LEGO 3841 Games - Minotaurus

Product Information

For the building enthusiasts among you, part of the fun is that you effectively build the game before you play it.  So imagine a square base board as the starting point – you build up the maze onto this with Lego pieces. We also appreciated the encouragement to experiment with the game, and make it our own – not many games directly invite you to do that. You might also want to institute rules about moving walls – but you’ll probably be keeping to the main notion of getting all your pieces to the middle of the board. The point of the game is to maneuver each of your three game pieces from your home base to the center base of your corresponding color in as fast a time as possible. Typical gameplay will have each player rolling the d6 once, moving that many spaces (or obeying the rule of the side they roll) and then passing the die to the person to their left. Each turn that p layer can really only move one of their pieces, so it takes a while to move everyone towards the middle.

Realistically, you could use the same maze setup with a different Lego baddie – Darth Vader instead of the minotaur, anyone? Parents will also appreciate the potential to put the lid on at the end, and know that all the Lego is in one plate (unlike most other household Lego). Now consider that, as a game, you can see into the maze from above – so you get to see which way to go.  The minotaur is there to ‘get’ you, but nothing more serious. You are there to outwit it, and show off your cunning.

Details

In the case of this game, the building is fairly straight forward – you are building low walls around the sides of the board, and some walls inside the board, which form the maze itself. When the Minotaur is in play, you get to move 8 spaces – so you’re moving faster than the other pieces, effectively.  You move from the central section, and can move towards any of the figures which may be approaching.

As with other games with multiple pieces, you can decide how many pieces to have in play at a time.  It’s possible to get each individual figures to the centre, one by one, but you may find that it works well to start one off, then move a second one out a bit, and so on. I stayed out of the building of the board (see above for why), but could tell that the builders of the family enjoyed this part. The concepts of the game are quite straight forward, but there’s lots of flexibility to adjust how easy it is to get through the maze. I looked for the Greek story of the Minotaur and the eight year old and I read it together so that he understood where t he game came from. I think including the story in the game would be a valuable addition. My favorite is the version called "Theseus and the Minotaur" that is in comic book like format in the book Greek Myths by Marcia Williams. Early readers and established readers alike would enjoy it, learn about classical Greek myth/literature, gain a better understanding of the game, and maybe enjoy recreating the story in creative free play with the pieces. Read full review The figures you move through the game are small, so this can be a little fiddly, but is fine once you get going.Another factor Junior Player really liked was the permission to make up your own rules. If you want to adjust it so that e.g. throwing a 6 two times in a row gets you further, or gives you a penalty, for example, you can – or really whatever you fancy. Having more pieces in play means that it’s easier to ‘distract’ the Minotaur – if you only have one piece, the person playing the Minotaur will logically pursue that piece only. You, and other players, are trying to get to the centre of the maze – the Minotaur is there to stop you. If it does, you lose a (Lego) figure, but you have three, so you have more chances. Robo Champ \ 3836 Magikus \ 3837 Monster 4 \ 3838 Lava Dragon \ 3839 Race 3000 \ 3840 Pirate Code \ 3841 Minotaurus \ 3842 Lunar Command \ 3843 Ramses Pyramid \ 3844 Creationary Part of the cleverness of the game is that you can also move sections of the walls about – adjusting the walls of the maze slightly so that they can be jumped over, instead of having to go round them.