Putting award-winning «Magic Mountain» to the test

What an unusual game. For once, my daughter and I aren’t pitted against against each other but are on the same team. This is because «Magic Mountain» is a cooperative children’s game – players aged five and up form a team and can only win by working together. But I certainly am sceptical. Isn’t it the competitive aspect that makes games so entertaining? But I should give this one a chance before I come out with my verdict. After all, this game from Amigo was named «Children's Game of the Year» by a jury of experts in June.

And it’s not like there’s no one to beat. Our common adversary is a wicked band of witches. They’re our obstacle. The witches are keeping us – the sorcerer’s apprentices – from succeeding in our mission. To make it from the top of the mountain down to the valley to join Balduin the wizard. But the witches are trying to reach him first.

The will-o’-the-wisps are supposed to lead us to Balduin but they seem to go wherever they want. Once the will-o’-the-wisps (the marbles) have been released down the track, they pave their own way – sometimes they light the path for us, sometimes for the witches. It’s a race against time. We’ve got to make it to the great wizard before the witches do.

Board games

26.80 CHF

Amigo Magic Mountain

66

Board games

26.80 CHF

Amigo Magic Mountain

66

Let’s get those marbles rolling

My six-year-old daughter is really into the game’s story. She wants to start playing right away. Patience is definitely not her strong point. Luckily, game set-up is quite simple. There’s a numbering system for the four small plastic supports so that it only takes a few seconds to put them in the right spots, and the destination piece is an extension simply placed at the end of the board. The slightly raised cardboard game board, which also serves as a marble slide, is sturdy enough. The plastic witches and sorcerer’s apprentices are to be placed in their starting positions at the top of the board; they’re cute and well-made. A handy little cloth bag is provided for the five colourful marbles.

Let’s go! My daughter places the first will-o'-the-wisp marble at the top of the board, behind one of the six sorcerer’s apprentices. She then lifts the figure to release the yellow marble. As the marble rolls off, she quickly moves the sorcerer’s apprentice to the next free yellow square – fast enough so that the marble, which has turned as desired and is heading for that same yellow square, will be stopped by her apprentice. This means she can move the figure again, to the next free yellow square. But this time, the marble rolls downhill unchecked and remains in the valley.

Now it’s my turn, and I release the second marble, the purple one, down the slope. It is also stopped by a sorcerer’s apprentice, but on the next leg is stopped by a witch. And the same rules apply to the witches. The witch may now move to the next free square in purple.

On the third turn, the witches once again have a good laugh. The will-o'-the-wisp marble whizzes all the way down into the valley without encountering a single figure. This means we must place a witch of our choice on the next free square in the colour of the will-o'-the-wisp.

The goal of the game is for four apprentices to reach Balduin the magician before three witches do. However, we overlooked this tidbit in the instructions. We blindly assumed that we wouldn’t win until we’d gotten all six apprentices down to the valley before the witches. Not important. It didn’t affect how we played.

The first round was literally a bit bumpy, but we polished up our team spirit and ended up winning 4 to 2 against the witches.

Emotions flying high

Now we’re really into the game. What are our tactics, plans, suggestions for improvement going to be? Our team spirit resounds with every move of our marbles and figures. We cheer each other on, rejoice together over successful moves and regularly encourage each other with high fives. If the witches stand in our way yet again, we agonize together and motivate each other anew. It’s guaranteed fun! I wish there were a hidden camera filming us during our emotional outbursts.

The second round unfortunately goes to the witches, but in the third we’re once again successful. And entertained through it all. It becomes clear: this children’s game may have simple rules, but winning is by no means child’s play.

That’s mainly because of the game’s unpredictability, achieved through the marble element. Thus «Magic Mountain» remains exciting – though with time the game could become uninteresting, given your best strategies are worthless in the end. The element of chance is just too powerful. If the game were to indeed become too boring for us, we could play one of the other variants, some particularly challenging. For example, level 5: «Grandmaster», where to win you must get all six sorcerer’s apprentices to the valley and prevent all the witches from getting there.

Another variant is one in which players compete against each other, one team being the witches and one the apprentices. This one is a little hard to get excited about though, since it has less to do with the main premise of the game.

Verdict: Expensive but entertaining

My initial scepticism about this cooperative board game has rolled away with the marbles. It’s precisely the team concept that makes «Magic Mountain» exciting and unique. But it can be played just as well alone; my daughter had fun doing so. But whether that will last for long, assuming she gets her own replica of the game, is yet to be seen. At least the variants would provide other game options and challenges.

The game is recommended for ages five and up, and it’s ideal for my six year old. I could even imagine her three-year-old little sister enjoying it as well. At least if we were to help her play.

The game board and mini figures are adorable and robust, but they come at a price. For around 40 francs, «Magic Mountain» is probably too expensive to be a birthday present for a classmate. But it might make a good Christmas present. My daughter, in any case, has put it on her wish list.