Game: Magestones

Thread: Kid-Tested, Raistlin Approved!

TheLightSarcastic — 2008-09-22T20:12:23+00:00

As a Dragonlance dork AND a fan of shiny baubles, I was one happy little geek girl when I got my hands on a copy of 'Magestones.' Finally, Raistlin Majere was using his high exposure as a Mage Of High Sorcerery to score some lucrative endorsement deals. Alas, the game played much better in my memory than it did when I dug it out with an old friend last week. However, the game is easy to learn, plays quickly, and is altogether painless.

The only real disappointment will be to Dragonlance fans, who will quickly discover that the Raistlin theme extends only to the box. The gameplay and components are highly generic and you could've slapped any other franchise on here to the same effect. What you've basically got is a variant on 'Pente,' right down to the shiny stone pieces and capture ability. Again, nothing really wrong with the concept, but it has what to do with Dragonlance, exactly? Oh, I was snookered so easily in my youth.

Gameplay is pretty simple. Each player grabs a bag of shiny stones and attempts to be the first one to place all of theirs on the board. There are rows from 3 to 9, and on your turn, you roll the dice to see which row you get to put a stone in. There are three dice, each with two spaces for a 1, 2, and a 3. Rolling a 1-2-3 combination causes you to lose a turn, a mechanic that has a rather discouraging amount of weight on the outcome of the game. On the flip side, rolling a triple of any number grants you an extra turn.

This is especially potent because stones in the 3, 6, or 9 row cannot be captured. Captures are made in the traditional style of placing one of your stones at both ends of a straight row of the other player's stones, or even just surrounding one piece. As you might imagine, having immovable stones in the middle and border lanes is a big advantage. Captured pieces are removed from the board and given back to the player.

Once stones have made a capture, though, the space between them is safe, as captures can only be made with an active stone placement. So the safest place to put your pieces is between your opponent's stones. You'll often see a player make a one-stone capture, only for his opponent to roll that very same row and put his stone right back where it was, now perfectly safe. For some reason, this always felt goofy to me, even though it's a perfectly smart play.

Thanks to the dice, the game leans heavily towards luck. You can make smart stone placements to set up future captures, but with an open board, it's impossible to set up any real surprises, and with the dice being as random as they are, you can't depend on long-term strategy regardless. Many games go to the player that managed to roll 1-2-3 the least in the home stretch. And the ability to replace stones into captured rows will eventually clog up the playspace and force random stone drops as the game limps to the finish line.

Not a horrible game by any stretch, but pretty unremarkable. The best aspect is, of course, the bag of shiny gems you get to fiddle with as you play. I'm willing to put up with quite a lot if there any shiny or interesting pieces involved. The board is pretty generic stuff. Some effort to do ANYTHING interesting with the Dragonlance license would've gone a long way here. Of course, I think my mother got the game for me at the Christmas Tree Shop for like five dollars, so you get what ya pay for.

Frankly, I'm a little disappointed in Raistlin. He really should've held out and put his name on something with a little more heft. I guess pumping out middling board games was part of his evil pact to join the Black Robes. Oh, the villainy.

On the plus side, the game's simplicity and negligible set-up requirements make it an okay choice for any kids you might end up gaming with. It also doesn't need much space, and you can get Cheeto stains on the board at no real loss. Nothing to particularly recommend here, but there are worse sins than being a passable, playable board game.

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SiskNY — 2007-12-30T22:15:28+00:00

Homemade Box -- Same size as Kosmos 2 player boxes

Thread: Re: MageStones review

SiskNY — 2007-12-29T00:34:27+00:00

For those who are lazy like me, here are the example imges that go with the review:

Example 1:
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Example 2:
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Thread: Re: Magestones: session report

Gatekeeper3000 — 2007-12-22T08:16:39+00:00

This was one of the more popular games with my friends when I was in Early Highschool almost 20 years ago (scary). I havn't played it in probably 5-10 years.

We were so into it, that we had an ongoing tally of games played/games won. We never did that with any other game. I'm surprised at the low rating it's gotten from users. The game isn't perfect, but there are not many that are. Is it fun? I think so, is it quick? yea, is it easy? Yup. So what more can you want. Not every game has to be a 5 hour dice fest with a multitude of cards, plastic figures, and moving board pieces.

The only thing that we (unintentially) modified was one rule. If a player has one stone left, they must say "Last stone" out loud as an announcement to all other players that they could win the game on their next turn.

If they forget to say this, and someone notices they can shout "Raistlin" (this is the minor Dragonlance reference that the game is based on.). And if that happens, they loose a turn (I believe).

No one other then myself and one other person had read the Dragonlance novels then, and even knew who Raistlin was. So people were saying the oddest things "Rastle, Wrestle, Rast-lin" it then became more and more nonsensical. Eventually people would just yell out "you didn't say last stone" and thats how it's been since then.

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gamephotos — 2007-10-05T17:38:20+00:00

Blue Completes A Binding On Amber

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gamephotos — 2007-10-05T17:36:09+00:00

Game Components - Complete With Storage Pouch

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gamephotos — 2007-10-05T17:34:43+00:00

Eldritch Light

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gamephotos — 2007-10-04T19:52:48+00:00

The Mage Stones

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gamephotos — 2007-10-04T19:46:31+00:00

The Game Dice (Each Is Numbered 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3)

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gamephotos — 2007-10-04T18:53:48+00:00

First Move

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gamephotos — 2007-10-04T18:51:02+00:00

Box Front

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gamephotos — 2007-10-04T18:49:26+00:00

Box Back

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gamephotos — 2007-10-04T18:45:29+00:00

Game Board

Thread: Magestones: session report

Phil68 — 2007-07-28T23:12:16+00:00

This hit the table on Friday night after an absense of some six (count 'em!) years so I thought I'd jot down a few thoughts about the game.

We wanted a short game to finish the night but it had been so long since any of us played, none of us could remember how the game went. A quick refresher of the rules though and off we go!

In a nutshell, the object is to get all of your 'stones' (coloured beads) onto the board before the other players. On your turn, you roll three dice to determine in which of seven columns you place your stone. You can scupper your opponents plans by "capturing" their stones in a manner similar to Othello; "captured" stones are returned to their owners. You can play for points but we just played for the sheer visceral thrill of trouncing your opponents!

Our first game was very tentative, with a series of cautious moves and almost apologetic "captures". We soon got over that though, and by the third game things were moving much more quickly and agressively. Our most aggressive player, Peter (the person of dubious parental heritage - as he's known in the group) soon started trying to force the game, capturing some and taking a couple of games. The games were turning around in a matter of five minutes so we played about nine times in a little over half an hour. We could have played longer but it was getting on for midnight and none of us are getting any younger...

I don't know who "won" overall as we weren't keeping score but it was a good, competitive game that kept us entertained. Perhaps it will see the light of day again when we need a quick filler one Friday night!

Thread: MageStones review

chillrunr — 2005-09-01T20:39:28+00:00

Game Stats
Number of players: 2-6
Average game time: 20-30 minutes
Ages: 10 and up

The Game
Magestones is a strategy game born from the cardboard loins of games like Go and Pente, with a somewhat forced theme taken from the Dungeon and Dragons Dragonlace books. The board consists of 7 columns (numbered 3-9) that are divided into 9 rows on each. The columns each represent one of the planes of existence wherein the mages (players) try to exert their influence through magic. Players take turns influencing the planes by placing stones of their magical color on one of the columns, attempting to be the first player to use up all of their stones. If you place your stone so that another player’s stone or row of several stones (even multiple colors) is bordered at both ends by your own color, then those stones are removed from he board and given back to their owner. This is called Binding and Dispelling their stones. It can become quite tricky, as stones can be Binded horizontally, vertically and even diagonally. Stones can even be Binded in multiple directions at once (see example picture 1). Furthermore, the board works in a wrap-around fashion along the planes of existence, allowing Binding vertically within the same column from one side of the board to the other. (see example picture 2). The only exception to the Binding and Dispelling rule is the central column, which represents the Prime Material Plane. Stones that are placed in this column are considered safe, and are unable to be dispelled, although they can still count toward the makeup of a row of stones that can be dispelled.

An element of chance is introduced through dice rolls. Three dice, that are numbered 1-3, are rolled at the beginning of your turn to determine which plane of existence you can influence that turn---meaning which column you can place your stone in. A roll of all the same number results in an extra turn, and a roll of three different numbers results in the loss of your turn. Players continue taking turns, placing their stones, until a player has used up all of his stones and is declared the winner. Points are awarded according to how many of the opponent’s stones went unplayed during that game round, and the game is usually played in multiple rounds.

My Take:
For two or three players, this is a decent strategy game. If you are a fan of Pente you will enjoy this game, as it takes it up a notch. The Dragonlace theme of the game adds nothing to the overall play, and someone with some glass beads and a hand drawn board will enjoy themselves just as much without buying the game. The option of playing with more than two players is nice, but it just begins to get a little chaotic and hard to keep track of all the Bindings that come up unexpectedly. Feel free to give it a try, though!

Thread: making it a proper game - some modest proposals

pete_darby — 2004-11-12T13:27:06+00:00

1) ditch take another turn on triples: the placements of them are powerful enough already.

2) Replace the dice with a deck of cards: if you remove the "miss a go" cards (pain in the sit upons that they are), you get 21 possible combinations:

no of cards x value
1 x 3
3 x 4
6 x 5
1 x 6
6 x 7
3 x 8
1 x 9

one copy (21 cards) for low chaos, or multiple (42 or 63) for high chaos. My gut tells me to include in a 42 card deck some "wild" cards to allow placement on any 4, 5, 7 or 9 line. Maybe restricted wilds (some 4/5, some 7/9). Call 'em chaos magic, or what have you. I'd put ten of 'em into a 42 card deck, if only to get the magic traditional 52 cards, but I'd fiddle with it to get it right. Or 6 cards, to restore the distribution before the "miss a go" got eliminated. Yeah, 2 "high wilds", two "low wilds", two "master wilds"

Then jazz up the theming of the deck to match what's in the colour text of the rulebook

3) two ways of playing;
a) kids / high chaos - pick top card from deck & play it.
b) Gamers - 3 cards, replenish hand after playing one card.

Of course, once you play off cards, you can riff off of having "meta-cards" that affect card play, but that way lies madness. And Fluxx with a board...

4) Strip Magestones. just a thought.

Wellll, the geek gold's going up for the cards now...

Thread: General Comment

BoardGameGeek — 2002-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Another (THE other?) game from the designer of chase, this suffers from being too random for a stone placement game, and from the "miss a go, take another turn" element. Could probably be improved with a deck of cards for placement, removing the frustrating miss a turn chances. Nice glass beads for the stones, and VERY easy to learn. There is a nice strategic game trying to get out from under the dice rolls here. Also gets VERY chaotic with more players.

Game: Magestones

Thread: Kid-Tested, Raistlin Approved!

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Thread: Re: MageStones review

Thread: Re: Magestones: session report

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Thread: Magestones: session report

Thread: MageStones review

Thread: making it a *proper* game - some modest proposals

Thread: General Comment

Thread: making it a proper game - some modest proposals