"Wicked Witches Way"
Age: 8 +
Players: 2-6
Time: 30 minutes
Cost: $29.99



"Wicked Witches Way" a fun, beautiful racing game

By MICHAEL ERB
www.newsandsentinel.com

"Wicked Witches Way" by Asmodee Editions is a racing game with a twist. The players take on the roles of witches taking part in an annual race to show off their broom flying skills. The goal is to not only reach the finish line first, but to end the race with as many points as possible by performing tricks along the way.

The game box plays a double role in "Witches," and the first thing you'll notice about the game is the very cool and high-quality components. The box is shaped like a spell book, complete with a latch and two inner chambers, separated by a cardboard flap that can be flipped to cover the different sections. Every inch of the box is covered with colorful glossy artwork, and when you put it on your shelf, from a distance, it really looks like a book.

There is a gameboard that shows the race route through a the countryside surrounding a small village. Each point along the route is marked with a number, with 22 spaces that must be moved through to win the game. There even are a couple of negative spaces that take you behind the starting line, and we'll touch on those more in a minute.

There are six witches, each with a cardboard piece to represent her, and though there are no special powers based on which one you pick, there is a little story with each presented in the rulebook, and players quickly will drift toward choosing favorite character.

The main part of the game consists of nine wooden dice. Each has a collection of arcane symbols, from lightning bolts to skulls to spider webs to stars, and the symbols come in both black and orange on each die. The game begins when a player rolls the nine dice into one side of the book. All of the players quickly look, trying to memorize the symbols for one of the two colors.
You can close the flap at any time, and once closed the players place face down spell cards with the symbols on the dice, trying to complete the magical formula that will allow them to move forward.

There is a trick: Any symbols that show up in both black and orange are removed, so you can only pick symbols of one color that have not been duplicated. You move a number of spaces according to how accurate your spell is, with increasing penalties for wrong or incomplete spells, and even worse if you were the one who closed the flap and then screwed up. Hence the chance of moving backwards at the start of the race.

If you complete an orange formula, you advance two additional spaces.
If you successfully complete a black formula, you draw a number of cards equal to the parts of the formula (i.e. three symbols would get you three cards). Those cards can be either spell cards (which often allows you to attack or hinder other witches) or acrobatics cards, which can be played to score extra points at the end of the game.

There is another twist as well: The witch in the lead always gets "cursed" by the other witches. This means you don't get the bonus for a perfect formula if you are in the lead. The real idea behind the game is to always be the person just behind the leader, and then swoop ahead at the end of the race to win. Easier said than done.

The game is a lot of fun, and pretty challenging. To play with younger children I would recommend eliminating the duplicate symbol rule, or even roll fewer dice, but though the game can be tough, its not impossible, and you will quickly get used to picking out the symbols.

There have been some complaints about symbols on the dice being difficult to see, especially the orange which don't always stand out on the wood die. Asmodee has included in the box symbol stickers with orange and black on white that can be applied to the dice to make them easier to read.

I love this game. It's light enough to teach quickly to people, but complex enough to keep them coming back. It's also a very fun and cool theme, and the artwork is beautiful. I really can't say enough good things about this game.

For more information on "Wicked Witches Way" and other Asmodee products, visit www.asmodee-us.com. For more game reviews and discussion, visit my blog at http://merb101.livejournal.com.

Edit: A review copy of the game was provided for this article.