Magic Maze
$26.95
Magic Maze at a Glance
| Game Type Fantasy Maze Cooperative Modular Board Real Time Play | Play Time 15 mins | Skill/Complexity (2 - 5) Light - Medium...ish |
| Age 8+ | Publisher(s) Sit Down! | Published 2017 |
| Categories Family / Teens / 8+ Year Olds | Players 1 - 8 | Manual Official Rules PDF |
| Our Rating 9.2/10 | Cost Approx $26.95 | Related Maximum Security Expansion Hidden Roles Expansion Magic Maze Kids Magic Maze on Mars |
It’s that time of day to go searching around the local Magic Maze shopping mall for that special item you need to steal that may help you along within the next adventure. Next thing is get the hell out before security clamps down on you and there’s no escape.
It’s a race against time!
About – Description
The board game Magic Maze was published in 2017 by Sit Down! It picked up a couple of recognizable awards and was nominated for many others in the board gaming world.
This modular tile based fantasy themed board game is cooperative which means the players play against the game and you all either win or lose as a team. Another mechanism of this game is known as real time, which enables players to take turns and play simultaneously, distributing actions.
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+
Magic Maze is primarily a family game with a recommended age of 8 years and up, and from 1 – 8 players can play.
As time of play is around 15 minutes this makes it a time filler game that doesn’t require a lengthy commitment of time from players. This can be advantageous for groups just wanting to enjoy a few rounds of a short game with friends or family.
Some children under age 8 will get along well with this game while other kids even over age 8 may get a little too frustrated playing this as it’s time based play, and not being able to give verbal instructions can be a tricky aspect as well while the timer is running.
Up to eight players can play, although it seemed like 4 or 5 was best suited for us and over 6 would have made it a struggle to keep it all running somewhat smoothly together.
Skill/Complexity
Magic Maze is not a game of high complexity. It does require tactical moves though and although you might see the next best tactical move (e.g., move a Hero pawn on the timer square to increase time) the player that needs to make that move may not.
All players need to be ready to take the next action and be constantly aware of the ever changing situation on the board to work together to progress as thieves within the shopping mall.
Magic Maze involves intense concentration and bringing tactics and actions together as a team rather than anything strategically complex.
Setting up, Basics of How to Play & Rules
In terms of putting the components together it’s fairly straight forward and takes very little time.
- 24 Mall tiles
- 4 Hero pawns in different colors
- 12 Out of Order tokens
- 9 Action tiles (5 of which are two-sided) for 2- to 8-player games, and 7 Action tiles for 1-player games
- 1 sand timer
- 1 “Do Something!” pawn
- 1 Scoresheet The Great Book of Challenges
- 1 Theft tile
- 1 sheet of stickers to stick on the Hero pawns (if you wish) which allows people with altered color perception to recognize them. The two stickers are not used until Scenario 3 (see page 7 of the rulebook).
At the beginning of a game you decide a scenario, although the first game will begin at scenario 1. Scenarios are just different tiles shuffled and used, and the introduction of additional rules. We liked this aspect of the game as it’s a kind of progression and keeps the game varied.
Object of Game:
Players move four Hero pawns through a shopping mall to steal the items they each require. Once they’ve all found these 4 items they must get out of the mall as soon as possible before security (timer ends) catches up with them. If the Timer ends with any of your pawns inside you lose, or if you get them all out in time you’ll win the game.
It’s a very simple concept.
Basic Rules – Actions, Scenarios and Mechanics
Two aspects of Magic Maze that makes it what it is are the communication and time restrictions (during most parts of the game and having to play against a timer). Both of these aspects make it tense and it’s so hard not to break the communication rule as you’ll just want to tell another player what they need to do that will progress the game.
Scenarios
The scenarios are various aspects and rules of the game that are introduced. You will choose from the 17 available scenarios if they are applicable. This does add some variety and increases the difficulty level of the game after scenario 7.
Actions
This is a basic overview of some of the actions that should give you a good idea of what’s happening during a game.
- Move a pawn in the direction of an arrow on the action card given you.
- Use a Vortex action to move to a space further along quickly.
- Take the escalator action that takes your Hero pawn on an escalator ride to another space.
- Pass an Action tile to the person on the left.
- The Explore action is pretty cool and allows a pawn to add new tiles to the board.
- Dwarf and Elf special abilities. The Dwarf (orange Hero pawn) is able to move through the small passages in the orange walls and the Elf (green Hero pawn) can explore a new tile, while all players are allowed to communicate.
- Flip the timer (more time, phew).
I hope that covers the basics of the main actions going on within the game. We found they all nicely fit into the gameplay especially as we progressed.
Real Time & Cooperative
The real time mechanic mentioned earlier here works so well with the game. You’re all playing simultaneously and when you mix that with a timer and very minimal communication it can go pretty nuts. Intense staring at a player to invoke them to make a move is easier said than done, although you can use the do something big red pawn to give them a nudge.
If you like emergency room situations, you’ll love Magic maze.
Versions, Editions & Expansions
There are various editions in different languages. If you’re English speaking and reading you need to make sure you’re not purchasing another language version.
Two Magic Maze expansions are available to expand more trickiness, if required……….
Hidden Roles expansion was published in 2018 and presents new challenges……it adds a traitor or two in the game. This expansion also includes challenge cards.
The Maximum Security expansion was published in 2017 and brings the security to life within the Maze and adds other customization modules that can increase the difficulty level.
And, then the Kids and On Mars versions…….
Magic Maze for children ages 5 and up was also published in 2018. It has the same mechanics as the main version with everything being much more kid friendly, especially the theme.
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
There’s a lot to like about Magic Maze and the mechanics with the restriction rules work so well and make it the game it is. It surprisingly better to play than expected!
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.
I would say if anyone dislikes this game it’s just not their type of game, and it’s no fault of the game itself. You gotta like what’s going on with the mechanics and the fast paced game functions to be able to get along with it.
Final Thoughts
Magic Maze was quite an extraordinary cooperative game that brought a lot of unexpected fun to the tabletop. The designer pulled off a great fast paced game here for the right crowd of players.
Keep in mind it’s not a sit back and relax while contemplating your next move type of gameplay. It’s get going now if you want to beat the game!
