Co-operative games can be a true joy but can also suffer from the problem of ‘alpha gamer’. That is where one more experienced gamer takes over and basically takes everyone's turns for them. Magic Maze is a co-op game that effectively neutralises this by having everyone play in really time and not allowing them to talk! This expansion brings the mall guards to life, and you are able to customise your gaming experience by combining different modules. ‘Helpers’ that decrease the difficulty, and ‘challenges’ which increase the difficulty. This brings me on to my final point. Why would you get this if you have Magic Maze already? Well, you already know if you liked that or not. If you do, you will love this. No question, although the reduced modules will annoy you! But have fun making your own with the extra tiles. If you didn’t like it, then you will probably prefer this, but I wouldn’t wager enough to make you want it in your collection as well. But then, if this was the case, I would imagine you wouldn’t have got this far into the review! Time for one more ridiculous analogy Real time, timed games can do this to people. Removing the ability to talk adds a lot of frustration for some people. The “Do Something” pawn is a horrible way to let these players release their tension. I usually don’t like when sand timers are used in games (see our Spaceteam review), but it is definitely necessary in this one and can’t be replaced by a digital timer. In fact, part of the fun of the game is keeping your eye on the timer so you can get as much time to talk as you can before continuing.

If your group loves real-time games, you will probably have a blast with this one. If you like games that allow all players to have an equal say in how the team plays, then this is a good one to get. You’ll want to pass on this one if you don’t like real-time games or you try to avoid games that ratchet up the tension.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 truly is a unique experience, easy to play and incredibly addictive. After a few games you’ll be hooked to stealing swords, bows, wizard’s spells and Dwarf’s hammers; just don’t take this new-found love into real life.

Your goal is to get all four characters to their special equipment spaces, then get them out of the mall through the exits. All of the characters will begin the game on the starting tile and you will expose more tiles as the game progresses. 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. Last year, designer Kasper Lapp re-entered the Magic Maze world with Magic Maze on Mars. A phenomenal standalone sequel that has not received as much on a fanfare and I cannot fathom why. Magic Maze on Mars takes all the good parts from Magic Maze, expands upon them and puts the game into a far more believable and immersive theme. It makes for, in my opinion, a better game. But there are some considerations. Less is more

Magic Maze had 17 scenarios in the box. It’s a great way to introduce the rules to new players and learn the game. It also adds a narrative story to the game in a campaign style that really was what intrigued me. Magic Maze has just five modules. This initially disappointed me. But there are plenty of other tiles in the box to create your own maps and mission. So, there is still a lot of replayability and more creativity with that. Creating your own missions is great fun! Co-op tension 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 Magic Maze is primarily a family game with a recommended age of 8 years and up, and from 1 – 8 players can play. If I had one small criticism it would be the theme/story. You control four fantasy heroes: Mage, Dwarf, Elf, and Barbarian. Somehow they have had their weapons stolen from them so they decide to visit the nearby modern shopping mall… From what I’ve seen there is no reason that this couldn’t have been set in a goblin cave. Despite this small grievance I still rate this game extremely highly. It’s a game I introduce to anyone that will let me and they always want to play again and again. Magic Maze Kids ( designed by Kasper Lapp) is a co-operative game that adapts the original Magic Mazegame into a format accessible to young players. The theme is perfect for getting any young child’s attention…

The game’s brilliance is delivered through one simple rule; You can’t talk or communicate in anyway other than using the “Do Something Pawn.” That means no hand gestures, eye gestures, or even farting in Morse code! The game is set in a fantasy world where you play the usual tropes of mage, warrior, elf and dwarf. They have somehow lost their weapons and equipment, so, obviously, they decide to rob the local mall. 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. Gathers information for WordPress by themselves, first party analytics tool about how WP services are used. A collection of internal metrics for user activity, used to improve user experience. The tension created in this game is so high! Sure, this can cause the odd stressful moment, but that’s only because you want to win. There are so many games I don’t really mind winning or losing. Here, I want to win every time, but it is not easy. As such, the victories are very sweet and are often greeted by huge cheers and utter delight. Something you just don’t see in many games.Everything is so clear to me, how do they not see it? My incredible brain sees everything yet everyone else appears to be baffled. All they have to do is move one piece and we can get things going again. Maybe if I tap the “Do Something” pawn in from of them one more time they will get it. No… that’s not working. Why are they all staring at me? Why are they frantically hitting the table in front of ME with the “Do Something” pawn? Oh… we’re out of time because I missed something…” The theme doesn’t really make any sense. I think a theme similar to the one used in Professor Evil and the Citadel of Time would have worked well here. 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. 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. Once the sand timer is flipped, everyone will work simultaneously to move the characters around the mall, but no one can talk. The only way you can communicate is by placing (or tapping) the large pawn in front of the person who you think needs to take the next action.

When I say you play, I mean you play all those characters. Because no matter how many players there are you will all control the four characters. Oh, and your control of them is limited to direction tiles. 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. Each Hero reaches their respective exit space (the exit sign with the colour and symbol of the corresponding Hero Pawn) and when all four heroes reach their exits, you are free! You’ve done it! You’ve stolen precious items from the humble servants of a fantasy realm! Well done you. However, if the Sand Timer runs out at any moment during gameplay, the Guards have rumbled your schemes and it’s off to jail, or a dungeon, or the guillotine. Any demise you dream of will suffice but basically, you’re met with defeat. After years of arduous research, you alone have unearthed the complexities of using escalators. When a Hero Pawn is placed either at the foot or peak of an Escalator Space then you may move the Hero Pawn up or down accordingly. 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 & RulesThis 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? 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. After five or six 15-minute cycles of silence and arguing you will finally get it down and win. You will feel incredible. You will all feel so proud of yourselves. But that will fade. Suddenly someone will comment on the size of the rule book being much larger than what you read up to. Someone else will notice there were tiles still in the box that you’ve never seen. You completed scenario one… the tutorial. 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. Magic Maze was designed by Kasper Lapp and is punished by Dude Games. It was nominated for the 2017 Spiel des Jahres.