Designed by:
Magical Athlete sounds like a very mundane affair when described. Four or five players race around a board of 30 spaces, rolling a die each turn to see how far they move. The first and second players to cross the finish line win points, and after a set number of races, an overall winner is declared. So far, so dull. In practice, however, the game is a riotous affair, with a cocktail of different characters producing a huge amount of variety, unexpected results and the occasional infinite loop.
The game begins with players drafting cards, each of which represents a race participant with special abilities. There’s a witch, a Centaur, a fortune-teller, a spy – 25 in all, each with a unique effect on the game. It’s a great way to get to grips with the available characters, despite new players not really seeing, at this point, how the abilities will work in practice. By the end of the draft, which is cleverly designed so that everyone gets a share of powerful and esoteric characters, each player will have 4 racers (5 in a 4 player game). And the races can begin.
Each player secretly selects a character from their hand to play in a race – later races are worth more points, so you may choose to keep your powerful Ninja (who can shadow another player on each turn) for a grand final, and play your Troll (who simply shunts players occupying his space back by one space) in an early race. Racers are lined up on the start line, and the dice-rolling begins.
The races themselves take maybe 5 minutes – there’s a lot of fun to be had in seeing how the different characters interact, and although one character might seem to run way ahead, there is likely to be another racer who can bring them back, or swap places with them, and most races are tightly fought – not to mention hilarious. Whilst the witch is busy making anyone who overtakes her fall asleep and miss a turn, and the Martial Artist is leaping over other racers (not having to count occupied spaces), the Philosopher is busy cancelling others’ special abilities (unless, as it says in the rulebook, this creates an infinite loop; in which case he has to stop!).
Possibly not one for the deep strategist, then, but with the right group, Magical Athlete is a little bit of pure joy.
I love Magical Athlete. It seems at first glance like a very old-school, roll-and-move affair; but it's a real little gem - chaotic fun and just the right length. The illustrations for the characters are lovely Japanese cartoon art, and though the race-track itself is possibly one of the worst looking game boards in the world, it doesn't interfere with the gameplay at all. The only drawback really is the player count - you need 4 or 5 people exactly.
Lots and lots of (on board) pushing and shoving - it's easy to feel picked on in a single race; though you'll probably be able to settle the score in the follow-up. And it's a hard game to take too seriously.
The drafting can be a little slow, as players familiarise themselves with the available characters. But the races are super quick and engaging.
No calculating to be done at all.
The fact that each race will have a different combination of characters gives this game real longevity with the right group.
4-5
Players
8+
Years
30-60
Mins
Sam says
A game for old-school gamers that introduces some new-school elements - yes, it's a roll-and-move race, but the racers magical abilities turn it into something more than that.