When comparing The Enchanted Tower vs The Magic Labyrinth, the Slant community recommends The Enchanted Tower for most people. In the question“What are the best board games for kids?” The Enchanted Tower is ranked 2nd while The Magic Labyrinth is ranked 3rd. The most important reason people chose The Enchanted Tower is:
The components of The Enchanted Tower are top-notch in terms of quality, creativity, and uniqueness. Moreover, the art looks magnificent – it’s colorful and highly detailed. The game is played on many levels on the game’s box - under the colorful gameboard there is not only storage for the components, but also sixteen slots in which the sorcerer hides the key that unlocks the enchanted tower. There’s also a little circular section that must be placed on the corner of the box with eight extra steps on which the wizard must start the game. The tower itself is an actual tower in the corner of the gameboard that has the princess figure placed in the middle. The player pieces (the wizard and Robin) are minimalistic figures that have magnets on the bottom, which are used to grab the key when you step over the correct tile. After you’ve received the key, you can place it in one of the six locks on the enchanted tower to see if the lock triggers the spring-loaded mechanism in the tower that causes the princess to jump out.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Wonderful components
The components of The Enchanted Tower are top-notch in terms of quality, creativity, and uniqueness. Moreover, the art looks magnificent – it’s colorful and highly detailed.
The game is played on many levels on the game’s box - under the colorful gameboard there is not only storage for the components, but also sixteen slots in which the sorcerer hides the key that unlocks the enchanted tower. There’s also a little circular section that must be placed on the corner of the box with eight extra steps on which the wizard must start the game. The tower itself is an actual tower in the corner of the gameboard that has the princess figure placed in the middle.
The player pieces (the wizard and Robin) are minimalistic figures that have magnets on the bottom, which are used to grab the key when you step over the correct tile. After you’ve received the key, you can place it in one of the six locks on the enchanted tower to see if the lock triggers the spring-loaded mechanism in the tower that causes the princess to jump out.
Pro Can be played in teams
If you have more than two people wanting to play, then you can split up in two teams where one player is the wizard and the others play Robin. This is especially good if you’re playing with younger players and want to team up to help them learn the game.
Pro Easy to learn
The basics of The Enchanted Tower can be understood very quickly even by the youngest players. One player takes on the role of the sorcerer who hides the key to the princess’ tower under one of the 16 spaces on the gameboard. The other player is Robin who must try to find the key. Players take turns rolling dice, one die indicates who moves first, whereas the other one shows how many steps can be taken.
Once the key has been found, the player who found it can try to place it in one of the six locks on the princess’ tower. If it works, then the princess will pop out and the player who did it wins. If the tower doesn’t unlock, then the game is reset, and the sorcerer hides the key again.
Pro Immersive
The game can be very engaging, and it also has a light roleplay element. Gameplay-wise there are some intense moments, for example, when the wizard sees Robin near the location of the key, or when the Robin player sees the wizard catching up.
The game has a nice little story in the official rulebook, which can help with the immersion. Also, sometimes playing the wizard leads to people changing their voice and doing evil laughs, which can be great fun for everyone around.
Pro Easy to play
The game is extremely straightforward and can be explained to absolutely anyone – you choose a pawn, roll a die. and try to reach the cardboard token on the gameboard before your opponent does. It’s not as easy as it seems though, there’s an invisible maze under the playing space, so you must use your memory to remember the paths. If the magnetic ball following your pawn under the gameboard hits a wall, then you return to the start and try again on your next turn. The first player to gather five tokens wins.
Pro Variable play time
Though The Magic Labyrinth is already quite a quick game that takes 20 minutes at most, if you want to play an even shorter game, then you can reduce the win condition to a smaller amount of required tokens by removing some from the cloth bag.
Pro Variable difficulty
You can manipulate the maze under the gameboard and remove as many wooden pieces as you see fit to adjust the game’s difficulty level. The game comes with 24 walls, but the number you use in your maze is up to you, the only rule being that all spaces on the gameboard must be accessible from at least one side.
Pro Great component quality
The Magic Labyrinth’s components are very well-made. The game consists of a multilayered board that has a grid on the bottom and an overlay on the top. The grid on the bottom side of the gameboard is filled with little wooden pieces that make up the maze.
The game is played with magnets – the pawns on the top of the gameboard are magnetically attached to a small ball under the gameboard. The magnets are powerful, and the pieces don’t accidentally come apart. The wooden pawns feel great to the touch and are easy to slide around.
Additionally, the game has a nice cloth bag with all the magic item tokens. The tokens are made of thick cardboard.
Cons
Con The helpless princess is rescued by the male hero? Yawn
Con Team gameplay can be fiddly
In a game where there are more than two players, everyone other than the wizard player takes turns controlling Robin, which could lead to quarterbacking, downtime, and younger children losing interest.
Con Token spawn is luck-based
The tokens that are required to win the game are placed one at a time and they’re drawn from the cloth bag. The token can be closer and easier to reach to one player as opposed to someone else. A player could even get lucky and have a token spawn on the space they’re on, which leads to them instantly getting it. This issue is especially prevalent in games with more players.
Con No simple way to move past other players
There can be a situation where a player must move past another player by going through their space. Unfortunately, this can be a difficult task because of the thickness of the pawns and the magnets underneath. Shimmying past someone could make a player accidentally reveal whether the space next to them is a wall or not.
Con Can get samey after a while
The Magic Labyrinth can lose its replay value after a few plays because it’s very straightforward and doesn’t introduce any new variables.
Con Tedious to set up
The game requires a maze to be built underneath the gameboard by placing wooden pieces in the grid before you begin, which can be annoying because it takes a while and the player who set it up could have a small advantage even if the gameboard is spun a few times before placing the overlay. There is one rule – each token must be reachable. Setting up the maze could also be difficult for children.
Con Three-player mode has its disadvantages
When playing with three players, the player whose starting space is in the middle of the other two players has a handicap. This is because this player is further away from the empty corner. If a token spawns near that side, then the other two players are much closer to it by default.
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