Looters of the Labyrinth

At last you've found it; a legendary and mysterious labyrinth, rumored to hold many treasures! Unfortunately, you're not alone; you've been followed by other treasure raiders, and you'll have to act quickly and shrewdly to secure the plunder for yourself.

OVERVIEW This is a thematic abstract spatial strategy game for 2-8 players in which players place and demolish walls to be the first to reach the treasures in the center of the labyrinth. It's recommended to play with 2-4 individual players or 2 teams of 2-4 players each. Game length scales by player count; roughly 15 minutes per player.

SETUP The game is played on a square grid board, which is empty at setup except for 13 treasures near the center and player pawns adjacent to the corners. At the start of the game, players are dealt a hand of labyrinth wall cards which correspond to labyrinth wall pieces which are played on the board throughout the course of the game.

TURNS Players take turns in clockwise order, choosing to perform one of four actions each turn; moving their player pawn, playing a labyrinth wall card to place a labyrinth wall on the board, weakening one of their own labyrinth walls on the board, or placing their rubble token on any labyrinth wall on the board.

MECHANICS Pawns can only move orthogonally and can only stop when hitting either a labyrinth wall or the edge of the board, and pass through other pawns. Pawns collect treasure by moving through the treasure's square. Labyrinth walls are weakened whenever a pawn hits them, eventually being demolished instead and removed from the board. Players can only draw a new card when one of their labyrinth walls is removed from the board. Each player has only one rubble token; this can be played on any labyrinth wall on the board and acts as an open square, but must remain on that wall until the wall is demolished.

TEAM PLAY Playing the game with two teams is the same as playing with individuals, except that collected treasure is pooled for each team on a team treasure board, and public table talk is typically allowed.

STRATEGY Basic strategies involve placing labyrinth walls to either let your pawn stop in line with treasure, or to block other player's pawns. More advanced strategies include accomplishing both of the above with a single wall placement, using other player's constructions to your advantage, and placing walls to create an unblockable path to one or more treasures. Additionally, being careful to not run out of cards and using your rubble token wisely are both important. The ability to visualize and plan potential routes and layouts is key to mastering the game's strategy. Team play brings even more strategic depth; teammates can help each other achieve goals and work together to thwart the competition.

GAME END The game ends immediately once it is no longer possible for the player(s) with the fewest treasures to gain enough treasures to have the most treasures. The number of treasures needed to win per player count is specified in the instruction manual for clarity.

—description from the designer