Labyrinth
Overall Rating: 10/10
Age: 7+
GLAM Age Range: 6-12
Number of Players: 2-4
Playing Time: 20 min
Publisher: Ravensburger
Complexity: Medium
Available At: Amazon.com
Quick Take: Such a cool game, such a fun concept. It is a game that ages well and isn't geared for just young children. You're hunting for treasure in a maze you can control. The mechanics of playing are simple and take two seconds to explain. However, the actual game can be tricky and require some good strategy! My 5 and 6 year old can play with some adult assistance, they love this game. Sorry, no David Bowie references of any sort in this game.
How to Play: Your goal is to be the first to find all your treasures and return to your starting square. Everyone picks a playing piece and puts it on its own color on the corner of the board. Everyone is given a pile of treasure cards which are all face down in a pile. Flip up the top card, that is the first treasure you are trying to reach. Each turn you get push a tile onto the maze which moves all the paths in a line to a new spot, thus changing the whole maze. Then you get to move your playing piece and try to work to get closer and finally reach the spot on the board where your pictured treasure is located. One you reach the treasure you get to flip over the next card in your treasure pile and go for the next one. There are some spots where the tiles are fixed and the game board is ever shifting, just like a real labyrinth.
Variations: Play it as a cooperative game. Very easy to do with young children. They still take turns moving separate tokens but you win when everyone has collected all of their treasure pieces. Or you can give extra treasure cards to older/more experienced players to even things out. Another variation suggested by the official game rules is to flip up all the treasure cards once you've dealt them out to players and the players can collect them in any order they like. You can also be strategic when dealing out the tiles onto the game board in the first place and making sure they are a little less of a jumble, this makes the game easier for younger players.
Similar Games To Check Out: Latice, Kingdomino, Blokus, Santorini, Tsuro, Ocean Labryinth