PLAYED FOR YOU

Merlin ZinZin

Spellcasting by puffing or snipping

Merlin the Little Magician has stolen a grimoire from his father and was caught by Witch Morphage. His four friends have freed him and all must get back to the village of Brocéliande without being caught by Morphage’s monstrous cat.

The five character markers start on Morphage’s house, the „Cat“ timer begins on the Novicius = Beginner spot; after a few games you can let it start on Initiati = Advanced or Virtuoso = Master. The timer is turned and you start immediately. In your turn you must first check the timer, then cast a spell and implement the effect of the timer. When the timer has run out, you say “meow”, turn it over and advance it one step. If it meets a character the character is caught and the game is lost. So all must cooperate to be faster than the cat!

After checking the timer you roll the die and move the spell chip on the spell board in the way indicated by the die result. When chip movement ends on the green border, there is an instant effect according to the top effect card. When the chips shoots off the board it is turned over; should all three chips be outside, the cat advances one step. When the chips hits one of the nine areas you succeeded and either move the respective person or move one character along a secret path across a pond or turn over the timer without moving it or turn a character chip to invisible or move Lancelot to Guinevere or vice versa.

Simply cute! Based on a French comic you do cooperative magic in the guise of a well-working mixture of action and consideration of how all could cooperate best to get to the village; the “Cat” timer is an especially witty idea!

Players: 2-6

Age: 7+

Time: 15+

Designer: Annick Lobet

Artist: Stan & Vince, Tony Rochon

Price: ca. 25 Euro

Publisher: Blackrock/Fragames 2012

Web: www.blackrockeditions.fr

Genre: Cooperative action game

Users: For children

Version: fr

Rules: fr pl ru

In-game text: yes

Comments:

Based on Merlin Zinzin by Marc Cantin

Felicitous mix of action and cooperation

Cat timer is a very cute mechanism

Compares to:

Cooperative games with action and speed elements

Other editions:

Hobbity, Poland; Magellan, Russia

Chance (pink): 2

Tactic (turquoise): 2

Strategy (blue): 0

Creativity (dark blue): 0

Knowledge (yellow): 0

Memory (orange): 0

Communication (red): 3

Interaction (brown): 1

Dexterity (green): 3

Action (dark green): 3