Game: Master Labyrinth

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Toynan — 2008-08-24T19:37:25+00:00

Back of the french box

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Toynan — 2008-08-24T19:34:54+00:00

All the objectives cards

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Toynan — 2008-08-24T19:32:46+00:00

Back of all the objectives cards

Thread: Re: Master Labyrinth: First Impressions

Emsdad — 2008-07-24T13:01:00+00:00

I can only imagine what a 3 or 4 player game is like!

It's as bad as you fear......

We played it for the first time at our Games Club last night with 3 players, and although I like the idea of the game, and I feel that it should be a good gaming experience, it suffers from the problems that the OP identified, namely:

If you cannot pick up a token on the current turn, your options are:

1) Use a wand (of which you only have 3) to pick it up in 2 turns (if possible). However, this is only really useful if it's a secret ingredient or a high value token; or
2) Shift the labyrinth to prevent the next person from picking up the token.

It is useless to try to put yourself in a position to pick up the next token because too much changes in between your turns (even in a 3 player game).

So what happened was a rather joy-sapping game of - A prevents B from picking up a token, B prevents C from getting it, C prevents A from getting it etc etc, until someone uses a wand or makes a mistake or loses the will to live....

What would have been a fun and enjoyable 45 minute game, turned into a 2 hour death-march.

I can see why it would be a good game to play with kids, as they would probably only be trying to reach tokens themselves as opposed to blocking others, but it's not really for gamers (unless you play a speed version, say 10 seconds per move, which could be fun!)

If only we had played Mykerinos instead.......

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Frankysan — 2008-03-25T16:30:30+00:00

The nordic edition box back.

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Frankysan — 2008-03-25T16:27:19+00:00

The nordic edition box front.

Thread: A review from a 2 player husband/wife perspective

wnellis — 2008-02-20T12:40:55+00:00

This game had been sitting on the shelf since I received it from someone at Christmas a couple of years ago. Since we had a lull in our gaming lives at the moment, we decided to pull it off the shelf and give it a try for a couple of games.

Upon opening the box, I found that the quality of the components was fairly good. The pieces were solid wood and the tiles were made of heavy card stock. Our problem, however, was the board. While it may improve after a couple of plays, the cardboard was so stiff that the centre ridge of the board would not sit flat, and made shifting the tiles every turn a really time consuming affair.

As for the game itself, it was ok but it isn't something that either of us will be reaching for again soon. The game is remarkably simple - each turn you slide a tile in from the edge, move your pawn along the resulting pathways trying to capture one of the numbered "ingredient" tiles (which must be captured in order of their numerical value), repeat. Each player also has a card with 3 secret ingredients which will be worth an extra 20 points each to them. We both found that when our secret ingredient got close to coming up, we just got close to it and waited for our opponent to claim the previous token. Either that or our "magic wands" (which let you take 2 consecutive turns) made these incredibly easy to obtain.

This game could be a blast with kids, but we found as a two player game for adults it just didn't have enough going on to keep us interested. Both of us were waiting for the game to finish so we could move on to something else. 5/10.

Thread: Re: Master Labyrinth: First Impressions

teabo — 2008-01-12T04:01:33+00:00

Sagrilarus wrote:
    I've been eyeballing this since my son loves Amazing Labyrinth but needs more kick. Thank you for the timely review -- I will consider Lord of the Rings Labyrinth instead, or perhaps another.

    You likely saved me some cash, so the least I could do was toss you some gold.

             Sag.
Glad to be of service, and thanks for the tip!

Thread: Re: Master Labyrinth: First Impressions

Sagrilarus — 2008-01-12T03:57:35+00:00

    I've been eyeballing this since my son loves Amazing Labyrinth but needs more kick. Thank you for the timely review -- I will consider Lord of the Rings Labyrinth instead, or perhaps another.

    You likely saved me some cash, so the least I could do was toss you some gold.

             Sag.

Thread: Re: Master Labyrinth: First Impressions

teabo — 2008-01-12T02:40:27+00:00

laiernie wrote:
except that you can only use 1 magic wand per turn.
Ahhh... well, my girlfriend will be pleased to hear that!
laiernie wrote:
since i acquired Lord of the Rings Labyrinth, i would no longer play master labyrinth, the rules were tweaked and work much better. there's also a variant where you have "secret missions". but it's hard to find in the us.
I'll have to give it a look! Thanks for the recommendation.

Thread: Re: Master Labyrinth: First Impressions

laiernie — 2008-01-12T02:04:48+00:00

teabo wrote:

I ended up winning the game, despite losing out on one of my secret ingredients (18), by a three turn in-a-row end of game smack-down, which I must admit, was fun.

except that you can only use 1 magic wand per turn.

since i acquired Lord of the Rings Labyrinth, i would no longer play master labyrinth, the rules were tweaked and work much better. there's also a variant where you have "secret missions". but it's hard to find in the us.

and i hear there's a new version of master labyrinth out: Master Labyrinth dunno if it's any better, so far it's rated pretty low, but that's only from 3 ratings.

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OldestManOnMySpace — 2008-01-11T23:43:28+00:00

The "master wizards". (I prefer to call them doges.)

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OldestManOnMySpace — 2008-01-11T23:43:16+00:00

The blue wizard stands in his starting area, showing little progress along the maze. "I thought I was in the lead.." he says. (Tribute to kilroy_locke.)

Thread: Master Labyrinth: First Impressions

teabo — 2008-01-11T23:01:07+00:00

Coming into my first play of Master Labyrinth, I was really ready to enjoy it. I had previously played aMAZEing Labyrinth on a number of occasions and found it to be a really appealing, easy to teach, and refreshingly light game, serving as a nice appetizer before deeper games, or simply something to play when I wanted something fun but not too involving. I really loved the shifting maze mechanic, and I thought that Master Labyrinth would be just the thing to take that to the next level.

After reading the rules, things were looking good. The game had not departed too far from aMAZEing Labyrinth, and yet there seemed to be enough to chew on to really elevate the game the way I hoped. I was reminded immediately of 9-ball billiards, which is a plus for me. I felt like the bonuses given by your "Secret Ingredients" seemed enticing, but not so huge compared to the higher-numbered items that missing out on one cuts you out of the game. The wands, too, seemed like a viable mechanic, both for ensuring you obtain your secret items, and for surprise combinations allowing for two high-point grabs in a row. However, all of this speculation was academic, and I wouldn't know for sure how things were going to play out until I... well, played them out.

The stage was set. My girlfriend had played aMAZEing Labyrinth as well, and so we both had those experiences fueling our thoughts as we entered into this experimental 2-player matchup. At first, things went pretty predictably. I got 1. Laura (my girlfriend) got 2. I got 3. Laura got 4.

Item number 5 was the first to come up that was one of my secret ingredients. I couldn't get it in just one move, and since my other two ingredients were 18 and 25(!), I was loathe to waste a precious magic wand on 5, when as far as I new I might be competing pretty hard, especially for the much-desired Mistletoe. So, instead, I moved the labyrinth in order to keep Laura from getting it.

Laura, unable to get the item due to my interference, moved the labyrinth to prevent me from getting it. This went on for a surprisingly long time before I did eventually get the item. Each turn, I got wearier of calculating the possible moves for both myself and Laura.

I realized for the first time the key difference between Master Labyrinth and aMAZEing Labyrinth; in aMAZEing Labyrinth, except in fairly rare cases, you do not know what your opponent is trying to get, and therefore you focus on getting your own items as quickly as possible. in Master Labyrinth however, despite the importance of your secret ingredients, you do know what your opponent is trying to get. This distinction becomes especially important when you get to the high numbered items. I would think to myself, "what's the point of moving the labyrinth to get 15 points, when Laura can then move it to get 16 points?" And so I would be left with the option of moving the labyrinth in order to prevent Laura from getting 15 in the hopes that I could create a labyrinth where I could eventually get 15, but Laura could not get 16. On her turn, she was left with no choice but to do the same

This created 5 or 6 back-and-forth lockdowns during our first run which got so long that I really found my interest slipping. Don't get me wrong: I realize of course that the ability to anticipate and attempt to thwart an opponents plans is vital to any serious strategy game. All the same, the implementation of this idea in Master Labyrinth bored me. The problem is that in order to properly play Master Labyrinth you need to continually consider every possible shift of the tiles, for your turn, for your opponents turn, and for any potential extra turns that may be taken from magic wands at the very least. These projections are really just visual, and the only thing difficult about making them is the quantity of the possibilities and not the creativity or strategic thinking necessary to think them up. Ultimately, at least for me and my girlfriend, these projections were not fun to make, but rather they were tedious. I can only imagine what a 3 or 4 player game is like!

I ended up winning the game, despite losing out on one of my secret ingredients (18), by a three turn in-a-row end of game smack-down, which I must admit, was fun. I also love the mechanic that allows you to give your opponent points in exchange for advice. I'd like to see it in other games. too. In the end, however, we both felt unsatisfied by the experience. I will try it again, but it might be a while before I get up the gumption to pull it off the shelf for another go.

Thread: Re: master labyrinth

dbc- — 2007-11-25T21:40:03+00:00

It is two different versions.
There are no files yet for the new edition. But look out for this page:
http://boardgamegeek.com/game/33071

Quite strange to release a new version by th same name. I wonder what their reasoning is?

Thread: master labyrinth

filobedows — 2007-11-20T18:20:45+00:00

I recently bought the master labyrinth game from ravensburger here in Germany and have been trying to get a copy of the rules in english. Ravensburger gave me this site address but after looking around there seems to be differant versions. The rules posted are for a game of the same name with magic wands and talk about wishes and has no dragon. Our game has no magic wands and has a model dragon that sits in the middle of the board.

Can anyone help. Ravensburger don't seem very helpful!!

Cheers. John

Thread: Re: Just for kids?? Not!

russ — 2007-10-14T21:04:01+00:00

I agree Master Labyrinth is excellent, both for kids and newbies as well as serious gamers.

I coincidentally played Amazing Labyrinth (an earlier version in the series) recently, and thought it was more luck-based and not as interesting, since you have no real information about the other players' goals, so can't meaningfully do much to interact with them.

Thread: Just for kids?? Not!

RDHan — 2007-10-14T07:47:34+00:00

Last week I picked up "Labyrinth der Meister" at a thrift store for 1 Euro. Also picked up its cousins "Veruckte Labyrinth" and "Labyrinth der Ringe" for 1 Euro. I figured it would be great to have some kid's games around the house if we had visitors with kids. For 1 Euro I could not go wrong.

Well this weekend I decided to try Labyrinth der Meister with my wife. I did not have a lot of time as I still had to write a talk later that night. So I thought, why not just try one of these kids games. I will need to know the rules to help kids learn anyway. It will be light, quick, and will not tax my brain as I need to work later.

The directions were quick and easy as was the setup. But in starting to play, we quickly realized this was no filler game, no simple kids game. Indeed, in some ways it felt like an abstract. It was not long before my brain started hurting with all the agonizing decisions.

Trying to imagine the new shape of the labyrinth that will result from a move. How will that move help me reach the next peace? Or how will it cause the other player to not reach it? Should I even try to reach that piece or concede it and set myself up for the following ones - especially if one of the following are on my "secret formula" card? Is it possible to arrange the board to be able to use the wand to get two pieces? Shall I keep looking and just play and surprise myself at how the board turns out?

Wow, this was not going to be a quick game! Indeed, as has been said in other reports, a possible drawback with playing with adults is the time between plays needed to study the board and agonize over decisions. Nicolas Guay helpfully suggested using a timer in his session report.

I got off to a quick start taking 4 of the first 6 tokens. But my wife is a quick learner and nearer the end when the points were greater she was picking up two in a row by using her wand. She beat me by a large margin. So now defeated and with a taxed brain and much later than I had planned, I had to drag myself to the study to begin work.

What we learned was that although this game could be played by young kids (Larry Wellborn's review points out that it is even a great teaching game for kids), when played with adults it turns into a very competitive game that requires a lot of thought.

Adults, if you are looking for a good 2 player game (we have not tried with more), do not overlook this because it is a "children's game." Adults, do not neglect this if you see it in the store (especially if you see it for 1 Euro).

Please see Dean Maki's excellent review of this game: "A Game to Play with Kids". I was originally going to write this up as a review, but then I saw that he said all I wanted to say - though one would not have guessed from his title! (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/148541)

Thread: Re: 1st time playing

keethrax — 2007-08-22T22:53:48+00:00

We use a chess clock for lots of games that tend to drag. little nicer than a basic timer, because you can take extra time in one turn if you need to, at the expense of having to shave time somewhere else.

Not terribly related to this game, but you did ask.

Thread: Re: 1st time playing

nickguay — 2007-08-22T21:12:31+00:00

Thank you for the feedback Michael. The game was overall very fun, I was amazed to see the maze shift and realize that the strategy I had worked out for myself no longer worked. It can be fast paced if you can agree on a turn time limit with your friends otherwise one could easily take 5 minutes to analyze the board everytime, which can make the game long and tedious.

Thread: Re: 1st time playing

MCTMike — 2007-08-22T21:02:12+00:00

Hey Nick!

Congrats on your first session report! I've been looking at this game, and read your session report eagerly. I found, though, that I didn't learn much about what it was like to play this game from your report. Other than the fact that it was too slow for your liking, can you tell us more about the experience of the game?

Again, welcome to the fun world of session reporting!

Mike

Thread: 1st time playing

nickguay — 2007-08-22T17:59:47+00:00

Several years ago I noticed the game Master Labyrinth while I lived in Toronto. I was really happy to obtain a copy in a trade with someone here on Board Game Geek. My son is only 3 months old and I am trying to build up our board game collection to include several more “kids’ games” and this is the first of many to come. Me, my wife Gabrielle and our good friend Tania are going to be testing several of these “kids games” over the course of the next several months so there will be many more gaming sessions and reviews posted here from me hopefully.

This was our first time playing Master Labyrinth, my 3 months old son would not stop crying (he was not playing obviously) so I brought out a 1 minute timer for each turn as it was taking way too long. The game lasted about the 45 minutes required for 3 players but only after using the timer. Tania won but not by that much.

We really enjoyed the game, it was a fairly unique concept I only saw in Niagara, where the board moves every turn. I found the strategy involved to be a lot more complex than anticipated. I found the use of a timer to be very appropriate as I was not ready to wait quite a few minutes for some players to decide their moves. Does anyone else use a timer for this game and do you use a timer for other games such as Carcassonne perhaps?

Thread: Re: A Game To Play With The Kids

butsam — 2007-07-07T13:15:10+00:00

Yes, you *could* play the original rules with Master Labyrinth... but honestly, the added rules for Master Labyrinth are not too difficult. Taking extra turns with the wands, and scoring extra points for your secret ingredients, are fairly straightforward.

You would have to split things up -- if you have N players, then player 1 goes after all tiles x such that x mod N = 1 (1, N+1, 2N+1, etc); and likewise until you get to player N, who goes after all tiles st x mod N = 0 (N, 2N, 3N, ...)

Or, if you split up the ingredient cards apporpriately so each number is mentioned only once, you could deal out cards. Those cards show 3 ingredients each for you to get.

In the original game, you didn't score points -- it was a race. The first person to go to all of their ingredients on the cards and get back to their starting point won. The new scoring mechanic is IMHO much better, although the original is fun too.

Sam

Thread: Re: A Game To Play With The Kids

HouseSollitt — 2007-06-20T06:28:02+00:00

Thanks for expanding on the differences between the Master and regular games. We bought the regular game for our 5-year-old nephew last Christmas, but they live in NC and we live in CA so we haven't seen it played and have been debating which to put on our own wishlist. It sounds like one could play the 'regular' rules on with a Master board, if one wanted.

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cvandyk — 2007-05-30T16:24:45+00:00

Full Screen Shot of the Canadian Bilingual Ed.

Thread: Re: A Game To Play With The Kids

butsam — 2007-05-03T00:40:49+00:00

I have heard remarks that Master Labyrinth is the best in the "Labyrinth" series. I can compare aMAZEing and Master versions, having played both. I only own Master, but my parents own aMAZEing and I would play it all the time as a kid. Still, I like Master much more.

aMAZEing does have a reference in the rulebook of Master Its mechanic is such that all players are dealt a certain number of cards depicting items/creatures. You then find the items (stationary) or creatures (moving) on your task list, sequentially, without knowing what the next items/creatures are on your list. After completing your list, you have to return to your starting spot.

The maze mechanic is the same. There are no wands or secret ingredients. It definitely is a precursor to the Master Labyrinth which is, IMHO, much more engaging (although I still think aMAZEing Labyrinth is a very good, and underrated, game).

Sam

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Aljovin — 2007-04-17T03:13:58+00:00

Back of the French edition box.

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Aljovin — 2007-04-17T03:06:58+00:00

French edition

Thread: Re: A GREAT game to play with children -- and why

jwedel — 2007-04-05T08:33:49+00:00

I play this with my 4 year old. It's very scalable, so he's even able to beat me using our modified rules:

- We ignore the wands and cards
- Adults are allowed to collect only the highest and lowest numbered chips
- Young children are allowed to collect any chip that they can move their man to
- The winner is the person who collects the most chips, not the point value of those chips

He often has a choice of which chip to collect, so he enjoys trying to get his favourite chips. Generally he develops a lead early in the game and I try to catch up as the chips thin out toward the end of the game.

Thread: Re: What is the mix of tiles?

Scalner — 2007-03-06T08:45:47+00:00

You are missing a L, that's right

Fred

Thread: What is the mix of tiles?

grandslam — 2007-03-06T06:53:21+00:00

I am missing one tile.

I have six T, 14 L and 13 I (straights).

Should the 34th tile be a T, I or L? I think an L, now that I have gone through the photos, but would love confirmation.

Thanks.

- Jonathan

Thread: Re: A GREAT game to play with children -- and why

BrewB — 2007-02-20T23:03:36+00:00

Wow - this is spooky. (Not really). I wrote a review of Junior Labyrinth over the weekend and just posted it. THEN I saw this one. Excellent!

Thread: Re: A GREAT game to play with children -- and why

russ — 2007-02-20T17:37:51+00:00

I used to play it with the nephew of an old girlfriend, and it did indeed work well with a child.

It's also a fine game to play with other adults, of course.

Thread: A GREAT game to play with children -- and why

Larry Welborn — 2007-02-20T16:33:59+00:00

Master Labyrinth is a game that I have owned for years, but have not played in a long time. I thought that it might be a good game to play with my 5 year old son, so we gave it a try last weekend. I found it be an excellent game to play with children and here are my reasons why:

Note that I will only touch briefly on gameplay as there are other reviews that cover it indepth.

Object of the Game:Thie game is for 2-4 players. Each player is a wizard in an ever changing maze. The wizards are trying to collect various ingredients to complete a secret potion. Each ingredient has a number and the first ingridient must be collect before the second, and so on. After all the ingredients are collect, the game ends. Each player receives points for the face value of the ingredients gathered, along with bonus points for particular items. The player with the most points wins.

Mechanics:The mechanics of the game are quite simple. Each turn you place a tile on the edge of the board and slide the tile until another tile is pushed off the board on the opposite side. You then move your wizard, trying to obtain the next ingredient. The next player takes the recently ejected tile and shifts the maze and moves. That's all there is to it. The mechanics are so easy that I only had to show it to my son one time and he understood.

Components: The tiles are thick and sturdy and the wizards are made of wood. The ingredients are thick cardboard and the card are made of reasonably good cardstock. The presentation is quite appealing.

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Rules are scalable:It is easy to modify the rules based on the level of the child. For example, you can play without the use of the wands, which allows a player to take multiple turns in a row. You can play without the cards, which gives bonus points for obtaining 3 particular ingredients. You can score based on the number of ingredients rather than the face value. You can handicap the scoring, making tokens worth less for the adults or giving fewer points for the bonuses.

Visualization:The game requires you to visualize your move, determining how the placement of the tile will change the maze. It is fun to watch my son analyze the board to determine if there is a move that will allow him to get the next ingredient or not. You also have to consider your opponents. If you are unable to get the next ingredient, can you prevent your opponent from getting it?

Depth of play:The game requires you to plan a move or two ahead but the nature of play prevents you from planning out several moves because the maze is always shifting in a non-determined pattern. This makes it easier for a child to play competitively, for it limits an adult advantage of seeing several moves ahead. I find the depth to be a good level.

Conclusion:Master Labyrinth is an excellent game to play with children. It shows cause and effect, placing the tile in different locations will change the maze in different ways. It requires a player to plan ahead, where is the next ingredient and how can I get to it? The children can work on counting, identifying the next number and counting up the score at the end of the game.

Thread: 1st play with my 5 year old son

Larry Welborn — 2007-02-18T05:22:40+00:00

This is a game I had been thinking about showing to my 5 year old son, but I had waited because I thought it might be too hard for his younger sister and she always wants to play as well. Today, my wife and daughter went to a "princess tea party" so after letting him play some video games I brought this one out.

I decided to strip some of the rules, so we didn't play with the secret ingredients or the wands, and I kept the scoring simple at 1 point per ingredient.

It took me about 1 minute to review and explain the rules to my son and I only had to explain the turn sequence once. He started a bit slow and I had to make a couple of suggestions but, about 5 or 6 moves into the game, it suddenly clicked for him. He started making very good moves, including a few that I had missed. The game went back and forth, as we tended to alternate capturing ingredients.

Finally, we were down to the final ingredient and we tied at 10 to 10. My son didn't have a clear shot to the tile but got himself into position to win the following turn. I could win, but was debating whether to do so. About that time, my son saw the move and said "you win". I went ahead and made the move and won 11-10.

I was surprised at how quickly he picked up this game and I only made a few suggestions to him as he usually saw his best, or at least a good, move.

I think he is ready to add in the secret ingredients and I will probably play the game one more time before adding in the magic wands.

All in all, this is a good game for a 5 year old and I would recommend trying it with your children.

Thread: Re: A Game To Play With The Kids

Meat — 2007-01-29T14:38:23+00:00

fmoros wrote:
I wonder if you could tell me if you have also played the normal LABYRINTH game?

Master Labyrinth is the only one in the series that I have played, so I don't know how each compare to the others. But if you own it and haven't played it, I'm reasonably certain you're missing out on some fun. :-)

Judging from the description of Amazing, the mechanics sound a lot like Master, with different scoring / victory conditions. If you do play Master, let me now how different it is from Amazing. (Hmmm....Maybe that's why this one was in the thrift store -- it may have been too similar to another game the previous owner had....)

Thread: Re: A Game To Play With The Kids

fmoros — 2007-01-29T12:03:43+00:00

Thanks for your review.
I wonder if you could tell me if you have also played the normal LABYRINTH game?

aMAZEing Labyrinth

I own both games, but have only played the normal laby.
I want to know if i am missing a lot of fun!

thanks and happy games

Thread: Re: A Game To Play With The Kids

Gamesmeister99 — 2007-01-28T23:56:04+00:00

I agree with your comments on this game, I've always thought it was unique. We always use it as a warm up, while we are waiting for other gamers to arrive type of game or my wife, daughter and I will use it as a quick family night type game if time is limited.

Thread: A Game To Play With The Kids

Meat — 2007-01-28T18:52:36+00:00

Recently, I picked up Master Labyrinth from a local thrift shop. The Ravensburger label, coupled with the $3 cost, made this an almost automatic purchase. It looked like a good game I could play with The Kid(tm), and when he asked to play some games recently, I suggested this one. This review is being written after our first two games.

Normally I don't write a review after so few games, but in this case I'll make the exception. I believe all I need to know about the game, I picked up in the first two plays.

Overview:
2-4 players make their way through an ever shifting maze, collecting ingredients for their secret formula.

Components:
Inside the sturdy box you get:
the game board
cardboard maze tiles
cardboard ingredient tokens
paper secret formula cards
wooden pawns
wooden wands
the rules

The board is nice and thick, as are the tiles and tokens. The cards are quite thin, but good quality. The pawns are pretty standard and easy to distinguish. The little wooden wands are a nice touch, but a bit small. I can see us losing a few over time. Luckily, even though they advertise 12 wands on the box, I actually had more than that in mine, so I can survive losing some.

The artwork is quite nice, and fits the theme to a tee.

The board didn't want to lie flat at first, but some hyper-extending of the fold solved that, with no obvious ill effects on it. A flat board is absolutely essential for the game, so take the time to adjust yours if needed.

Gameplay:
Each player is given a list of secret ingredients they want to collect. These will give bonus points at the end of the game.

The maze tiles are placed randomly on the game board, followed by the ingredients tokens. The tokens are placed face up. Players select their pawn and place it on their start position.

There is one extra maze tile which does not start on the board.

The board has a number of maze tiles mounted on it already. These are in alternating rows and columns, and cannot be moved. This is an important factor in the game.

On your turn, you must shift the maze and then may move your piece. If you move and land on the appropriate ingredient token, you can take it.

To shift he maze, you take the left over maze tile and use it to push a row or column, such that each tile in the row or column is shifted over one space. The tile you used to do the pushing takes the first space in the row or column, with the one that 'fell out' being used by the next player to shift the maze.

Since the board has pre-mounted tiles in alternating columns and rows, there will be a number of columns or rows that cannot be pushed. You need to keep this in mind when planning your moves.

After shifting, you can move your piece as many spaces as you like, so long as it follows the open corridors in the maze.

Ingredient tokens must be picked up in order. First the number 1 token can be taken, then the 2, and so on until you reach the 20 and 25 tokens (there are no tokens from 21-24). Any player can pick up any token, so long as it's the lowest numbered token remaining in the game.

When the 25 token is taken, the game ends. Players receive points for the tokens they've collected, based on their face value, with bonus points being awarded if they collected tokens that match their secret formula.

Players also have magic wands which they can exchange to take extra turns. Unused magic wands award bonus points at the end of the game.

There is the opportunity to barter with other players to exchange ingredients. In addition, you can offer to suggest a move for a cost, and if the player takes your recommendation, he must pay you the price you set.

Thoughts:
I'm going to try to avoid the obvious pun.

This game is simply incredible, and I am stunned, stunned I say, that there is not more discussion about this on the Geek. How do I know this is a great game? Because it kept both myself and my five year old son engrossed for about 2 hours.

The mechanics are impossibly simple to pick up -- even a five year old only needed to have the turn sequence described once -- yet there is still a lot going on in the game.

The ever shifting maze is a delight, forcing you to think ahead. The immovable rows and columns (due to the pre-mounted tiles) complicates things. If you are not careful, you can find yourself trapped on a tile with only dead ends around you.

By forcing the ingredients to be picked up in order, and having secret goals for each player by way of the secret formula cards, the players have quite a few choices to make. Do you go for a token, which is worth points, or try to get in position for the next one, which is worth more? Do you wait for the other players to grab the lower ones while you hover around one of your secret ingredients to score the big bonus points, or do you try to grab as many tokens as possible? Is it worthwhile to take an extra turn now, or can it be used to better effect later?

And that's not all. You also need to think about how your move affects your opponent's. Does moving the maze in this manner make it more difficult or easier for the next player to get a token? If this particular piece falls out, can your opponent use it to make his life easier? You have many opportunities to mess with your opponent's plans, if that appeals to you. There really is a lot here to exercise your grey matter.

But at the same time, if you like, you can turn off your brain and play "let's see what happens if...", and still have an enjoyable experience.

This deceptively simple game is, in a word, outstanding. A hidden gem if ever there was one.

How this game ended up in a thrift store, unpunched and unplayed, remains a mystery to me. If I could solve that mystery, perhaps I can find other gems such as this one in the future.

Summary:
Components: Top Notch
Rules: Excellent
Game Play: Superb
Value: In the stratosphere
Recommendation: If you can find it, pick it up.

Thread: In which I lose for the first time in ten years…

Sinister Dexter — 2006-05-07T14:36:32+00:00

… or so, I can’t remember that precisely. What I do remember is that my wife and I found this game on our honeymoon in Chicago back in 1994, on a visit to the Museum of Science and Industry. We’ve enjoyed playing against each other many times. Over the years, it’s been neglected - undeservedly, because it’s a nifty little game. Since we played it last, we’ve had a couple kids, a few mortgages, and many other games. But this game has always come along on every move.

On a recent Saturday, I figured this would be a good time to introduce this game to our kids – 9YO son and 5YO daughter. Our daughter wanted to be on my team. Our son was eager to learn a new game. Both kids helped set up the board, and I explained things as we put everything together. We had never played more than two-player, so it was going to be interesting to see how differently it played. Just as I had finished explaining the rules, Truman’s friend Freddie came over, because he had forgotten his GameBoy. After asking permission of his grandmother, he decided to stay and play with us. So now we had four players!

I had lost a copy of the rules, and had forgotten that they might be right here on BGG. But between my wife and I we had the rules pretty well covered. During the game, we messed up on a couple of the move rules. We thought that you had to move your pawn each turn, but that wasn’t the case. But you did have to move your pawn if you wanted to capture an ingredient marker. So you couldn’t just sit on an ingredient and wait for your turn to come around. That rule we remembered. But we also thought that two pawns could not occupy the same space at the same time. We now know that you can. Those two move rules made a little bit of difference in the game, but not major.

With four players, it's much more difficult to plan moves. But there are more opportunities to make deals with other players. For example, "If you give me your ingredient #3, I'll tell you how to get to ingredient #12."

My wife and I did pretty well in figuring out how to fit the paths together. Truman and Freddie needed a little help visualizing some moves, and we openly helped on some of the scoring opportunities. Freddie took a lot of effort being a spoiler for the other players, instead of setting up opportunities for himself on his next turn. It showed up in his final score, where he finished last. Truman was getting frustrated that ingredients were getting grabbed while he was getting pushed around the board. He got a few ingredients along the way. But he ended up grabbing ingredient 20, playing a wand, and then grabbing 25 to end the game – which happened to be one of his secret ingredients! With this coup, he won the game. They both really enjoyed it. Final scores:

Truman: 107
Me: 79
My wife: 68
Freddie: 31

Thread: Spells!

nerman8r — 2005-10-21T07:42:04+00:00

I've always wanted to make this variant, but doubt I'll ever get around to it.

Make a deck of spell cards to use instead of the recipe cards. When a player accumulates the necessary ingredients, he can use that spell.

I have a huge list of ideas, if anyone wants to take a stab at making the cards. Upload a file to the geek and I'll give you some geek gold!

Thread: Re: English Translation

Hallow — 2005-07-19T21:54:25+00:00

Thanks GeoMan! Hope you find the GG adequate!

Thread: Re: English Translation

GeoMan — 2005-07-18T22:01:38+00:00

Labyrinth der Meister (Master Labyrinth) Rules

Contents
1 game board
34 maze tiles
21 numbered tokens (numbered 1 to 20 and 25)
4 playing figures
12 magic wands
21 secret formula cards

Object of the game
Deep in the musty catacombs of an ancient ruined castle, the fabled aMAZEing Labyrinth is hidden. Here, in the labyrinth’s ever shifting corridors, wizards wonder in search of the magic ingredients they need for their spells.
You’ve got a secret magic formula that will make you the Master Magician. But can you get the ingredients you need? Other wizards will be racing to get them too!
There are 21 magic items in the labyrinth but they can only be picked up in numerical order. The wizard who gets to item number 1 first may keep it, then all the wizards race for number two.
On every turn the labyrinth shifts, opening up some passages and closing others. Beware – it’s easy to get lost in the twisting corridors! But if you can get the ingredients you need – and keep the other wizards from getting theirs – you can score the most points and become the Master Magician.

Setting Up
Mix up the maze tiles, then put them face up, at random on the game board. (They go in the rows between the tiles that are attached to the board.) When you’re done you’ll have exactly one tile left over.

Choose a playing figure and put it on the starting space of the same colour.

Turn the numbered tokens face down on the table and mix them up well. Then place one token, still face down, on each tile on the board, except for the tiles around the edge and the starting spaces. Once you’ve put all the tokens on the board, turn them face up.

Shuffle the 21 secret formula cards and deal one to each player. (Don’t show your cards to the others!) Put the rest of the cards away; you won’t need them.

Finally, give each player three magic wands. Now you’re ready to start playing.

Here’s a stylized diagram of the board: the gray squares represent the fixed tiles, the white represent the maze tiles. The coloured circles represent the starting positions of the wooden wizard tokens and the circles with a cross in them represent the starting position of the numbered tokens.

Playing
The youngest player goes first. You start every turn by shifting the labyrinth. (We’ll explain how later). You must do this on every turn.

Now you may move your figure through the maze. (But you don’t have to if you’d rather stay where you are.) You can move as far as you want and even change direction as part of your move. But you can only travel along connecting corridors: you cannot go through walls, or jump to a corridor that doesn’t connect.

Finally if you land on the right token, you can take it.

Tokens have to be picked up in numerical order. A numbered token cannot be taken until all the lower ones are gone, so the wizards race for token number one first. Once someone gets it they race for token number two and so on. Note: the last token, the mistletoe, has the number 25.

On your turn you can do three things:

 Shift the maze (you must do this);
 Move your playing figure (if you want to), then;
 Take the token you land on (if it’s the next one in order).

Shifting the labyrinth
Around the board there are twelve triangles. These triangles point to the rows of the labyrinth that can be shifted. (The other rows cannot be shifted because some tiles are attached to the board.)

To shift the labyrinth, take the extra maze tile and push it face up into the maze at one of the triangles. As you push, the whole row of tiles will slide over, and the tile at the other end of the row will be pushed out of the maze. Don’t push too far; stop pushing when the tiles are lined up evenly. Notice how some of the corridors are now connected in a different way.

The tile you pushed out is now the extra tile that the next player will use on his or her turn.

You may push the extra tile into any one of the twelve triangles, with one exception; you may not push it back into the spot it just came from.

Sometimes there will be a playing piece or token (or both) on the tile that gets pushed out of the maze. If that happens, put it on the tile on the opposite side of the board. (That is, on the tile you just pushed into the maze.)

More about moving
You can go past other players when you’re moving through the maze. You can even end your turn on the same space as others players.

If you decide to move on your turn, you must end up on a different tile than one you started on. You cannot just move in a circle and end up on the same tile you were on before.

If you want to, you can stop on a tile with a token on it, even if you can’t pick it up. Remember, you don’t have to move your playing piece on your turn if you don’t want to.

More about tokens
The tokens must be picked up in numerical order. You cannot pick up number two until somebody has picked up number one, and you cannot pick up number three until someone has picked up number two, and so on.

When you get a token place it face up in front of you on the table so that everybody can see it.

You can take a token even if another player is on that token. For example, the player before you gets token number four. Now it’s your turn. If you can reach token number five, you can take it, even if another player is already there.

You can only get a token by making a move, not by just standing still. For example, someone gets token number eight. Now it’s your turn and you’re already on the tile where token number nine is. To get the token you’d have to move to another tile, then move back on your next turn. (You could take number nine in this example, if you took an extra turn: see magic wands.)

The ingredients in your own secret formula are worth extra points to you, so try especially hard to get those tokens. The last token, the mistletoe, is also worth extra points. See scoring.

The Magic Wands
Just like in a fairy tale, in this game you get three wishes. Use them wisely!

At the start of the game you get three magic wands. On any turn, you can give up one of your wands, put it back in the box, and take an extra turn.

You can only use the magic wands on your own turns, and only one wand per turn. If you have any left over at the end of the game they’ll be worth three points each.

Want to make a deal?
Suppose a player – let’s call him Merlin – cannot see any good move to make on his turn. Another player – let’s call her Miranda – can offer Merlin advice...at a price! "What will you offer me for a good tip?" Miranda asks. Merlin may offer one of his tokens, or even one of his magic wands. If Miranda likes what Merlin offers, she explains the move. Now he decide whether or not to make the move Miranda showed him. If he doesn’t make that move, he doesn’t have to pay her anything. But if he does make the move she showed him, he must pay her what he promised.

Scoring
The game is over when the last token – the mistletoe numbered 25 - is picked up. Now everyone counts his or her points.

Every token is worth the number of points on it.
Every token that is part of your secret formula is worth an extra 20 points.
Every unused wand is worth 3 points.
The player with the most points is the Master Wizard and the winner of the game.

Thread: English Translation

Hallow — 2005-07-18T21:33:43+00:00

I have the French Version, does anyone happen to have English Instructions?

Thanks much!

I can give some GG to anyone that can help.

Thread: Session Report

seppo21 — 2004-10-06T02:54:50+00:00

My wife and I have slowly been indoctrinating our families into German Style games. For the most part, we have been quite successful. Since most of them live nearby, we've instituted a Monday gaming night for family and friends. This was our ninth gathering.

The players: Stephen (Myself), Christine, (longsuffering wife), Matt (brother-in-law), and Maria (my sister).

Second Game: Master Labyrinth

Despute everyone thoroughly enjoyed Cafe International, the consensus was to try another new game. I picked up this DSP winner a while back for pretty cheap solely because it won the prize. This was my first chance to really play. Basically, each player is running around a shifting maze picking up ingrediants that must be picked up in numerical order. Each player has a set of ingrediants that are worth bonus points if the player can get any of them. Finally, each player has three wands that can be used to take an extra turn or are worth three points each at the end of the game. On each turn, a player must slide the extra mze piece into the labyrinth, pushing each piece in the row or column ahead of it, and pushing one piece off the other side. Any ingrediants or players that are push off wrap around to the new piece on the opposite side. The current player can then move, if they want to, as many spaces as possible. If they land on the current ingrediant in numerical order, they can pick it up. We also played where you could wrap around from one side of the board to the other if there was a passageway. Nothing in the rules addresses this situation, though I suspect it is not allowed. Game ends when ingrediant 25 is picked up.

As the youngest player, Matt got to move first--not that it did him any good. He basically spent his turn setting himself up in a better position for later. The rest of us were not in as poor of shape. Christine and I quickly got the first two ingrediants. For the next few turns, it was hit or miss whether someone got something until I used a double turn to pick up #7, which was one of my secrets. From there, most turns, someone managed to snag an ingrediant (or two) liberally using the wands. Then all of a sudden, we were on ingrediant 25. None of us noticed that the numbers went from 1-20, then 25, so we were quite surprised at the abrupt end of the game. It was stange, but each of us was able to get only a single one of our special ingrediants.

Final Scores:

Christine -- 95
Matt -- 91
Stephen -- 81
Maria -- 66

This was another game that we all enjoyed. However, it may require way too much thought to get played again. In addition, Maria had trouble with the spatial recognition. I can see that in a game where players are not being helpful at pointing out moves that this could be much more confrontational and therefore much more difficult for some people. I look forward to trying another game with a little less help than was involved in this game. Total playing time of about 45 minutes.

Thread: User Review

PieMan — 2004-09-02T23:13:25+00:00

I see there has never been a review for this hidden gem. ??? I'm guessing it has to do with the VERY descriptive summary provided here for this game. But I think I can add some more.

Components:
As typical with Ravensburger products, these are top-notch.
- very concise 8-page rule book, with key examples pictured
- very sturdy 7x7 folding board
- 4 nicely coloured wooden pawns/wizards
(red, natural, blue, and white)
- 12 little wooden, black-coloured magic 'wands'
- 21 ingredient tokens on thick 'tile-like' cardboard
(numbered 1 thru 20, and then 25)
- 21 cards, containing a list of 3 secret ingredients each
- 34 tiles, in a combination of corridors (straight, L, T)

Artwork & theme:
The details put into the artwork certainly add to the game atmosphere: the cards are made to look as if they are ancient parchment, the tokens are nice full-colour pictures of actual magic ingredients (pages 7 & 8 of the rules explain their purported uses/properties), and the board and tiles show a stunning map of twisting corridors through a collection of toys, magical items & creatures, and just junk! Every section has a different mix of these, so look closely at them and enjoy! (my favourites are the chameleons)

Gameplay:
Essentially, there are 33 moveable tiles in play at any time. That leaves 16 tiles that are permanently fastened to the game board; these are spaced so there is room for exactly 1 shifting tile between each of these and their non-shifting neighbours, and a gap in the middle of any set of 4 'corners'. These gives 6 different sliding rows, so a total of 12 choices per turn. Of these, you can't undo the last move, though, so that cuts it to 11 possibilities.

On your turn, you HAVE to move the board first. To do so, you add the 34th tile to one of the row-ends (deciding on which orientation to use as well), sliding the other tiles (and contents, including players!) in that row over one spot. This will open and close many different corridors, and the tile that falls off the other side will be used as the next tile-to-be-added. If any contents fell off the board, they are placed on the other end of the row, onto the just-added tile. As you can see, this can also be a very useful approach to plan for!

After moving the board ONCE only, then you may choose to move. If you move, you may move as far as you like within the corridors/paths that you are connected to, including around corners. Multiple players may be on the same spot. If you have chosen to move to the next numbered token (tokens MUST be retrieved in sequential order, from 1 thru 25), then you may pick it up. It is worth the value listed (1, 2, .., 25). If it is one of your secret ingredients, then it'll be worth a BONUS 20 more at game-end.

Lastly, you may use one magic wand if you wish to take one more turn IMMEDIATELY. You can only do this once per turn. If you end up with magic wands left at the end of the game, they are worth 3 points each; therefore, you have to weigh when to use them effectively!

Fun:
To add to the atmosphere and fun, players can try to trade their knowledge and ingredients with each other. Any time throughout the game, a player can offer to help the person whose turn it is, suggesting a trade offer for advice. If the advice is taken, then the trade is made too. This gives an extra way to try to get more points, or to maybe get those secret ingredients that you missed out on!

However, I also think it is there to encourage conversation and to attempt to limit analysis paralysis. It is VERY easy in this game to get immersed in thought, trying to find that slick move to get an important item.

Summary:
I enjoy this game, and even my 5-year-old can play. Or, conversely, with a group of adults, in which case I've seen some very DEFENSIVE moves (someone moves someone else or a token so the next person CANNOT get it easily).

It's a decent game, but not too rousing or loud. Gets you thinking, and looking ahead to visualize what the board will look like AFTER your move, as you can't undo it! We've found that trading is less common amongst a group of adults, who are usually capable of doing their own turn-analysis.

My personal copy was purchased used, and missing 4 wands. Therefore, we've got 4 magic 'lamps' now as well (pennies), which the kids think are neat.

Thread: Session Report

PieMan — 2004-07-19T23:00:28+00:00

Well, we managed to get 4 together (3 adults) for another gaming session - about on our once-a-month pace.

After a nice meal and cleanup, we decided to play Master Labyrinth. A nice, puzzly-type game, which my 5-year-old seems to do very well at, often seeing a 2-turn move which the adults overlooked.

It was new to both Paul & Theresa, but you wouldn't have known it. After a quick start by Paul & Chris (me), the others quickly caught up. In fact, my son pointed out that I was winning at one point (5+2, to his 6, to Paul's 1+4, to Theresa's 3).

However, due to bad planning by myself, and good defensive moves by Paul, I only managed to get the '11' token for the rest of the game. :0 Very sad.

Paul got to his 3 secret ingredients, which Kyle & Theresa each got 2. Finals were: Paul - 152 (or so), Kyle (yes, the 5-year-old) - 90, Theresa - 88, Chris - 27 (I DID still have all 3 of my wands! It was NEVER worth using them -- HONEST! ).

Fun game for all, but took a bit longer than I'd hoped (about 75 minutes).

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2004-03-14T14:28:26+00:00

Walt, Spouey and I entered the world of Labyrinth, opting for the “Master” version. The wands were spent early, as we all managed to take consecutive turns to grab needed treasures. A trade late in the game greatly benefited Walt, who managed to collect all three of his bonus treasures to capture an impressive victory.

Finals: Walt 160, Spouey 86, Greg 76

Ratings: Walt 9, Greg 8, Spouey 6.5

Thread: Session Report

Yoder — 2003-02-26T13:43:41+00:00

I arrived late and so only got to see the last half of this three cornered contest between Mike, Fred, and Thad. I was especially pleased to see Thad because I hadn’t invited him; he had just popped into the store for a bit of browsing and saw Fred sitting in the back room.

From what I saw Mike had about half the point markers and seemed to be cleaning up. But when secret cards were revealed Fred had gotten all of his goals, which won him the game even though he had many fewer than Mike. Mike raised an interesting point: it seems advantageous to have lower numbered markers as your goals, since the other players aren’t as interested in them. Nobody is going to use a wand to grab a 2, but they probably will for the 19. I can think of two counter arguments, however. Using a wand to grab the 2 gets you 22 points, while grabbing the 19 gives you 39 points. So you are using your wand to better effect, even if competition is stiffer. Plus, if you use wands to grab stuff early in the game the other players will know how many points you have, and may gang up to stifle you later.

Anyway, I think Master Labyrinth is a great game and I hope I get to play next time.

Thread: Session Report

dougadamsau — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Dey Alexander writes:

Players: Bernie, Roger, Liz, Dey

After seeing this game in game shops around town I was keen to try it out. Of the group playing, only Bernie was familiar with the game.

It soon became apparent that Liz and I found the game quite challenging; we both suffer from a distinct lack of spatial awareness, though I was already acutely aware of this after a dreadful game of Iron Horse some months back (I swear I'll never play that game again unless I'm trying to have a nervous breakdown).

Because of our difficulty 'seeing' the game, Liz and I (me mainly) were taking quite a while to play our turns, so there was a lot of downtime during the game. Roger commented early on that he'd missed a couple of his goals, and I missed my first, but managed to get my second.

As is often the case with boardgames, the experienced player does badly and a newbie wins. This game proved no exception, and Liz romped home with a clear winning margin, largely the result of taking the last two markers from the board after playing a magic wand to give her an extra turn.

Results:
Liz: 79, plus 20 bonus, plus 6 for 2 remaining wands = 105
Roger: 72, no bonus, plus 9 for 3 remaining wands = 81
Dey: 44, plus 20 bonus, plus 9 for 3 remaining wands = 73
Bernie: 40, plus 20 bonus, plus 6 for 2 remaining wands = 66