Maze of the Minotaur

Note: Some components in the photos below are from an earler version of the game. The components in the newer version are more streamlined, but do not affect gameplay. I hope to have updated phots up soon

Long ago in the age of the Ancient Greeks, tales of the great beast called the Minotaur instilled fear in the hearts of the people. Often, it was rumored, people were thrown into the maze of the Minotaur for sport or punishment. If they survived they were hailed as heroes and pardoned of their crimes. If they failed it was certain they would never be seen again.

Maze of the Minotaur is a competitive, family weight for 3-8 players, set in the mythology of ancient Greece. Cast into the maze, it is up to you to decide if you will work together to find the stairway to freedom, or cast aside your fellow citizens and try to reap the rewards to gain victory for yourself!

Set Up

Create the maze by placing maze tiles face down in a 5 x 5 grid. The Compas Tile goes in the center spot, and the Stairway Exit gets shuffled with 3 random tiles and those 4 are placed in the corners.

Separate and shuffle the descks of cards.

Each player chooses 1 of the 8 characters to play, and receives 9 circle tokens to be place on their 4 Life slots and 4 Luck slots, and one to track their leaves (in game currency).

All players place their player pawn in the center of the maze, on the compass tile.

Roll the die 2 times. Count up along the edge of the maze a number of tiles equal to the first roll, and a number across equal to the second roll. Place the Minotaur pawn on that tile for its starting location.

Each player rolls the die, and the highest roll get the First Player Token for the first turn.

Luck

Luck can be used during the game to:

Find a secret passage through a wall

Lose a Luck Point instead of a Life Point

Power some characters special power

To find a passage or avoid a wound a player rolls the die against their current Luck. Roll equal to or lower is a success. This reduces their current Luck by 1 point.

Turns

Each turn is broken into two phases: the move phase, and the Fate phase.

Movement

During the move phase each player moves their pawn to an adjacent space in the maze. Flipping over any face down tiles they move onto.

If they end the move in an area with a Leaf, they record a Leaf on their character board. Leaves can be spent on Items, Victory Points, or Extra Movement during the game.

Pawns may not move through walls, off the edge of the maze, or through a Gate (unless they posess a Key).

Fate Phase

During the Fate Phase players will play a Fate card.

The first player draws Fate Cards equal to the number of players plus one. They then selesct one card to play immediately. The remainder are passed to their left, and each player selects a Fate card to play, passing the remaining cards to the left. The First player will receive the final Fate card and must play that one as well.

Fate Cards

Fate Cards can reward or penalize players, provide them with Items or Victory Points, or Move the Minotaur around the Maze.

The Minotaur

The Minotaur is always in the Maze. Playing a Movement Fate card moves the minotaur in a pattern through the maze in the specified direction.

Anytime the Minotaur moves through or stops on a tile with a player pawn that player is forfeit a life point. They may roll against their current Luck value to try and lose one luck point instead of one life point.

If a player loses all their Life Points they are out of the game.

Discarding a Sheild protects a player from taking a wound.

Discarding a Sword gains a player a Minotaur Wound equal to 3 Victory Points.

End Game

Once the stairs have been revealed the final countdown starts, and player have 10 turns to exit the maze.

If a player does not exit the maze beforethe timer runs out they are trapped, and cannot win the game.

Players recieve a number of Laurel Cards (value 0-4 random VPs) upon exiting the maze.

First player receives 3 Laurel cards

Second player receives 2 Laurel cards

All other player receive 1 Laurel card

Winning

All players count up Victory Points from remaining Life and Luck, Items they have in their posession, and the value of any Laurel cards they hold.

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