I'm Floating in a Most Peculiar Way (Jim Henson's Labyrinth: The Board Game)

"Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to this castle."  This was the line that started the character Sarah through a voyage that I would never forget.  Normally this part would be a funny little blurb, but allow me to indulge a little, as I tell you of two movies that helped shape my life and the path that led me here, both influenced by a man named Jim Henson.  The first was the Dark Crystal, a fantasy world that showed me the light and dark that must exist in everyone, and the Labyrinth, which helped me understand how stories flow, and find my love with the utter bizarre.  Today, I'll be looking at the game of the latter.  This...is Labyrinth.



BACKGROUND:  Labyrinth: The Board Game is a roll and push for 2-4 players, or 5 if one takes the role of Jareth.  It was designed by Alessio Cavatore and published by River Horse Ltd.  Players take the roles of the 4 main characters Hoggle, Ludo, Sir Diddymus, and of course Sarah, from the movie Labyrinth to get Sarah's baby back from the Goblin King.

GAMEPLAY:  Unlike most games, players move in a set pattern: 1st is Hoggle, then Sir Diddymus, Ludo, and then Sarah. After Sarah moves, the clock advances by 1.  Each turn, a player may either move, or rest.  To determine Speed, roll the die indicated on the card, and move either left or right.  Once a player or players land on an empty space, they draw a Labyrinth card.

LABYRINTH:  Once a Labyrinth card is drawn, follow the effect of the card.  Some will grant the player a 1 time use ability, in addition to their characters own 1 time use ability.  Others will be challenges.  Challenges can take the form of rolling a stat vs another die and beating or tying the number, or even fulfilling movie quotes.  Each challenge has a success and fail condition on the card.  Failure usually causes the characters Willpower to decrease.

GROUP:  If 2 or more characters share a space when a player starts their turn, the turn player may do a group movement, or group rest. When moving as a group, roll the die with the fewest number between the shared group.  Players may also lay down and rest.  A card is not drawn, and roll the 6 sided die.  If it lands on a 4, 5, or 6, any one player in the space gains a Willpower up to their maximum of 6.  However, if players move as a group, those players may all roll for any challenge, unless otherwise stated.  All players roll, and if any succeed, all players succeed.  If all players fail, every player takes the penalty.



UNDESIRABLE:  There are 2 Undesirable square spaces players may land on: the Oubliette, and the Bog of Eternal Stench.  The Oubliette causes a forced Rest on their turn, and any player whose Willpower hits 0 will start their turn there, but you do not roll to get a Willpower back, instead just gaining one when your turn starts.  The Bog forces the player to roll their speed die, with a 1 or a 2 causing the player to lose a Willpower and gain a Smells Bad token, which prevents you from working with a group unless you meet a specific roll.

GOBLIN CITY:  The players are trying to find the gate to the goblin city, which is going to be at least 20 cards down. Once drawn, characters may enter the city and challenge the Goblin Defense Obstacles. , then she goes to the Oubliette or rolls again. If she wins a roll then she recites the spell and the players win the game.

WINNING:  If the clock goes from 13 back to 1, the players lose.  Sarah is the only one that can enter the maze in the castle and test wits against Jared rolling her Wits vs Blue die.  Each time she fails, the clock advances, and she rolls again on her turn.  When she succeeds, the player recites the quote Sarah said to the Goblin King.  If successful, the players win.

CONCLUSION:  I'm going to start this with the games 2 biggest weaknesses.  First, this is obviously a movie tie-in product, but the game emphasizes that with both the win condition, and certain challenges.  If you want to know what the game's like, watch the movie before you play, and if you don't like the movie, you won't enjoy the game.  Second, this game is hard a lot of the time.  I get that it emphasizes the struggle between Sarah and Jareth in the movie, but that doesn't make the game less diffiicult and based on die rolls.  Now, with that out of the way, my final feelings is that if you enjoy the movie like I did, it won't matter as much.  It is a game that is still fairly fun, and really brings out its theme.  I won't say it's the best, but there are a lot worse games out there than something like this.  Just like the movie, it's a decent romp through an interesting world.  The long and the short, consider playing if you liked the movie.