Game: Wizardology: The Game

Thread: Re: Greatest Game Ever.

RaulTheRunt — 2008-11-09T00:56:18+00:00

It's a terrible game.

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Great_Mazinga — 2008-10-29T20:35:06+00:00

back of box

Thread: Re: Wizardology – A Review – The good, the bad, and the ugly

Vince Londini — 2008-08-17T03:38:27+00:00

Really, for most BGG gamers, this game just runs too long for what it is. I'd hazard a guess that most of us don't mind the occasional game where luck/randomness takes us along for a ride and we see what comes out.

But, this kind of game doesn't offer much payback for time invested. If the game lasted 30-ish minutes, it would be a decent middle-of-the-road filler. As written, it runs much longer. I offer a post in the rules section with ways to trim this down.

Children will enjoy this title and the bits. With compressed gameplay, adults might not mind playing it

Thread: Gaps in the rules - some optional rule suggestions

Vince Londini — 2008-08-17T03:31:38+00:00

Wizardology's rulebook makes several assumptions that my group would have prefered to find explicitly stated. Further, the game runs too long for my tastes.

Here are the rules (sometimes derived from implications in rule statements, sometimes adopted to eliminate some tedious randomness) our group settled on...

GAME SETUP
The player who most recently read a short-story or novel in the Fantasy genre goes first. Optionally, players roll a die or otherwise choose a player to go first.

TURN SEQUENCE
1) Roll the double die (but only read the outer die) or play saved Phoenix Feather card.
2) Move full extent of die or resolve Pheonix Feather move. Move can bounce off walls that divide a ring into portions (e.g., player rolls a 6, moves 2 spaces left into a wall then moves 4 spaces back to the right). Moving into a Spirit Room absorbs all leftover movement (in other words, players do NOT need exact count to land in Spirit Room).
3) Resolve effect of the space on which the pawn has landed. In the case of the "Roll Double Die" resolve the final space on which the pawn lands.
4) Play proceeds to the left.

PHEONIX FEATHER CARDS
If not played immediately when acquired, they are played INSTEAD of rolling the die on a later turn.

ALCHEMY LAB (SPEED OPTION)
Instead of the "roll forever" rule in the rulebook, impose a three turn limit on each instance of imprisonment in the lab. In other words, a player rolls 3 times for 3 turns, trying to recreate the die combination that landed the player in the Lab. If the player succeeds on any of these turns, the player moves normally on the NEXT turn. If the player fails to achieve the combination within these 3 turns, the players imprisonment ends and thus takes the NEXT turn normally.

OTHER OPTIONAL SPEED RULES
1) Always read the double die for movement. While this doesn't solve the problem of landing on item spots to claim the tickets needed to purchase chances in the Spirit Rooms, it does make for faster movement once a player has what is needed and simply needs to get there.
2) Elminate the "roll a 7" rule for the endgame. The first player to reach the center with all 4 talismans wins.
3) Allow players to purchase chances in the Spirit Room with card combinations other than those specified in the rules. Players may buy a chance with THREE of any one color/item card. Players may also buy a chance with one each of the OTHER color/item cards. There's no point in using Wilds to make up these sets since a wild purchases a chance all by itself. For example, under these rules a player in the Red/Dagger room trying to get the staff has four ways to purchase an opportunity: the player can use a red/dagger card, a wild card, 3 green/ring cards or 3 blue/book cards or 3 gold/coin cards, or one of each of the green, blue, and gold cards.

Thread: Re: Greatest Game Ever.

Fortuna — 2008-07-23T16:27:39+00:00

I've actually been looking for a good multplayer game that I can get my pets into. Sounds like the search is finally over.

Now if I could only find that "Plays Games with Pets" badge....

Thread: Re: Greatest Game Ever.

meyerg — 2008-07-21T04:29:06+00:00

I thought i was the master of sarcasm.

I am humbled by the master. Almost as funny as the Amun-Re review.

Thread: Re: Greatest Game Ever.

svenius — 2008-07-20T02:23:34+00:00

The games now appears in hot games for today.

Andy you have endangered mankind (or at least geekkind) with your vile propaganda of this evil game. You cunningly use irony and good writing to lure us to the no brain side of gaming. This is gonna cost you a couple extra years in purgatory if not a one way ticket straight to hell!

Thread: Re: Greatest Game Ever.

qzhdad — 2008-07-19T19:02:01+00:00

I picked it up today figuring for $7.50 the components are worth it.

Thread: Re: Greatest Game Ever.

Felkor — 2008-07-18T19:14:12+00:00

dbuel wrote:
chrisnd wrote:
This is a hideously hideous game. It was given to me as a gift, and I hope that the giver didn't pay full price.

When I first played it, I thought it was kind of interesting, with a tacked-on theme. Then I played it a second time (at the request of my nine year old daughter), and began to become disappointed in the game.

I have played a few more times, all at the request of my daughter. I eventually hand the game to her and said "here, take it. It is yours". She thankfully keeps it in her closet and doesn't ask me to play any more. Maybe she can teach her friends so that I don't have to play it any more.

She probably wanted to play the game in part to interact with you. And then when you handed the game off to her, that kinda told her that she was on her own.

He forgot to mention that his daughter is 30 years old.

Thread: Re: Greatest Game Ever.

scuttle_scuttle — 2008-07-18T16:24:09+00:00

Dex1138 wrote:
I had been considering picking this up on clearance thank you for taking that decision out of my hands.
Not even a coin flip involved!

Same here. It was 75% off at a Barnes and Noble. No thanks

Thread: Re: Greatest Game Ever.

dbuel — 2008-07-18T14:05:40+00:00

chrisnd wrote:
This is a hideously hideous game. It was given to me as a gift, and I hope that the giver didn't pay full price.

When I first played it, I thought it was kind of interesting, with a tacked-on theme. Then I played it a second time (at the request of my nine year old daughter), and began to become disappointed in the game.

I have played a few more times, all at the request of my daughter. I eventually hand the game to her and said "here, take it. It is yours". She thankfully keeps it in her closet and doesn't ask me to play any more. Maybe she can teach her friends so that I don't have to play it any more.

She probably wanted to play the game in part to interact with you. And then when you handed the game off to her, that kinda told her that she was on her own.

Thread: Re: Greatest Game Ever.

imbiginjapan — 2008-07-18T13:54:47+00:00

I've actually been looking for a good multplayer game that I can get my pets into. Sounds like the search is finally over.

Thread: Re: Greatest Game Ever.

Dex1138 — 2008-07-18T13:02:34+00:00

I had been considering picking this up on clearance thank you for taking that decision out of my hands.
Not even a coin flip involved!

Thread: Re: Greatest Game Ever.

truekid — 2008-07-18T03:59:57+00:00

I tried to supplement the game with the universal "My Dog Going to the Bathroom" game, but it involved too many decisions (on the paper? or not on the paper?) and too much interaction (me having to clean up afterwards).

Thread: Re: Greatest Game Ever.

ced1106 — 2008-07-18T00:21:20+00:00

BelgianBoardGamer wrote:
Not even for the cool components

Heck, the components aren't even cool. They remind me of those rice candy toys and ancient cake topping figures before choking hazards were invented. I wouldn't bother using them in Wiz-War, but any other games that might benefit from these toys?

aka. Washu! ^O^

Thread: Re: Greatest Game Ever.

rtresco — 2008-07-17T21:52:09+00:00

Any word on expansions in the works? It would be nice to enhance this game with something to place next to it, for added indecision.

Thread: Re: Greatest Game Ever.

GreyLord — 2008-07-17T20:10:34+00:00

chrisnd wrote:
This is a hideously hideous game. It was given to me as a gift, and I hope that the giver didn't pay full price.

When I first played it, I thought it was kind of interesting, with a tacked-on theme. Then I played it a second time (at the request of my nine year old daughter), and began to become disappointed in the game.

I have played a few more times, all at the request of my daughter. I eventually hand the game to her and said "here, take it. It is yours". She thankfully keeps it in her closet and doesn't ask me to play any more. Maybe she can teach her friends so that I don't have to play it any more.

Well, I'd say there's at least someone who doesn't rate it as a 1 then.

Thread: Re: Greatest Game Ever.

Sackmandan — 2008-07-17T18:27:06+00:00

You need a new daughter, mate. My nine year old plays Pillars of the Earth and kicks my arse in front of my mates at the games club. (on second thoughts...)

Thread: Re: Greatest Game Ever.

banyan — 2008-07-17T17:48:40+00:00

That sounds awesome! But are there any good variant rules to make the game longer?

Thread: Re: Greatest Game Ever.

chrisnd — 2008-07-17T14:38:12+00:00

This is a hideously hideous game. It was given to me as a gift, and I hope that the giver didn't pay full price.

When I first played it, I thought it was kind of interesting, with a tacked-on theme. Then I played it a second time (at the request of my nine year old daughter), and began to become disappointed in the game.

I have played a few more times, all at the request of my daughter. I eventually hand the game to her and said "here, take it. It is yours". She thankfully keeps it in her closet and doesn't ask me to play any more. Maybe she can teach her friends so that I don't have to play it any more.

Thread: Re: Greatest Game Ever.

BelgianBoardGamer — 2008-07-17T07:15:23+00:00

Loved reading your review.

And I'm not going to buy this game anytime soon

Not even for the cool components

Thread: Greatest Game Ever.

truekid — 2008-07-17T06:11:47+00:00

Have you seen this game in stores? If so, you'd probably remember it. the front of the box opens up to reveal the awesome custom pieces... 6 wizards, each with their own detachable staff, hat, and pet, multiple custom dice, decks of cards, a wand, and other amazing feats of plastic.

And then you plop down your $40 for the game and feel you've made out like a bandit, and will find the gameplay is both innovative and unique.

To start off with, do you like making decisions in games? ME NEITHER! you could make the wrong one! then where would you be? losing, no doubt to people who think with their big brain-heads. This game virtually eliminates all need for decision making. On top of that, it does a superb job at feigning player interaction- duels, cards that let you steal, etc. but DON'T WORRY! this is just a trick, all aspects of this will either be random, blatantly obvious, or negated in short order by some other over-powering effect. So fear not, you will not be shamed this day by man or dog, as all stand an equal chance at this game, and none will interact in any way necessitating communication.

Roll the "double-dice" and move a number of spaces equal to the outer dice. yes, it is a dice within a dice, have no fear, this is roughly meaningless, it's just there to provide you with what you really wanted... cool components! draw cards and endure or inflict their game-shattering effects! draw more cards so that you can get A CHANCE at picking up one of the 4 things you need to win this game. don't worry though, that's not as daunting a task as it might first sound.

First off, as mentioned before, if for some reason you have difficulty navigating the "maze" to get into one of the rooms to acquire the items, you'll no doubt get some randomly-acquired cards that will let you steal the hard-earned items from other players.

on top of that NO SKILL OR THOUGHT IS REQUIRED in any way, shape, or form, to acquire the items once you're in the rooms. They've cleverly turned what could be onerous challenges into easy and fun versions of dice-rolls and coin flips! YAY!

To get your hat you'll have to... well, flip a coin. not cleverly hidden, but that's not really what we're going for here, eh? no, not joking, flip a coin, 50/50 chance to get your hat.

To get your staff, you must pull a staff out of the holder, and if it matches your color, you get it! The game designer, who seems so humble he or she didn't want to put their name on the box or rules, has done away with what could be a tedious dice roll, and innovated a virtually brand-new mechanic! yes! and to make it even greater, there's a neutral staff in there. the rules don't really mention if the neutral staff is neutral because anyone can get it, or because no-one can, but that's ok, literacy is overrated in rules composers.

for your pet, there's an extra-sooper-speshul dice with a picture of each pet on the sides. roll the double dice (yep, no need to pay attention to the one inside, that's just a trick for the smarty-pantses). this tells you how many rolls you get of the pet dice this turn, to try and get your pet result to come up. I think the potential of such compound randomness is underrated... not only do you have to expend a card to get your chance, but you may get 1 chance, you may get 6, and then you've got a... oh, never mind. too much maths there, it's not really important, your toddler can sort that stuff out. rest assured though, you will have absolutely no impact on the outcome of those rolls. they will happen with or without you. yes, the game ~~could play~~ plays itself.

hey, the amulet! (it looks cooler in the box, that's a sticker which for some reason got put on an uneven surface, and will definitely fall off after 3 games). for this one, we've got a social mechanic! and it is this: do you cheat? or not? you've got to stick a donut shaped magnet on the wand, then put another one on, and if they repulse each other, amulet goodness awaits you. Now, obviously, if those magnets get within 10 feet of each other, you'll know which side to put where, so you actually have to be pro-active to avoid accidentally cheating. yes, in this game, cheaters prosper.

speaking of cheating, did you notice those full-color glossy cards? yes, the ones that are square cut instead of those fad rounded corners? notice that the information side is full bleed, and the different cards in some of the stacks are color-coded... no need to guess whether that square is worth landing on! (not that you had a choice anyways) if you so much as glanced at the deck of cards, you'll be able to tell which type is on top

And to add a touch of class, we've got a WIZARDLY DUEL! The likes of which may have even been played by Merlin himself! While the game designer has reinforced the magic theme with the names, you'll undoubtedly discover that the duel cards are straight up, nothing fancy, rock-paper-scissors with different names. FRET NOT! you will not have to choose which card to play, you and your opponent will select at random. FRET NOT AGAIN! the consequence of loss is basically meaningless, due to the power of the cards mentioned before.

and, to free Merlin, you'll have to play craps. yes, the dice game. not against anyone, or anything nauseating like that, no. and those chivalrous designers, they even ~~dumbed that down~~ made playing that more accessible for the average user.

now, to top that off, there are MORE effects generated by dice which you will not have to operate BRAIN-CELL ONE to resolve. I'll not go into them here, it's nice to have surprises.

now, there is one complaint I have. As I mentioned before, the rules don't really tell you much about the neutral staff, so you're going to have to decide that on your own. I recommend penciling it in before calling your cat over to play with you, you wouldn't want him to suspect you of cheating BEFORE the game starts, right? On top of that, the base mechanic of the game, roll the dice and move that many spaces? yeah, that's not really covered in the rulebook. it's just not there. sure is a good thing your cat can't read good.

ENJOY!

------

I paid less than $10 for this, on clearance at Barnes and Noble, so that i could cannibalize the game components. Please do not buy this game with intent to play it. I'm not exaggerating how bad the game is, I really did just go over most of the "rules".

i give this game a 1/10. yes, components. but a game? no.

Thread: Re: Wizardology – A Review – The good, the bad, and the ugly

Narlgoth — 2008-07-13T09:52:13+00:00

Good review Chris. I second your verdict that this is a non-gamers game. With no time limit and the slow pace of progress a six player game really could go on forever. This is where other light games like Atmosfear get ahead in comparison.

I also think the quality of components wasn't quite as high as you say. The paint jobs of the characters and familiars to me was only as good as one of those sets of plastic zoo animals you get from toy stores. I liked the idea of all of the challenges (drawing your staff from seven is another next to impossible feat), but the amulets stickers come away easily, the card text has nothing to do with the rules half of the time (as you said), and the magic item and spell spaces had the opposite colours to their cards. This meant everytime someone went to draw a card, they almost drew the wrong one!

This could be OK as a fmaily game involving children (the appeal is obvious), but definately not for serious gamers.

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Angry Duck — 2008-06-10T19:24:17+00:00

There are so many cool minitures, bits, dice, and cards in this game.

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swuyau — 2008-05-27T01:47:37+00:00

component

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swuyau — 2008-05-27T01:30:58+00:00

component

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swuyau — 2008-05-27T01:29:54+00:00

component

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swuyau — 2008-05-27T01:29:20+00:00

cover

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Angry Duck — 2008-04-01T17:53:47+00:00

The wizards working together to slay Puff The Pop-Up Dragon

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Angry Duck — 2008-04-01T17:18:22+00:00

All the special dice in the game

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Angry Duck — 2008-04-01T17:15:56+00:00

African Shaman & Kubi

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Angry Duck — 2008-04-01T17:13:45+00:00

Chinese Master & Goo

Thread: Wizardology – A Review – The good, the bad, and the ugly

chrisnd — 2008-01-27T23:18:15+00:00

Wizardology is a roll-and-move set collection game based on a popular book series. I have not read the books, so I cannot comment on whether the game truly deserves that selfsame description that appears on the box. I will not provide an opinion there. However, I can provide an opinion on the playability of the game, and that is what I will do.

The game is played on an unconventional round board, with multiple spaces, and walls that are similar to a maze. The game involves rolling a die, moving your wizard, and engaging in various trials in order to gain 4 different amulets of power (which are held in 4 different chambers attuned to the four natural elements of earth, wind, water, and fire around the outside of the board). After gathering all four amulets, your character must make their way back to the center of the board and summon the great Wizard Merlin. There are other players trying to do the same, and there is some conflict and confrontation that can happen at times.

THE GOOD:

Components:

The publisher of the game (Sababa Toys) took great care to provide a collection of high quality components. The cards are of good stock, the figures are painted with fine detail of strong (but softer) plastic, and the amulets are of good quality. Visually, the game is aesthetically pleasing to the eye. The colors are bright and crisp, and the components are easy to find. There is also a “double” die, with one small white die inside a larger, opaque die. The double die is only used in specific circumstances, so it is nice that it isn’t a (potentially) overused cliché. Overall, I am impressed with the visual and durable content of the game pieces. The problem is, I find this facet to be the only significantly redeeming quality of this game.

THE MEDIOCRE:

Disclaimer: I normally don’t include this category when I do my reviews, but I couldn’t find any category to assign the following. So I consider it mediocre. It isn’t good – it isn’t bad. It’s mediocre.

Theme:

I like the fact that for some of the amulets (the hat and the familiar, for example) are specific for your wizard character – there is a monkey, a tiger, and a snake, for example, as well as hats that are specific for each wizard. It is also quite nice that each wizard character is from a different culture – there is a “Western” wizard modeled on Merlin, an “African Shaman” akin to something out of sub-Saharan Africa, and a “Lapp Shaman” (with a wolf familiar, of course). There is also a “theme” in the sense of competing wizards trying to gather the necessary power (through their respective amulets) to gain the favor of Merlin – which, of course, guarantees a wizard tremendous power. Albeit a weak theme, it is there. Although not once do I feel like a wizard when playing this game. Railroad Tycoon can make me feel like I am George Pullman or J.P. Morgan – but I still feel like Chris when I play Wizardology.

THE BAD:

The rulebook:

The rulebook is not very easy to follow, and is done in rather poor quality black and white. Considering how visual the rest of the game is, I would have been more impressed with a rulebook in color. It certainly would have been easier to differentiate between the four different “chambers”, for example, or to know which of the four “Magic Item” cards I need to get into each chamber.

Action and conflict:

Any game with dueling wizards demands action between the players when they encounter each other on a space. In Wizardology, the extent of “conflict” between players is a glorified game of “Rock, Paper, Scissors” – sort of like Dungeonquest, but without the “Slashes, Mightly Blows, and Leap Asides” that make THAT game fun.

Roll and move:

This mechanic is probably the only way that you could get this game to work. And although there are some games with roll-and-move mechanisms (like Talisman, or Payday, or Life) that work, this game just makes it seem like a chore. Part of the nature of the round board is that there are walls along certain paths of the game. These walls block movement. So, you ask, how does the game compensate for it? By allowing you to “bounce” off the walls, and reverse your direction! So, in many instances, a two can have the exactly identical result as a six. And, I have seen instances whereby, because of this “bounce” effect, the player gets into an endless loop because they keep rolling the same two numbers over and over.

The round board feels like my wizard is stuck in a maze, and between the bouncing walls and constant rolling, it is hard to get to one specific spot you have to land on to get an amulet. To make is worse, there is a loophole – besides “Magic Item” cards and “Crystal Ball” cards, there are also “Feather Tokens”. These allow a wizard to ignore all of the conventions of moving – no dice, no movement, just go exactly where you want to go. However, you cannot earn these “Feather Tokens” – you need to land on a spot that lets you draw one –and even then, you might get a lousy pair of “Boots”, which aren’t as powerful as the “Magic Carpet”.

Set Collection:

This game exemplifies what most people who hate set collection games hate about set collection games. All your character does is roll the die, move your guy, draw a card. Rinse and repeat. Getting lots of cards from the “Magic Item” deck improves your chances of getting one of your four amulets, but once you get the amulet, you probably don’t need any of those particular “Magic Items” again (unless of course, someone steals your amulet – see the UGLY section below). What you were once collecting with great fervor now becomes completely worthless. Unlike a game like San Juan, where your excess cards become “currency” to build new buildings, excess cards in Wizardology serve absolutely no purpose.

Multiplayer solitaire:

I just finished my third game of this with my daughter (she is 8 years old, and loves this game). This time, I tried a new strategy. I ignored my daughter. Completely ignored her. I moved according to my plan of trying to draw as many “Magic Item” cards as I could, because those are the cards that get you to engage in a “Task” inside the amulet chambers. A character must have a magic item to activate the chamber, and if the activation fails, you need another specific magic Item to activate it again. As such, I feel when I play this game that I need multiple copies of a single card. Since it doesn’t rely on what my opponent is doing, I can play this game by myself and it will feel exactly the same as if I were playing it with others.

THE UGLY (and I mean REALLY ugly):

Card descriptions:

Okay, in this sense, the game seems incredibly stupid and hokey. For the “Magic Item” cards, they are completely visual. That is tolerable. However, for the “Crystal Ball” cards, the cards are in a rhyme – an incredibly annoying thing to have in a game. What’s worse, the cards themselves don’t actually say what they do. I am constantly having to go back to the rulebook to see what a card does. Unfortunately, my daughter has forced me to play this game so many times, I now know what the cards do without having to read them – which even kills the fun even more. Sure, in Talisman, you could probably memorize the cards – but there is some fun and discovery in reading those cards. Wizardology makes reading the cards a chore, and so it behooves you to memorize them, if only to speed the game to its conclusion faster.

Resource Manipulation:

The other conflict is when a character draws a “Crystal Ball” card and essentially steals another card (or worse, a “hard earned” amulet) from your wizard. You don’t have to DO anything to steal a resource from another player – you just need to draw the right card. Hideous mechanic, and sure to piss off a lot of players. Unlike “Screw You” conflict elements of games like Shogun, Tide of Iron, or even Ticket to Ride, you have to actually put some effort and strategy into screwing your opponent. Wizardology takes that effort and strategy and dumbs it down to purely the luck of the dice and draw of the card.

End game:

This is, hands down, the worst part of this game. How do you win? By rolling a seven. That’s it! Of course, to earn the “right” to roll a seven, you need to have one of each of your four amulets, and you need to get back to the center of the board. But remember, you can steal amulets from your opponents if you are lucky to draw the right card, and the “Magic Carpet” can fly you right back to the center whenever you want to go there. So, very easily, you can earn your right to roll a seven by doing very little work.

The game is also incredibly anti-climactic at its end. Yah, you rolled a seven. Game over. You win. Let’s play Monopoly – it is less painful.

FINAL COMMENTS:

This game feels a little hokey – like a Harry Potter episode (which is already bad) gone bad. Hokey and unfulfilling. I feel empty after playing this game, and would have rather spent my 60 minutes playing San Juan or Alhambra. Overall, I give it a 5 out of 10, and had the components been not as nice, it would have been worse.

Thread: Re: A general overview of Wizardology

kimapesan — 2008-01-21T15:24:17+00:00

jphien wrote:
I don't know if this review will garner much attention just because it's not a well known game and certainly not a very popular one.
That being said this was an excellent review. You went over every aspect that I was curious about. There are a number of these "ology" games. Dragonology, Piratology, and Wizardology, seems like there is one more, can't remember.
I've been curious but not curious enough to plunk down more than $10 or $20 and since I can't find them at that price I've stayed away. Glad to know that there is a bit of game in them though.
Thanks for the review.

I would hazard a guess that the other "ology" games have about a similar level of game in them, though I have no idea how similar they are to this game.

Thread: Re: A general overview of Wizardology

jphien — 2008-01-21T02:24:35+00:00

I don't know if this review will garner much attention just because it's not a well known game and certainly not a very popular one.
That being said this was an excellent review. You went over every aspect that I was curious about. There are a number of these "ology" games. Dragonology, Piratology, and Wizardology, seems like there is one more, can't remember.
I've been curious but not curious enough to plunk down more than $10 or $20 and since I can't find them at that price I've stayed away. Glad to know that there is a bit of game in them though.
Thanks for the review.

Thread: A general overview of Wizardology

kimapesan — 2008-01-20T20:34:45+00:00

In the ongoing series of heavily-marketed and highly-produced books and games from Templar Publishing, Wizardology ties into the lavish book of the same name and is just as lavish as the book. It's a big box with tons of colorful pieces and sculpted figures, yet falls short in some key areas.

The Game Play

Two to six players take the part of a wizard apprentice on a mission to become fully trained wizards and free Merlin from his prison. To do this, the wizards must travel around a magical labyrinth to each of the four elemental chambers, pass a test in each one, and collect their specific and unique wizarding items. Once they have all four items, they return to the center of the maze to free Merlin and win.

Players take turns rolling the die and moving along the pathways of the labyrinth, and taking action on the space landed on. Around the maze are spaces like:

Crystal Balls - Draw a Crystal Ball card, which casts a spell or enchantment. Some cards can be kept to be played later, most are played immediately, and some of the ones played immediately will hurt the player that drew them. Most cards, however, benefit the player in some way, from the irritating and annoying (take one of another player's magic item cards) to the game-altering (take another player's hard-earned wizard item, or rotate the maze a quarter turn).

Magic Items - Get a magic item card. There are four types of items, each corresponding to one of the element chambers, plus a wild card that can substitute for any one item. You need at least one item in order to take the test in the associated element chamber; having multiple copies of the same item let you stay and keep trying the test on succeeding turns until you pass or you run out of items.

Phoenix Feathers - Get a special movement card. Boots let you move any number of spaces along your current ring of the maze. A broomstick gives you a 50/50 shot at moving to any one space of your choice (the other 50% meaning you waste your turn), and Magic Carpets are a 100% guaranteed version of the broomstick.

Secret Passages - Land on one, you can move to any other passage space if you want.

Roll the Double Die - Move again, but essentially roll two dice instead of one.

Lose a Turn - Lose your next turn. Easily avoided because the movement rules allow for you to either find an alternate path, or "bounce" off of walls to backtrack over your path. You really only ever have to land on this if the die roll would otherwise land you on a Magic Duel or Spells and Potion space (and often, you'd rather avoid these, as you'll see below).

Spells and Potions - Basically take a 50/50 risk of really messing up your opponents, or seriously delaying your own game. Roll the two spell dice - the first contains three spell symbols, the second two colors. The spell symbol determines which spell you attempt, the color whether you succeed (red) or fail (black). Rolling red means you can do such devastating things as send two players to the Alchemy Lab (the game's version of Go To Jail), switch pieces and cards and items with another player, and so on. Rolling black means, no matter what, you get sent to the Alchemy Lab, where you must then try on succeeding turns to roll the same spell dice combination you rolled to get there. On the plus side, you get three tries each turn; on the downside, failing to do so is extremely annoying, and there are NO other means to escape the Alchemy Lab (not even a Get Out of Chemistry Class Free card).

Magic Duel - Land here, and you immediately move to another player's space to engage in a magic duel. You also get to duel if you just happen to land on another player's wizard anyway. Duels are potentially rewarding, but you have very little control over the outcome. The player starting the duel wagers a number of cards on the duel (items, crystal balls, and/or Phoenix feathers). Each player then takes a set of duel cards, mixes them up, and draws one at random. There are three battle cards - Spell, Chant, and Potion - and each one beats one other card but loses to the other kind of card, exactly like rock-scissors-paper. Except that you don't choose which of the three to use - it's randomly drawn. (This right here is one rule that could easily be changed to give players a choice without it at all affecting the rest of game play. I have no idea why the game designers wrote it this way.)

The Element Chambers - On the perimeter of the labyrinth are the four element chambers. Wizards must get to each chamber during the game and pass a test to get their item. The tests themselves are exercises in probability. In the Air chamber, the player tosses a dragon-coin for a 50/50 chance at getting his hat. In the Water Chamber, the player rolls the Familiar die to get his pet animal (fortunately, you also roll a die to see how many rolls of the Familiar die you can make on your turn). In the Fire chamber, you try to draw your color-coded staff out of a barrel containing all remaining staffs, plus one false staff (obviously, every player will try to be the last wizard to take this test for the best odds). The Earth chamber has, by far, the coolest test to get your magic amulet. Another player takes the plastic wand toy and places a magnetic ring around it. The player taking the test then takes a second magnetic ring, and tries to place it correctly on the wand so that it hovers above the first magnet, rather than sticking to it. This is the coolest because it's a toy that the kids love to play with when it's not their turn (and, in fact, they could just play with it without the rest of the game, too, if left to their own devices).

Each attempt at a test costs you one of the corresponding magic item cards. If you fail but have another card, you try again on your next turn. Run out of items, and you have to go back to the maze to collect items again.

After you have collected all four of your familiar, amulet, hat, and staff, you maneuver your way back to the center, where you must free Merlin. How do you free Merlin? Roll a 7 on two dice. Do so and you win - fail, and you can try again next turn.

The Components

If I were assigning letter grades, I'd give the components a B+. Although the components look like they should be a solid A, there are some annoyances that lower the grade. The board is the best component - it's large, colorful, and very sturdy, and the labyrinth is designed such that it's actually a challenge to maneuver to the four element chambers, and players do frequently have to take detours in order to avoid losing turns, avoid duels or casting spells they'd rather not.

Each of the wizards is a two-inch plastic figure ornately and finely painted, and each represents a different wizarding culture - including an African, Indian, Persian, Lapplander, Chinese, and Western wizard. The familiars are miniature animal pieces that fit onto the wizards' bases, hats are unique to each wizard and fit (more or less) on their heads, and each wizard also can hold its own ornate staff (more or less). Don't make the mistake of trying to remove a wizard from its base - it won't stay on the base solidly afterward. And, as you might expect, paint on plastic does not stand up to repeated scratching or rubbing.

The cards are pretty to look at, but not well shaped for shuffling - they're long and thin, and not sturdy enough for the shape to rifle-shuffle.

The "double die" is cool-looking at first, but its novelty quickly wears off. It is a large clear-blue die on the outside, with a small white die on the inside. For most moves you only pay attention to the outer blue die, but when you must roll both, you add the inner and outer together. This proves to be more of an annoyance than anything because it's all too easy to forget about the inner die.

The staffs (mentioned above) in our copy were problematic. The tips of each one are painted with each wizard's color, so you have to draw the right colored staff to pass the test. However, the green and black and purple paints are very hard to distinguish, and we had to tell them apart by the size of the color spot, not the color itself. As well, one of the staffs had a flaw on the other end - the end that is supposed to look identical to the others - that made it easy to pick out from the others. This may be unique to our copy, of course, but I would guess that because the staffs are hand-painted, other copies will have similar flaws.

Finally, the large plastic insert in which most of the figures and dice are stored is absolutely useless. It is extremely thin and easily tears, and its design makes it nearly impossible to remove the dice and the wizard figures without permanently damaging the insert itself. Unfortunately, you can't immediately discard it because of the box design - the box has a "book lid" that opens onto the plastic insert. If you remove the insert, and store the pieces in the box itself, opening the book lid will spill your pieces out. Obviously there are home-made ways to remedy this, but for the price-tag of this game, you shouldn't have to.

The Rules

This component I give a C+ to. On the one hand, the middle of the rule book devotes two pages to pictures matching each wizard to its unique items, which is essential given that some components look like they could belong to two or three of the wizard figures. The rules also explain the effects of each of the Crystal Ball cards thoroughly (which is also essential, given that the cards themselves are written in "wizard" English and can be difficult to parse out).

On the other hand, the rules have several glaring omissions. The rules do not state the primary movement mechanism - that is, rolling one die and moving that number of spaces. It's not there - you have to guess that that is the intent. The rules do not indicate whether you must land in an element chamber by exact roll, or if you can simply enter on a high roll and ignore the excess. The rules also do not state what happens if two wizards are in the same chamber together. If they are on the same ordinary space, there is a duel - but there is nothing that says whether chambers are treated similarly, or if they are "neutral ground" where no magic duels occur.

As well, I'd like to point out to this publisher, as well as many other game publishers, that while light blue pages with slightly darker blue lettering may look highly stylized and thematic, it's a pain to actually try reading. Please. Black ink on light or white backgrounds is perfectly acceptable.

Minor points. The big question is,

How Good Is The Game Overall

When we got this game (as a Christmas gift) I was expecting an impossible-to-enjoy trivia game based on the book, full of multiple-choice questions we'd all fail the first time through, then remember enough on succeeding plays to make the game dull and unplayable. Thankfully it's a roll-and-move game instead!

Seriously, though, it's not just a simple roll and move and collect cards, obviously. While most of the game is thoroughly dependent on chance, there's a decent amount of tactical decision-making involved. Primarily, players will have to determine how long they want to spend collecting magical items versus how quickly they want to jump to the chambers for the tests. Given the numerous Phoenix Feather cards that can be used to hop around the labyrinth, it's entirely possible to get to the chambers in short order and try a one-shot on the test; it's also feasible to simply move to collect as many items as possible in order to help guarantee that once you get to a chamber, you'll pass the test before being forced out. Players also have to choose their targets of Spells and Duels carefully, and not simply take blind chances every opportunity they get.

The game does follow a fairly familiar pattern. All wizards start out with nothing, and not much happens as they collect cards here and there and wander toward whatever test they can best attempt first. After the first item is collected, players begin accumulating crystal balls and magic items and phoenix feathers to the point where they can more directly manipulate the game course and screw over other players, while garnering the pieces becomes easier and more likely. One player generally gets ahead in the count, however, and the other players have to pool their efforts to prevent that player from getting back to the center - generally by stealing an item or preventing the player from getting back to the center by movement. Once a player is in the center, there's little chance that player will lose unless, by chance, another wizard has gotten all four of his pieces as well.

Despite this pattern, however, an individual game is so thoroughly randomized that the outcome is not predictable. The last game I played with my kids, for example, had a complete reversal of fortune when my youngest daughter, carrying only two items against the four I and my other daughter had collected, received two "Hand of Glory" cards as a result of a duel with her sister. These cards let her steal an item from each of us, leaving her in a position to win and myself and my older daughter scrambling to retrieve the lost items.

Overall, this is not a "great game" - but it is not a terrible game either. It best appeals to the 8-12 year old set, and parents of such. There is little here that would appeal to the general BGG gamer - there are many other games in the same price range and with as many or more cool toy components that offer an overall more enticing gaming experience. However, it is about as difficult to learn and play as "Monopoly" or "Risk", but is far more enjoyable and less predictable than either one. Thus, I'd recommend it as an alternative to those mainstream games (and others) for precisely the age range mentioned above, but can't make it a recommendation for adult gamers unless they have children to play the game with.

Thread: Re: Any good?

uhlaw97 — 2007-12-25T12:48:53+00:00

The game's mechanics are a bit random, but the multiple card drafting decks allow for a unique and organic experience every time.

The board itself is truly a colorful work of art!

The game pieces and miniatures are FANTASTIC!!!

You could use the Wizard figurines for role playing games, if you wish.

I'd say that it's pretty good overall, and definitely the best of the "ology" games. I wonder if there is going to be an Egyptology game?

Thread: Re: Any good?

ironcates — 2007-08-03T03:46:22+00:00

Thanks for the reply. The board mechanic sounds neat. It's probably not for me but I got the 30% off as well, so I might just get it and try to fix it. The bits are pretty unbelieveable. Although I might go for Dragonology instead since I need dragons about that size for Battlelore anyway.

Thread: Re: Any good?

gamewizard — 2007-08-03T02:20:55+00:00

I just bought it using the 30% off coupon at borders. My kids (3yrs and 5yrs) and I like it. If you want deep strategy, this isn't the game for you. My three year old beat me due to the fact that I didn't play a nasty spell card on her. (There is some screwage in this game.)

If you want a game with unexpected random surprises then it's for you.
The strategy in the game is planning your destination and choosing which direction to move after rolling a die. Landing on a certain space gets you a magic item card, which is needed to enter a specific chamber to perform a task to gather your wizard's talismans.

The board is a maze with locked doors, which I find to be a creative mechanic. An open sesame spell card can get you through those locked doors, proving shortcuts. Landing on a pheonix feather space gets you an item such as a magic carpet, broomstick, or magic shoes for faster movement.

There is a little strategy in the timing of playing certain held cards. One card let's you rotate the board left or right which changes the player's position relative to the four chambers. Most of the game is random rolling a die, flipping a medallion (heads or tails), dueling with cards (paper scissors stones), drawing a random staff out of a cup to match your wizard's base color, and applying magnets to a wand. If you randomly choose the correct side, the magnets levitate(repel).

Winning the game is by gathering all four talisman's, returning to the center, and rescuing Merlin by rolling a 7 (weak).

Thread: Any good?

ironcates — 2007-07-27T17:45:08+00:00

Saw this at Borders yesterday the bits are incredible! The description sounds good but I hate to pull the trigger if it's just totally without strategy and interesting spell play.