Magic Maze Pocket Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Concept
• Goal of the Game
• Components
• Setup
• Gameplay
• The Action Cards
  • Move
  • Use a Vortex
  • Take the Escalator
  • Explore
    • Special Cases
  • Stealing Is Not an Action!
• Time Restriction
• Communication Restriction
• Initiation Campaign
  • Scenario 1 — Discovery
  • Scenario 2 — Several exits
  • Scenario 3 — Pass your Action card
  • Scenario 4 — Dwarf & Elf special abilities
  • Scenario 5 — Mage special ability
  • Scenario 6 — Barbarian special ability
  • Scenario 7 — Maximum Surveillance
• Remember the Essentials

Game Concept

Magic Maze is a real-time, co-operative game. You can control any of the 4 Hero pawns whenever you want in order to make that hero perform your very specific 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 virtual 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 virtual sand timer runs out, but Sand Timer spaces you encounter along the way will give you more time. If the virtual 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!

Components

• 34 cards (24 Mall cards, 9 Action cards, 1 Theft card)
• 12 Out of Order tokens (cross)
• 4 Hero pawns of different colors
• Additionally, to play, you must download and use the free Magic Maze Sand Timer app, available for iOS or Android.

Setup

Follow the instructions for the scenario you choose to play, which will tell you how to set up the Mall card deck, face down. Place the starting card (Card 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 card (A-side-up) as well as the Out of Order tokens. Take the Action cards 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 card. Make sure the Action cards stay in the same direction as the starting card 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 virtual sand timer to begin your heist. Now silence and subtlety are required: You cannot communicate in any way whatsoever! As soon as all the players are ready, flip the virtual sand timer on the previously downloaded app.

Gameplay

A game of Magic Maze follows this gameplay sequence:

1. Start the virtual sand timer, and explore the 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. At this moment, flip the Theft card 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 virtual sand timer runs out at any moment during the game, you have met defeat!

IMPORTANT:

1. During the game, you can perform the action(s) depicted on your own Action card at any time, and as often as you wish; however, you cannot perform any actions that are not on your Action card.
2. 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.

The Action Cards

• During the game, you can perform the action(s) depicted on your own Action card at any time, and as often as you wish; however, you cannot perform any actions that are not on your Action card.
• 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…

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.

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.

Explore

If you have the Explore action, you have the responsibility of adding new cards 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.

In this example:

• 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 card.

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 card from the deck, and place it so the white arrow continues from the Exploration space used. If multiple explorations are possible, the player is allowed to look at the card before choosing where to place it. However, they may only reveal one card at a time.

Once a passage has been explored, any Hero pawn can move through it, in either direction, regardless of their colour.

Special Cases

After placing a new card 5 at A, one of its Exploration spaces may be connected to an Exploration space of a card that was already in place B. 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 card, it is also possible that one of its Exploration spaces connects to a wall of an existing card C. Of course, this is a dead end.

Stealing Is Not an Action!

When all four Hero pawns are simultaneously standing on the Object spaces corresponding to their respective colour (i.e. yellow on yellow), any player can trigger the theft by flipping the Theft card 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 card depicting the Use a Vortex action; now it shows that action unavailable)!

Time Restriction

If the virtual 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 virtual sand timer, regardless of whether that gets you more or less time.

IMPORTANT: Do not use a regular timer instead of the virtual sand timer; the result is not the same!

For example, the Hero pawn can be moved onto the Sand Timer space to flip the virtual 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 virtual sand timer during your escape.

Communication Restriction

IMPORTANT: 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:

1. Staring intensely at another player.
2. Tap with your fingertips in front of a player to tell this player that it is time to do something, without specifying the action to be taken.

Each time the virtual 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!

Note: The Pause function of the virtual sand timer should only be used in the event of an external interruption to the ongoing game.

Initiation Campaign

This initiation campaign consists of seven scenarios that will gradually introduce you to the 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 cards 2 – 9, and place card 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 card.

Scenario 2 — Several exits

Ignore the Loudspeaker symbols.

Shuffle Mall cards 2 – 12, and place card 1 A-side-up.

New permanent rule: Each Hero pawn must escape through the exit of its own colour.

Scenario 3 — Pass your Action card

Ignore the Loudspeaker symbols.

Shuffle Mall cards 2 – 12, place card 1 A-side-up, and follow the previous permanent rule.

New permanent rule: Every time the virtual sand timer is flipped, the players pass their Action card to the player on their left. Make sure the North arrow on the Action cards stays oriented in the same direction as the one on the starting card.

Scenario 4 — Dwarf & Elf special abilities

Shuffle Mall cards 2 – 14, place card 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 card, all players are allowed to communicate, following the same rules as when the virtual sand timer is flipped. The Loudspeaker symbol is there to remind you.

Scenario 5 — Mage special ability

Shuffle Mall cards 2 – 14, place card 15 on top of them, place card 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 cards to the mall, at valid positions (connected to unused Exploration spaces, but of any colour); you are allowed to connect the second card to the first one placed this way. That exploration does not need to take place immediately; 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 cards have been added to the mall that way), place an Out of Order token on it, beneath the Mage pawn.

If a Hero pawn other than the purple one moves onto a Crystal Ball space, nothing happens.

Scenario 6 — Barbarian special ability

Shuffle Mall cards 2 – 17, place card 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 cards. All the spaces on a card that contains a Security Camera are yellow, in order to make them easier to spot.

New permanent rule: If two or more Security Cameras are functional (revealed and not covered by an Out of Order token), you 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 — any other pawn has no effect on a Camera space. 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 virtual sand timer until you disable all but one of the cameras!

Scenario 7 — Maximum Surveillance

Shuffle Mall cards 2 – 19, place card 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 cards. You must be extra, extra careful once a Security Camera space appears!

You now know all the rules. To increase the difficulty, add additional cards.

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 cards when you use their effects. You just perform the action(s) that your Action card 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 card, 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 simultaneously standing on the Item spaces of their respective colours, turn the Theft card 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!