. It does require players cooperate on a really basic level without speech, gestures or any sound at all ideally, which for some is a very alien concept thus turning the game into a big mess of angry players flinging game pieces at each other. Even playing Magic Maze with friends that you have an established working gaming relationship can turn into a debacle as players can still get flustered and confused and start shouting and all of a sudden you've lost friends which in the bright side does mean you're spending less money around Christmas time.

There is also a single player variant for those of you with no friends. Instead of players having one action each, the lone player cycles through a stack of actions until they find the correct action for the circumstances. The game is still timed so you're battling against your own slow arse reactions in addition to the twisted enchanted labyrinth you need to navigate, which will still result in arguments except now they will just be with yourself so you'll seem a little insane as well as being lonely.
I joke of course, playing board games on your own may seem a little odd but Magic Maze is challenging and fun both with and without other players which makes it an ideal game to have on your shelf. Bust it out as part of a big gaming session or just for a quickie, either way I'm sure you're going to love it.

If this look at Magic Maze has inspired you to try it out for yourself, head on down to your local games store and ask for a demo, you may even find yourself leaving with a copy. Remember to share, like and follow and always check back to Game Changers for more gaming news and updates.