The Mysterious Magical Lake Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Content
• Before Playing the Game for the First Time
• Preparing to Play
• Objective of the Game
• How to Play
  • Have you uncovered a magic animal?
  • Has Ravenhorst enchanted your figure?
  • Beat the spell with the aid of the magic animals!
  • Do you wish to liberate a figure at the start of your go?
  • All the figures are enchanted and you haven't found a matching animal?
  • Have you uncovered Ravenhorst?
• End of the Game
• Important

Content

• Game board (magical lake)
• 8 strips of water
• 16 tiles (12x magic animals, 4x Ravenhorst)
• Castle
• 5 wooden figures
• Raven
• Reed

Before Playing the Game for the First Time

First of all, carefully remove all strips of water and tiles from the cardboard. Also remove all stamped-out windows in the castle.

Preparing to Play

Remove all the contents from the box and place them in the middle of the table.

Then place the game board with the magical lake on the insert of the box.

Then place the castle and the reeds in the side of the box. Make sure that the castle and the game board fit. Further affix the castle with the raven by inserting it into the top.

One after another, push the eight strips of water with the arrow in view upwards, under the wooden jetty. The arrows should point in the direction of the wooden jetty.

Place Ravenhorst on his start field in the castle. You will recognise this by means of the encircled arrow.

Then place the three magicians Conrad, Mila and Vicky along with tomcat Casimir in the home area with the 4 green arrows.

Shuffle the tiles with the magic animals and Ravenhorst well, and spread them out face-down next to the box.

Tip: for the first game, we recommend starting with 1 Ravenhorst tile. Put the other 3 Ravenhorst tiles to one side. They won't be needed in the first game.

Objective of the Game

Working as a team you try to escape the mysterious magical lake before Ravenhorst can. As if by magic, however, you are continually restrained or even sent back towards the castle.

In order to win, you must get your 4 figures to the safety of the shore – the wooden jetty – as soon as possible, i.e. before Ravenhorst has had the chance to leave his castle. To this end, turn over the right magic animals in order to set the enchanted figures free.

How to Play

You take turns to play in a clockwise direction. The last one amongst you to have bathed in a lake, goes first. When it is your turn, first of all uncover one of the face-down tiles.

Have you uncovered a magic animal?

Then you can move any one of your free figures from the home area. Pick a magician or Casimir and carefully and slowly move this figure across the lily pads towards home, i.e. to the wooden jetty.

Move vertically or horizontally, lily pad for lily pad. Only 1 figure may stand on one lily pad at any one time.

You are not allowed to jump over other figures.

Tip: you are well advised to carefully push the figure across the game board without lifting it up. You are not allowed to check to see if a lily pad is bewitched!

Has Ravenhorst enchanted your figure?

You can continue to move towards the wooden jetty until you are stopped in your tracks and restrained by a bewitched lily pad. As soon as you can feel Ravenhorst's magical powers, you have to let go of your figure – it is restrained and gets stuck on the lily pad.

If the animal on the bewitched lily pad isn't the same as the animal on the uncovered tile, you remain bewitched and that is the end of your go.

In both of these cases, at the end of your go you turn the tile back over. Now it's the next player's turn.

Example: Emma turns over the tile with the butterfly on it. She decides to move Vicky (green). She then moves the figure from the home area to the field with the tortoise. The lily pad isn't bewitched, i.e. free, and Emma can move. She can feel the magical powers of Ravenhorst when she lands on the field with the butterfly. Actually she should stop here: luckily, however, Emma turned over the tile with the butterfly. The magical powers don't count and she can continue on her way. The field with the caterpillar is free again. However, the lily pad with the crab is now bewitched once again. Her go ends here. Emma turns the tile over and it is now the next player's turn.

Beat the spell with the aid of the magic animals!

One magic animal sits atop each lily pad. If you have uncovered the right animal at the start of your turn, you can beat Ravenhorst's magic. Take a close look at the lily pad on which your figure has just had a spell cast upon it:

• If the animal on the bewitched lily pad is the same as the animal on the uncovered tile, you can beat the magician Ravenhorst at his own game and you can move your figure towards the wooden jetty.
• If the animal on the bewitched lily pad isn't the same as the animal on the uncovered tile, you remain bewitched and that is the end of your go.

Do you wish to liberate a figure at the start of your go?

You can liberate an enchanted figure again by uncovering the right magic animal.

If, for example, you turn over the clam and one of your figures is restrained there, you can now move from the bewitched lily pad until your figure is once again enchanted or you reach the wooden jetty.

All the figures are enchanted and you haven't found a matching animal?

If all the figures are enchanted and unfortunately you haven't found a matching animal in order to liberate a figure, regrettably you are not allowed to move.

Moreover, Ravenhorst casts another spell on the magical lake. As described above, push a strip of water underneath the wooden jetty. Just as if you had uncovered a Ravenhorst tile.

Have you uncovered Ravenhorst?

If the uncovered tile displays Ravenhorst, unfortunately you cannot move this time! Ravenhorst casts a spell on the magical lake, reducing your lead.

Take the last strip of water which is located beneath the castle rock from the game board and push back underneath the wooden jetty on the other side. Make sure that the arrow points towards the wooden jetty.

Now all enchanted figures are mysteriously drawn back to the castle. Ravenhorst can advance one step at the same time. Then turn the tile back over, and it is now the next player's turn.

Tip: if Casimir or a magician moves back to the start, this figure is liberated and may move to any lily pad in the first row during your next go, for instance.

End of the Game

You win the game as a team as soon as you have successfully guided Conrad, Mila, Vicky and Casimir across the magical lake to the wooden jetty. Brilliant, you are a fantastic team!

If, however, at least one of your figures is still on the magical lake when Ravenhorst reaches his home field, the mean magician wins! Give it another try, maybe this time you'll outwit him!

Important

First of all uncover a tile and decide on a figure you wish to move.

From the home area, you can move to each of the 4 fields in the first row. Once you are on the wooden bridge, place your figure on any home field you like.

You can increase the degree of difficulty with the Ravenhorst tile. If you have won this game, you can add 1 more Ravenhorst tile for the next game.

You can confer regarding which is the best tile to uncover and which path to take. Keep an eye out which lily pads are less dangerous than others, since you already know where the matching magic animal is hiding.

Don't forget that, by moving the strips of water, the bewitched lily pads are also changed…

Try not to uncover Ravenhorst that often and avoid having all your figures enchanted at the same time.