Kasper Lapp
Gyom
GAME CONCEPT
Magic Maze is a real-time, co-operative game. You can control any of the 4 Hero
pawns whenever you wants in order to make that hero perform your very spe-
cific action, to which other players do not have access: move north, explore a
new area, ride an escalator… all of this requires rigorous co-operation between
the players in order to succeed at moving the heroes wisely, and complete your
mission before the sand timer runs out.
Moreover, you will only be allowed to communicate for short periods during
the game. The rest of the time, you must play without giving any visual or audio
cues to each other.
GOAL OF THE GAME
All of the players win the game if all of the Hero pawns succeed in leaving the
shopping mall in the limited time allotted for the game, each having stolen an item.
You have until the sand timer runs out, but Sand Timer spaces you encounter
along the way will give you more time. If the sand timer ever completely runs out
before the Hero pawns escape, all of the players lose the game: Your loitering
has aroused suspicion, and the mall security guards nab you!
GAMEPLAY
A game of Magic Maze follows this gameplay sequence:
1. Start the sand timer, and explore the shopping mall, partially or completely.
2. Move each Hero pawn onto the Item space of that hero’s colour.
3. When all four Hero pawns are
simultaneously on their respective Item
spaces, they steal the items, the alarm is
triggered, and the four Hero pawns must
quickly reach the exit without being caught
(i.e. without the sand timer running out).
Atthis moment, flip the Theft tile B-side-up.
4. When a Hero pawn reaches an Exit space it can use, remove that Hero
pawn from the board. Once all four Hero pawns have left the board, you
have achieved victory! However, if the sand timer runs out at any moment
during the game, you have met defeat!
A
fter being stripped of all their possessions,
a mage, a barbarian, an elf, and a dwarf are
forced to go rob the local Magic Maze shop-
ping mall for all the necessary equipment they need
for their next adventure. They agree to pull off their
heists simultaneously, then dash to the exits in order to
evade the guards who eyed their arrival suspiciously.
REMARK
In order to make this game accessible to people with altered
colour perception, each colour is associated with a symbol.
Inthisrulebook, whenever a colour is mentioned, it can be identified
bythe correspondingsymbol.
Hero Barbarian
Colour yello w
Symbol sword
Hero Dwarf
Colour orange
Symbol axe
Hero Elf
Colour green
Symbol bow
Hero Mage
Colour purple
Symbol vial
Kasper Lapp: “From an early age, I had
a passion for developing my own board
games, but since the future seemed to
be digital, I went into the computer
game industry instead. Then, a couple
of years ago, I stumbled upon a com-
munity of aspiring board game designers, and I realized that board games were
far from dying. Since then, I haven’t been able to stop developing. Magic Maze is
my first published board game, but hopefully not my last!”
The author would like to thank all the people who helped him test the
game. He especially thanks Mikkel Balslev, Lars Hoffmann, Laetitia Di Sciascio,
and Didier Delhez for bringing key ideas.
Sit Down! rue Sanson 4, 5310 Longchamps, Belgium
info@sitdown-games.com www.sitdown-games.com
A game from Sit Down! published by Megalopole. ©Megalopole (2017).
All rights reserved. • This game can only be used for private recreational
purposes. • WARNING: not suitable for children under 3 years of age. This
game contains small parts which can be ingested or inhaled. Retain this information.•
Visuals are non-binding. Shapes and colours may change. • Any reproduction of this
game, in whole or in part, in any medium, physical or electronic, is strictly forbidden
without written permission from Megalopole.
Kasper Lapp DESIGNER
Gyom ARTIST
Marie Ooms GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Didier Delhez PROJECT MANAGER
Nathan Morse TRANSLATOR
2
3
COMPONENTS
24 Mall tiles
4 Hero pawns in different colours
12 Out of Order tokens
9 Action tiles (5 of which are two-sided) for 2- to 8-player games,
and 7 Action tiles for 1-player games
1 sand timer
1 “Do Something!” pawn
1 Scoresheet The Great Book of Challenges
(also available on our website, in case you need a new sheet)
1 Theft tile
1 sheet of stickers to stick on the Hero pawns (if you wish)
which allows people with altered colour perception to recognise them.
The two
stickers are not used until Scenario 3 (see page 7).
The setup of the tiles is identical to the multiplayer version. Take
the 7 Action tiles for 1-player games (number in the lower-right cor-
ner), make sure their North arrow is pointing in the same direction
as the arrow on the starting tile, shuffle them, and place them as a
face-down deck.
Once you flip the sand timer, the game begins. Using only one
hand, you must reveal the Action tiles one by one onto a discard pile
until the action you wish to use is visible on top of the discard pile. You
can then use that one action with any number of the Hero pawns, and
as many times as you wish. You cannot hold the deck in your hand!
To perform another action, you must continue to reveal and discard
the other Action tiles from the deck until the action you want comes
up. If you empty the deck, flip the discard pile face down (without
shuffling it) and start revealing tiles again, one by one, looking for
the action you want.
Whenever you flip the sand timer (see “Time Restriction” page 6), you must
shuffle the deck and discard pile together to form a new deck.
SETUP
Follow the instructions for the scenario you choose to play, which will tell you
how to set up the Mall tile deck
, usually face down; start with Scenarios 1 – 7
(initiation campaign), then continue with Scenarios 8 – 17. After that, feel free
to come up with your own scenarios!
Place the starting tile (Tile 1)
in the middle of the table (A-side-up if you
are new to the game; otherwise, however you like), and randomly place the
4Hero pawns on the 4 central spaces . Set aside the Theft tile (A-side-up)
as well as the Out of Order tokens
.
Take the Action tiles corresponding to the number of players (number in the
lower-right corner) and give one to each player
.
Place your Action card in front of you so everyone can see it, with its North
arrow pointing in the same direction
as the one on the starting tile. Make
sure the Action tiles stay in the same direction as the starting tile throughout
the entire game!
You can chat, plot, and scheme as much as you want during the setup. As soon
as everyone is ready, turn over the sand timer to begin your heist. Now silence
and subtlety are required: You cannot communicate in any way whatsoever!
TIP
Are there too many of you to fit around your table? Not everyone can
reach the pawns? No worries! Get rid of the chairs and play standing up!
When everyone is supposed to pass their Action tile to the left (see page 7,
Scenario 3), everyone can simply step to the left instead.
SOLO GAME
4-player setup.
4
USE A VORTEX
If you have the Use a Vortex action, you (and only you) can move any Hero pawn
from wherever it is to any Vortex space of its colour. This is a very quick way to
travel long distances.
IMPORTANT
Once the theft has occurred, the Vortex system will be automatically
shut down; this means that the Use a Vortex action cannot be used
during your escape!
TAKE THE ESCALATOR
If you have the Take the Escalator action, you
(and only you) can move a Hero pawn from one
side of an escalator to the other, no matter which
way the escalator is oriented. A Hero pawn can
never stop on an escalator.
MOVE
The Move action allows you to move a Hero pawn as many spaces as you want in
the direction indicated by the arrow. The Hero pawn's movement must end before
it hits an obstacle (wall, another hero, etc.). There can never be two Hero pawns
on the same space. Hero pawns can only move on corridor spaces, and can never
move into the illustrated areas, not even to step out of the way of another pawn.
In this example, moving the orange Hero pawn to the orange Exploration space
requires three actions:
Brian, who has the NORTH arrow, moves the hero 2 spaces north.
Alice, who has the WEST arrow, moves the hero 2 spaces west.
Finally, Marc, who has the SOUTH arrow, moves the hero 1 space south,
ontothe orange Exploration space.
REMARK
With 5 or more players, certain movement actions appear on more than one
Action tile.
When setting up, we suggest that you assign the identical actions to
players sitting opposite one another, so this action can be taken more
quickly from both sides of the table.
During the game, you can perform the action(s) depicted on your own Action tile at any time, and as often as you wish;
however, you cannot perform any actions that are not on your Action tile.
In this game, there are no “turns”: You act whenever you notice that one of your actions may be useful.
You are never allowed to stop another player’s movement: That player must decide when it is the appropriate time to stop.
Each action is described in detail below…
TION TILES THE ACTION TILES THE ACTION TILES THE ACTION TILES THE ACTION TILES THE ACTION TILES THE ACTION TILES THE ACTION TILES THE ACTION TILES THE ACTION TILES THE ACTION TI
OR
STEALING IS NOT AN ACTION!
When all four Hero pawns are simul-
taneously standing on the Object spaces
corresponding to their respective colour
(i.e. yellow on yellow, etc.), any player can trigger the theft by flipping the Theft
tile B-side-up. Now you must make your way to the exit to escape… without
the help of the vortex system, which has been deactivated (flip the Action tile
depicting the Use a Vortex action; now it shows that action unavailable)!
If the Theft tile has not been flipped, then the theft
has not yet occurred. If you leave the mall without having
flipped the Theft tile, you lose the game, because the
characters didn't steal their equipment!
SPECIAL CASES
After placing a new tile at , one of its Exploration spaces may be
connected to an Exploration space of a tile that was already in place
.
Thepassage created that way is valid, and can be used by all the Hero pawns,
in both directions.
Following the placement of a new tile, it is also possible that one of its
Exploration spaces connects to a wall of an existing tile
. Of course, this is
a dead end.
Note: The layout of the Exploration spaces and white arrows makes it impossible
for two Mall tiles to overlap.
If you have the Explore action, you have the responsibility of adding new tiles to
the board. You can only do this when a Hero pawn is standing on an Exploration
space of its own colour that leads to an unexplored area.
The four types of Exploration spaces.
First Brian, who has the NORTH arrow,
moves the orange Hero pawn north;
Then Chris, who has the EAST arrow,
movesthe orange Hero pawn east,
ontotheorange Exploration space;
Finally, Anne, who has the magnifying
glass, can reveal the next tile.
Once a Hero pawn is on an Exploration space of
its colour, if you have the Explore action, you (and
only you) can reveal the top tile from the deck,
and place it so the white arrow continues from the
Exploration space used.
If several Hero pawns are on matching Ex-
ploration spaces, the player with the Explore
action draws a tile, looks at it, and then chooses
in front of which Hero it goes; however, you
reveal only one tile at a time, and must place
it before revealing the next one.
Once a passage has been explored, any Hero pawn can move through it, in either
direction, regardless of their colour.
TION TILES THE ACTION TILES THE ACTION TILES THE ACTION TILES THE ACTION TILES THE ACTION TILES THE ACTION TILES THE ACTION TILES THE ACTION TILES THE ACTION TILES THE ACTION TI
EXPLORE
5
6
This initiation campaign consists of seven scenarios that will gradually introduce
you to the basic rules of the game. When you fail a scenario, you can either try
again or skip to the next one.
SCENARIO 1
Discovery
Ignore the Loudspeaker symbols.
Shuffle Mall tiles 2 – 9, and place tile 1 A-side-up.
Explore the shopping mall, steal the items, then flee through
the only exit (purple). Once a Hero pawn has fled through the
exit, place that Hero pawn at the right place on the Theft tile.
SPECIAL EXCEPTION
If you wish, for this introductory scenario, you are allowed to talk as much
as you want, throughout the entire game. This may help you understand
the game concepts.
REMEMBER THE ESSENTIALS
Here are some important rules to keep in mind before starting the game:
Players do not “take turns” and you do not “play” or discard the Action
tiles when you use their effects. You just perform the action(s) that
your Action tile allows you to do, as many times as you wish, at the
moments that you deem appropriate.
In order to explore a passage to an unexplored tile, a Hero pawn must
be on an Exploration space of its own colour. After the passage has
been explored, any hero can pass through in both ways.
Hero pawns can neither pass through walls nor other heroes. There can
never be two Hero pawns on the same space.
The Use a Vortex action allows you to move the Hero pawns from
anywhere to any Vortex space of that hero’s colour.
When all four Hero pawns are standing on the Item spaces of their
respective colours, turn the Theft tile over and run for the exit!
You are not allowed to use the Vortex system during your escape (after
having stolen the items)!
The plan is simple: Explore, steal the four items, run to the exit!
SCENARIO 2
Several exits
Ignore the Loudspeaker symbols.
Shuffle Mall tiles 2 – 12, and place tile 1 A-side-up.
NEW PERMANENT RULE
Each Hero pawn must escape through the exit of its own colour.
TIME RESTRICTION
If the sand timer runs out, you have lost the game! But each time a Hero pawn is
moved onto an available Sand Timer space, you must immediately flip the sand
timer, regardless of whether that gets you more or less time. Important: Do not
use a regular timer instead of a sand timer; the result is not the same!
The Hero pawn can be moved onto the Sand
T
imer space to flip the sand timer.
Each Sand Timer space can only be used once, after which you must place
an Out of Order token on it, beneath the Hero pawn standing on it. For
your information, there are four Sand Timer spaces in the shopping mall.
Note: After the theft has occurred, you can still use available Sand
Timer spaces to flip the sand timer during your escape.
COMMUNICATION RESTRICTION
During most of the game, you cannot communicate. You are not allowed to speak,
point at something, make signs or signals, or make sounds. The only permitted
forms of communication allowed are as follows:
Staring intensely at another player.
Taking the “Do Something!” pawn and placing it in front
ofaplayer to tell this player that it is time to, well,
dosomething! But this player might not agree, and may
immediately place the pawn in front of another player.
The "Do Something!" pawn can be used at any time by any player.
Each time the sand timer is flipped over, the players are allowed to speak for as
long as they wish while the sand continues to flow. No actions can be performed
during this discussion time.
As soon as any player performs any action, all communication must cease again!
REMARKS
If you have just completed a regrettable action, but did not break the rules
of the game (for example, you moved a Hero pawn too far north), only the
player with the appropriate action can fix this error (the player with the
South arrow in this example).
If you notice that a player has infringed upon the rules of the game, you
are allowed to point this out verbally. Return the game components to the
situation before the mistake was made, but the timer is running the whole
time; you do not get back the lost time of the mistake, the explanation, or
the fix, so fix it quickly!
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Alice, who has the WEST arrow,
moves The Mage (purple) onto the
Crystal Ball space
.
Anne, who has the Expl
ore action, understands that
she can add two tiles to the mall “for free”: She draws and places tile
( ), then draws again and connects tile directly to tile ( )
(shecould have placed tile
somewhere else if she had wished to).
If a Hero pawn other than the purple one moves onto a Crystal Ball space,
nothing happens.
SCENARIO 6
Barbarian special ability
Shuffle Mall tiles 2 – 17, place tile 1 B-side-up,
and follow all of the previous permanent rules.
In this scenario, there are 2 Security Cameras in the deck of Mall tiles.
All the spaces on a tile that contains a Security Camera are yellow, in order
to make them easier to spot.
NEW PERMANENT RULE
If two or more Security Camera are functional (re-
vealed and not covered by an Out of Order token),
y
ou are not allowed to move any Hero pawn onto any Sand Timer space. To
disable a Security Camera, the Barbarian (yellow Hero pawn) must move onto
it. Then, place an Out of Order token onto it, beneath The Barbarian.
This means that once the first camera is revealed, you must be careful: If other
cameras are revealed before you disable the first camera, you will be unable to
flip the sand timer until you disable all but one of the cameras!
If a Hero pawn other than the yellow one moves onto a Security Camera
space, nothing happens.
SCENARIO 7
Maximum Surveillance
Shuffle Mall tiles 2 – 19, place tile 1 B-side-up,
and follow all of the previous permanent rules.
This scenario doesn't add any new rules, but there are now 4 Security Camera
spaces in the deck of Mall tiles. You must be extra, extra careful once a Security
Camera space appears!
YOU NOW KNOW ALL THE RULES OF MAGIC MAZE.
TO INCREASE THE DIFFICULTY, ADD ADDITIONAL TILES.
THEN, IT WILL BE TIME FOR YOU TO FACE
THE CHALLENGES ON THE NEXT PAGE!
SCENARIO 3
Pass your Action tile
Ignore the Loudspeaker symbols.
Shuffle Mall tiles 2 – 12, place tile 1 A-side-up,
and follow the previous permanent rule.
NEW PERMANENT RULE
2 players or more
Every time the sand timer is flipped, the players pass their Action
tile to the player on their left. Make sure the North arrow on the Action
tiles stays oriented in the same direction as the one on the starting tile.
Stick the
stickers on both ends of the sand timer as a reminder.
SCENARIO 4
Dwarf & Elf special abilities
Shuffle Mall tiles 2 – 14, place tile 1 A-side-up,
and follow all of the previous permanent rules.
NEW PERMANENT RULE
The Dwarf (orange Hero pawn) is the only one who is able
to move through the small passages in the orange walls.
NEW PERMANENT RULE
When you use The Elf (green Hero pawn) to explore
anew tile, all players are allowed to communicate, fol-
lowing the same rules as when the sand timer is flipped.
TheLoudspeaker symbol is there to remind you.
SCENARIO 5
Mage special ability
Shuffle Mall tiles 2 – 14, place tile 15 on top of them, place tile 1 B-side-up,
and follow all of the previous permanent rules.
NEW PERMANENT RULE
When The Mage (purple Hero pawn) is standing on a Crystal Ball
space, the player who has the Explore action may add up to two new
tiles to the mall, at valid positions (connected to unused Exploration spaces,
but of any colour); you are allowed to connect the second tile to the first
one placed this way. That exploration does not need to take place imme-
diately; it can be done later, provided that The Mage is still on the Crystal
Ball space. Once the Crystal Ball space has been used (if one or two tiles
have been added to the mall that way), place an Out of Order token on it,
beneath the Mage pawn.
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SCENARIOS
Now that you know all the rules of Magic Maze, you are ready to face challenges
worthy of your abilities! Here is a series of scenarios at different difficulty levels.
Each of them appears on the scoresheet (The Great Book of Challenges) on its own
line with a series of increasingly difficult levels (involving more and more Mall
tiles). Fill out that sheet as you play, by writing the names of the people, who
successfully took the challenge, in the corresponding scenario box. A small box on
the right of each also allows you to record the number of Sand Timer spaces you
used (the fewer the better!). You are free to choose for each scenario whether to
use the A or B side of the starting tile (tile 1). The back of the scoresheet contains
blank title boxes so you can create your own scenarios (share them with us!) or
add those that you find on our website.
SCENARIO 8
Divination
The Mall tile deck is placed face up, so you can always see the upcoming tile that
will be added to the mall.
SCENARIO 9
Follow the leader!
3 players or more.
During the setup, use the Action tiles corresponding to a game with one player
fewer; give one of them to each player, except one player, who doesn't get any.
Instead, that player is the only one allowed to use the “Do Something!” pawn.
REMARK
This scenario allows 9 players to play!
SCENARIO 10
Trick the Guards
In order to deceive the guards, the heroes must
steal an item that's not theirs
,
then escape through an exit that's not theirs. Each exit can only be taken by one
hero; therefore, leave the Hero pawns on them.
SCENARIO 11
Rearrangement mode
The walls never stop moving. Before the items are stolen, each time the sand timer
is flipped, discard two revealed tiles that were already placed in the shopping mall.
In order to be able to discard a tile, it must meet the following requirements:
It must have no Hero pawns and no Out of Order tokens on it.
Tile 1 can never be removed from the mall.
After the tile is discarded, it must still be possible to get everywhere in the
shopping mall without using the Vortex spaces (i.e. so you can escape).
If you cannot remove two tiles without infringing upon these conditions, you
lose the game.
Tuck the two discarded tiles face down under the deck. If the deck was already
exhausted, these two tiles become the new deck.
SCENARIO 12
Gestures only
When you are allowed to communicate, you can only communicate with gestures:
you can never use language!
SCENARIO 13
Multidimensional mall
The shopping center occupies two planes of existence.
Setup: Place the orange and green Hero pawns on tile 1 as usual. Place tile
3 on the table a little farther away, and place the yellow and purple Hero pawns
anywhere on it. These two tiles represent the two dimensions that can never
be connected after exploring a new tile (push them farther away if necessary).
The Mall tile deck is placed face up so you can always see the upcoming tile that
will be added to the mall.
In order to distract the guards, the four Hero pawns can never be in the same
dimension all at the same time. A Hero pawn can only travel between the dimen-
sions with the Use a Vortex action, moving from a Vortex space of its colour in
the dimension where it is to a Vortex space of its colour in the other dimension.
This is the only valid way to use a vortex during this scenario.
Caution: If you place the tiles badly during the game, you may not be able
to escape the mall. Do not forget that the Vortex system is disabled after the
theft has occurred!
SCENARIO 14
No communication
No communication is allowed at all, at any time. You are still allowed to stare
intensely at an other player and to use the “Do Something!” pawn.
SCENARIO 15
You have beautiful eyes
No communication is allowed at all, at any time, and you are not allowed to use the
“Do Something!” pawn. You can still stare at another player… even more intensely.
SCENARIO 16
Vortex out of service
The entire Vortex system is out of service during the whole game. Therefore, you
can never use the Use a Vortex action.
SCENARIO 17
Groups forbidden
The guards are suspicious of groups of people: During the game, two or more Hero
pawns can never be on the same Mall tile, except for tile 1, where any number of
Hero pawns can stand simultaneously. Do not remove the Hero pawns from the
board once they reach their exit; that way, they still prevent other Hero pawns
from entering that tile.