Review of 'Magic Maze', a board game that aims to escape by cooperating within the time limit with strictly prohibited conversation
The real-time cooperative escape game 'Magic Maze ', in which four heroes are operated to steal items from a shopping mall and escape, is rare in a cooperative board game where communication between players is important. It is a rule that 'it must not be'. I actually played to see if a cooperative board game would be possible with conversations prohibited.
Magic Maze (Japanese version) | hemz
◆ Contents
The Magic Maze package looks like this. The game is set to 'escape by stealing weapons from a weapon shop in a dungeonized shopping mall because a party of four people, a dwarf, a barbarian, a witch, and an elf, inadvertently lost their weapons.' An illustration of running away is drawn. Play time is 3 to 15 minutes, the number of players is 1 to 8, and the target age is 8 years old or older.
The contents are a rule manual and a cardboard containing 24 mall tiles, 16 action tiles, 1 steal / escape tile, and 12 used tokens.
Since the cardboard has cuts, it can be removed without a cutter or scissors.
The mall tile looks like this. The number is written in the lower right, and the mall tile to be used is decided depending on the scenario.
The back of the mall tile looks like this.
Action tiles are tiles that determine the actions of each player. The numbers in the lower right correspond to the number of players. For example, the following action tiles are action tiles used when playing with 3 people, 4 people, 5 people, 6 people, 7 people, and 8 people.
Stealing / escape tiles and used tokens look like this.
A score sheet that records a 3-minute hourglass, noticed pawns, hero pieces, and play.
Stickers on hourglasses and hero frames
◆ Preparation
The game is played in order from scenario 1 described in the rule manual. If you clear scenario 7 in order, the rules will be released little by little, so you should proceed with scenarios 1 to 7 as a tutorial. Place the mall tiles labeled '1a' and place the four hero pieces in the center four pieces as you like. In addition, the direction indicating N (north) is written on the mall tile written as 1a, and all the frames move according to this direction.
Since we played with 4 players this time, we will give each player one action tile with '4' written on it.
Place the action tiles you got on the table, turn the mall tiles over and stack them, notice the pawns and hourglasses, and place the steal / escape tiles and you're ready to go. Turn the hourglass over and the game starts.
Magic Maze is basically forbidden to talk while playing. Also, actions such as pointing and body language are prohibited. Therefore, the player needs to move the pieces silently. You can see how everyone actually moves the frame without talking at all in the following movie.
During the game, you can move the hero piece as much as you want at any time, and the arrows on the action tiles indicate the direction in which you can move the hero piece.
For example, a player with an action tile with the following magnifying glass icon can move any hero piece in the south direction at any time and as much as he wants. Move the yellow piece one south to the square with the yellow magnifying glass icon.
When a piece of the same color arrives at the square with the magnifying glass icon, you can successfully explore the shopping mall and install it to connect the newly drawn mall tiles. However, exploration can only install new mall tiles for players with action tiles with a magnifying glass icon.
Hero pieces can only move up, down, left, and right, and cannot move if there is a wall. However, as shown in the image below, the escalator may be installed so as to get over the wall.
In this case, only the player with the action tile with the escalator icon can move the pieces using the escalator.
Also, the following action tiles allow you to move the hero piece freely in the west direction ...
You can have any warp portal warp hero pieces of the same color. In other words, the point of this game is to move the hero pieces while sharing the roles among the players.
There is only one weapon store for each color in the intricate shopping mall.
After moving all the pieces to the weapon shop square of the same color, the party succeeded in stealing the weapon.
However, when the four weapons are stolen, the alarm of the shopping mall will be activated, so the goal is to escape at full speed after that. Now flip the 'Stealing / Escape Tiles'. As you can see from the cross mark on the warp icon, the activation of the alarm made the warp device unusable.
At the same time, turn over the action tile with the warp icon. From here, you have to escape without warping.
You need to move all the hero pieces to the escape square somewhere on the mall tile. In the image below playing scenario 1, there is only one escape square, but as you progress through the scenario, there is a restriction that 'hero pieces can only escape from escape squares of the same color ', so the difficulty level is high. go up.
Successful escape hero pieces are placed on the same color mark on the steal / escape tile.
Clear the game if all the pieces are successfully escaped.
From the rule that 'you can move the pieces as much as you want at the timing you like', you may think 'Is it easy to clear?', But in this game there is a time limit, and the sand of the hourglass for 3 minutes If all of them fall, the game will be over.
There is an hourglass square on the mall tile, and you can turn the hourglass over by moving the hero piece to this square during the game. For example, in the image below, you can reach the hourglass square by moving one green hero piece north.
However, since conversation is prohibited during the game, it is not possible to instruct other players to 'move the green hero piece because the time limit is short!'. It is this 'notice pawn' that plays an active role there.
If you think that the player who can move the hero piece to the north is not aware of the remaining time, while staring at that player, notice it and put the pawn in front of you to appeal.
The player who noticed and placed the pawn wondered, 'Why did you notice that the pawn was placed in front of you ...?' And was able to notice that the remaining time was short and the existence of the hourglass mass. rice field.
Then the hourglass was turned over and the time limit was extended. You can have a temporary conversation from the time you turn it over until you take the next action. However, since the time limit is measured with an hourglass, if you turn it over too soon, the remaining time may be shortened. Therefore, it is necessary to turn the hourglass over at the last minute when the time limit expires.
In addition, used tokens will be placed on the hourglass square that has stopped once, and will never be usable again. As the game progresses, the shopping mall becomes wider and wider, and it takes time to move the pieces, so if you do not check the arrangement and timing of the pieces, you will not be able to turn the hourglass over even once. The game may be over.
The following movie is a scene where I noticed it with a short time remaining and appealed with a pawn, but in the end the game was over without being noticed.
Also, as the scenario progresses, the alert level of the shopping mall will rise and surveillance cameras will appear. If there are two or more surveillance cameras, the hourglass cannot be turned over. However, only the yellow frame (barbarian) can be disabled by moving it to the surveillance camera mass. For example, in the following scene, you want to move the yellow hero piece to the surveillance camera. However, there is a purple frame on the flow line of the yellow frame, which is in the way. Magic Maze cannot move beyond other hero pieces, so the purple piece must be moved in order for the yellow piece to reach the surveillance camera mass.
So move the purple piece with a warp ...
We succeeded in moving the yellow frame to the surveillance camera mass.
In the following movie, even though the surveillance camera was disabled, the surveillance camera mass reappeared on the mall tile that was pulled, and the game was over due to the time out. Not only 'where to move the piece of which color', but also 'luck' to draw the mall tiles that are advantageous for the progress of the game is a big key to the success of the escape.
A scene where the surveillance camera of 'Magic Maze' aiming to escape in real time cooperates to win or lose --YouTube
Magic Maze is a very thrilling play because you can glance at the hourglass in a quiet room and move the pieces silently and quickly. The rule is very simple, 'Escape the hero sesame before the hourglass runs out ', but because there is a rule that 'conversation and gestures are prohibited ', it becomes impossible to communicate sufficiently with other players, and the difficulty is difficult. It is extremely high.
The only way to tell the other person is to 'notice and put a pawn', but even if you notice and put a pawn and 'what you want to do' is told to the other person, 'what do you want me to do?' It's frustrating that it doesn't get through to 'ka'. Communication did not go well during the game, and there were times when the players noticed 'Konkonkonkon' many times in front of the same player and placed a pawn, and the players put pressure on each other. However, due to the high degree of difficulty, the sense of accomplishment obtained when clearing the game is considerable.
Also, due to the feature of 'moving four hero pieces at the same time in real time', it is necessary to observe the entire place while thinking about 'what I can do now', and if I think carefully, it will be quick. The time limit will run out. Therefore, I felt that a considerable conditional reflection speed was required for smooth clearing.
One play time is about 6 to 8 minutes, and you can play crisply. Therefore, even if the game is over, you can change your mind and try again, saying 'OK, let's do our best next time'. In addition, various restrictions and irregular rules are prepared in the rule manual, so it is a specification that you can play with a fresh feeling no matter how many times you play.
The Japanese version of Magic Maze is available on Amazon.co.jp and can be purchased for 4378 yen including tax at the time of writing the article.
Amazon | Magic Maze Japanese Edition | Board Games | Toys
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