Magic Dance (1988)

About this game

A memory and strategy game also published by F.X. Schmid under the title Dance of the Witches, this is essentially Pachisi but so that the playing pieces' identities are hidden, and after a while the game gets pretty chaotic with each player trying desperately to remember which of the witches belong to them and not help opponents or hinder themselves by mistake - it's even possible to drive opposing pieces home by driving them into your own base by mistake, in which case they will instantly teleport to the correct one. Also, pieces are not captured - probably because this would mean revealing their identity - but simply jumped back 7 spaces on the track and if that space is occupied, they're jumped back another 7, and so on. It is possible to make any one piece's identity public for a moment though, by rolling a 6, but that 6 cannot then be used for movement also. Like Sagaland/Enchanted Forest - which the playing pieces will bring to memory - this is more of a family game than simply a children's game.

Does it fit your group?

• Group size. Works with 3 to 6.
• Rules load. At 1.5/5 this is a light game — explain it in a few minutes, good for a table that has not played much.
• Age. The publisher suggests 8 and up. That rates the rules rather than the artwork, so judge the box yourself for younger players.