So AMAZEing Labyrinth?

I've never played the game. But I always see it in "nice" toy stores, the kind with lots of playmobil and "educational" toys. From what I can tell it's a game with nice components about running a maze and finding stuff. Is it fun? As a kids game? A game for adults? Both?

Also, lots of different versions of what sound like very similar games- which one is the one to get? Thanks.

Get THE aMAZEing LABYRINTH. There are spin-off products but this one is the best of the lot and for the price it's a very good play.

My kids were able to understand and play when they were three and didn't do too badly. It's spatial. No text, each turn is a slider puzzle. In theory your goals are secret but you can share them with kids if you like so everyone can debate and coach the best strategy. It's also very handicappable. If you're playing someone younger you can take five goal cards and give them only three.

For adults -- this one provides the ability to really stick your opponent in a hole if you're inclined to. In fact once you get the hang of action of the board you'll find you need to consider the balance between snookering your opponent and enabling yourself on every turn. Make sure you don't hand them a needed piece, make sure they're isolated on the board, keep them away from their home base.

I played in a game with three buddies where three of us ganged up on the one guy and just completely crushed him. That was entertaining as hell. I still get requests to bring it to game night now and again.

S.

I played it a fair amount with my son back to 4yrs old. We also had the 'Jr' version, but never really needed it. The 'kids peek at their cards' rule variant does a good job of leveling it out when playing with adults. He's grown past it now, but we were still playing it up through 6 or 7. We still would be if he wasn't now up to more interesting 'adult game' alternatives.

Fun? I can't recall playing it solely against adults. But it's not so simple as to be a cake walk with adults. You're really playing against the other players rather than the board. So difficulty should scale up as the opponent's strategies do.

But as to kids; Yea, it's got some minor 'screw your neighbors' elements (moving the board to screw your opponent rather than reach your own goals). It helps develop pattern matching skills and spatial prediction ability. And with the rule tweak, it can definitely be a competitive game between kids & adults. Definitely a decent choice as an introductory game to kids, if not pretty light gateway game for adults.

This is a good game. Kids can play it just fine, but it's fun for adults as well. Plenty of screw-you aspects, but it's mostly a puzzle. Expect players to stare at the board for a while on their turns and when they finally make their move, expect to hear a groan from the other side of the table as this often inadvertently messes up another players plans.

I like that the cards are used in such a way that you kind of have to guess where someone else is going. That is, until they get all their cards and have to make it back home. Then, the players have to work together to not let the first person done do this. Played perfectly, I could see this leading to some kingmaker or endless loop situations, but perfect play is unlikely and would be very annoying in terms of how long it would take. The only randomness is in the cards which dictate what space you go after, but once they are gone, it's pure strategy to get back to your home base.

I agree. My girls (8 and 6) and I played this for the first time recently and liked it a lot. Takes some thought and planning, but it's simple enough to learn and play.

I'm borrowing a friend's copy to test on my four year old.

He likes it well enough, but we only play with a hand of three treasures each and the first to get all three of their treasures wins. Keeps the game short.

I wouldn't imagine buying the version for younger kids. Just modify aMAZEing Labyrinth then play it outright as they grow older.

Thanks guys. Looks like a fun game with decent components, for a good price. I've made a shift from buying games that I hope to play "someday" with my kid to getting ones that he can play now (in some cases with tweaked rules), that I still enjoy.

Das MotorSportSpiel is by far our most played game at the moment. I play with the real rules, and he uses a good portion of them. I think Labyrinth and Survive will have to be in my next order.