If your family enjoys mazes, puzzles, strategy, and logic, then Labyrinth is sure to be a hit. Well, as long as your family can handle competitive (and at times cutthroat) games.
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Labyrinth is a relatively unique game in that over half of it moves. There are tiles that are attached to the board and tiles that are not. Lay out the loose tiles in a random order. There will be one extra tile. Shuffle the cards and deal them out evenly to each player in a face-down pile. There are 24 cards, so it doesn’t matter whether you have 2, 3, or 4 people playing.
Labyrinth, set up and ready to play.
How to Play
Each of the cards has a picture on it that corresponds to the same picture on one of the tiles. Labyrinth can only be played by up to 4 players, and everyone starts in a different corner. Look at the first card on your stack so you know where you’re trying to go, but don’t show the other players.
On your turn, take the extra tile and use it to shift either one row or one column by one tile. Arrows indicate which rows and columns can be shifted. After shifting tiles, it’s your turn to move. You can move as far as you can until you get to your target picture. However, you cannot cross any walls.
Labyrinth can get Competitive
This game gets extra exciting as other players move and shift pieces, often contrary to what you want. If your piece is on the edge and moved off the board during a shift, you are moved to the opposite side of the board, which may or may not be helpful. Toward the end of the game, it becomes fairly obvious which pictures other players are going for. The game can get rather cutthroat as players turn their attention from getting to their remaining pictures to thwarting any players about to win.
My family loves this game, however, even when the competition gets fierce. Even if you don’t win, it’s so satisfying to get to your latest picture! In addition to logic and strategy, Labyrinth is good for practicing your poker face. After all, if you look at your next card and are obviously excited, people will probably be able to figure out where you’re heading next.
In addition, there are several different versions of Labyrinth, so you are sure to find the perfect version for your family.