Junior
Labyrinth, Produced by Ravensburger, with Design by Max
J. Kobbert &, Artwork by Joachim
Krause
Reviewed by Jason
Elliott from PaladinElliott
Productions
What
are the recommendations for this game?
Number of players: 2-4
Time of game: Not stated (our games lasted
roughly 15 minutes each)
Age recommendation: 5 years and older
The
back story:
You are ghosts in a maze. This maze
is ever shifting, and to escape all of the important items/creatures/people
must be found. The twelve that must be found are:
A jester, a dragon, a lute, a dagger, a clock, a
treasure chest, a knight's helmet, an owl, a mouse knight, a frog, a
candelabra, and a throne.
What
comes in the game?
Rules Booklet
One game board
12 secret tokens (the 12 items/creatures/people
mentioned above)
4 Ghosts with stands to serve as player pawns (one
each of red, blue, green, and yellow)
17 maze cards
What
is the end game objective? What am I striving for?
In this game you want to collect the most tokens,
for when the last one is claimed by one of the players, the player with the
most tokens wins. Each token can be considered as 1 point.
How
do I set the game up?
Set the board up, and notice that there will
pieces locked into place, players will be moving pieces around them. Make sure
your pieces are accounted for, and the ghosts are in their stands. You will
shuffle the maze cards and place them face up on the board, this makes it so
that the game board is different each time you play. One maze piece will be
left over. Players will insert this
piece into the maze, causing a row or a column to move either
up/down/left/right and pushing another maze piece off the board. You will mix
the 12 secret tokens face down beside the board. Players will draw from this
pile which will tell them what item/creature/person they have to rescue. Place
your ghost on the corresponding space on the corner of the board.
Now
to play:
The players determine who is the bravest to
start. Turns will continue in a clockwise fashion from this point. You will
take the extra maze tile and place it in such a way that your ghost will have a
clear travelling path (or as close as you can get) to the matching picture of
the secret token you have drawn. There are arrows on the board to assist you on
what rows and columns can move, and in what way. The maze tile that is pushed
off must be used by the next player. You will move to whatever position you
deem is best to try and reach the symbol that you have drawn. Walls will stop
your movement.
Special Note: A maze card can't be pushed back in
at the same place where the previous ghost sent it off the board.
Special Note: If a ghost is pushed off the board,
they are then placed onto the tile that was added back to the board.
Special Note: If a ghost is pushed off the board,
and placed back on the board, this moving of a playing piece does not count as
a turn.
Special Note: You can be on a space that is
occupied by other players.
If you reach your goal, then score your token
(keep it in your personal space at the table) and end your turn. Otherwise, you
will say your turn has ended when you stop your ghost in what you believe to be
the best position possible. The next player will continue the hunt of the drawn
token, and if they are able to reach it, then they take the token for their
own.
When
does the game end?
When the last token is claimed.
Are
there any variations for this game?
You could mix up the tokens and distribute them
out to all the players. Once a player completes all of theirs, everyone else
who hasn't played in that round will get to respond. The highest score at that
point wins. Another way is with the tokens only known to you, going from the
previously mentioned distribution to all players. When a ghost completes a
token, then it is revealed.
Some
game results:
First game, our 5 year old daughter Talia beat me
5 to 4, as we had to cut our game short due to an emergency. She had collected
the Frog, the Dagger, The Candelabra, and the Helmet. I had the Jester, the
Clock, The Treasure Chest, and the Chair. She was the blue ghost, and I was the
red ghost.
Our second game was daddy winning 7 to 5, and it
played about 20 minutes.
The third game was my nephew Ian against myself,
and I had won 7 to 5 as well, in about the same amount of time. Ian was also
able to easily pick up the rules of the game, and he is 9.
Final
Thoughts:
First, let me be very clear that I am scoring
this as a Family Game, with small children. My boardgamegeek score would reflect
that some or all the players would be children. I would not expect a group of
all adults to play this version of Labyrinth. That being said, on a family
adjusted scale this game is a solid 8 out of 10. There have been a few times
that the kids wanted to play something else, but about 80% of the time they
will play it. The learning curve is not overwhelming, but for some, making the
spatial recognition and connections might be a little bit of a struggle. For
little ones, it can possibly be taxing due to the ability or inability to see
moves ahead in one's mind (if I do this, it will lead to that), and not
everyone easily picks that up.
I fully believe that this is a great family game
that deserves at minimum a look, especially if you are trying to play games
with your little ones that help them develop skills to look ahead.
Thank you so much for reading this report on Junior Labyrinth!
I hope you will check out my PaladinElliott Blog at:
https://paladinelliott.blogspot.com/
check out
some of my videos at:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC58qYf_vaCaCnu6qvd-WpKw
and check out my Ready To Game Podcast at Soundcloud and/or Itunes:
https://soundcloud.com/jason-elliott-641636807/ready-to-game-podcast-three-may-25-2016
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/ready-to-game-podcast-episode/id1111793358?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4
and remember I am always....READY TO GAME!!!
RET. SSG
Jason L. Elliott (PaladinElliott)
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