The Magic Labyrinth

Drei Magier Spiele | Maze | £25 | 2-4 players | 15 minutes | www.dreimagier.de

The Magic Labyrinth is an innovative memory game where the players are magician’s apprentices racing to pick up magic items within a maze. There’s just one catch – thanks to the wonders of magnetics, the maze itself is invisible!

At the start of the game, players will set up the maze by placing wooden barriers in a grid that sits below the board itself. After doing this, they’ll replace the board and spin it around, so they won’t be able to remember the orientation of the maze. From here, they place the player pieces on each corner, with a metal ball attached to the underside of the piece via a strong magnet, and the game may begin!

Tokens are drawn from a bag and placed on the matching space; these are the players’ targets. If they hit a wall in their move, the metal ball will be dislodged and fall to one of the corners of the table, and they’ll have to start again from their corner! Once a token is reached, that player takes it and another is drawn from the bag. The game is typically played to five tokens but can go as long as you have tokens in the bag if you want.

Taking a move you haven’t taken before in the game is always done with trepidation. Although even those moves you’ve already done can be problematic, depending on how good your memory is – you (and your opponents) will be howling with laughter when you confidently take a move you presumed safe, only to hear the characteristic plunk and roll of the marble as it falls from the board.

If you’re after a quick memory game that can be enjoyed by all ages, the Magic Labyrinth will keep you captivated. (Tim Yates)