Labyrinth: The Board Game

Product Description

Jim Henson's Labyrinth: The Board Game is a beautiful exploration of the movie for 1-5 players in which Sarah, Ludo, Sir Didymus and Hoggle must adventure through the labyrinth and make their way to the goblin city to save Toby from Jareth, the goblin king!

The board is very simplistic, beautifully illustrated and dominated by the titular Labyrinth. This is the maze that players must navigate every time they wish to save Sarah’s baby brother. Each game is different with the blank card spaces being filled with the magical encounters and monsters that are depicted on the deck of cards that comes with the game, this ensures a great deal of replayability and unpredictability in the game, giving the Labyrinth its signature feel.

The game consists of two distinct stages, one in which the group must adventure through the labyrinth trying to find the goblin city whilst keeping their willpower as high as possible (nobody wants to fall into the oubliette!), and a second stage in which the players must fight their way into Jareth's castle where Sarah must say the magical words that will release her brother.

Features

• For 1 - 5 Players, Ages 6 And Up. 30 Minute Playing Time
• Based On The Classic Labyrinth Movie By Jim Henson
• Sarah, Ludo, Sir Didymus And Hoggle Must Adventure Through The Labyrinth And Make Their Way To The Goblin City To Save Toby From Jareth, The Goblin King
• The Board Is Very Simplistic, Beautifully Illustrated And Dominated By The Titular Labyrinth

Top Reviews

Greater value for fans as a collector's item than as a board game.
by N. Christensen,Top Contributor: Board Games (2 out of 5 stars)
November 25, 2016

This is a faithfully well-produced piece of nostalgia for fans of the movie that provides a below-average board game experience. The molded miniatures are clearly the showpiece, but the other game components are also of good quality, with sturdy cardboard tokens, textured cards, and colorful dice sized d4 through d20. Nearly all of the game cards have scenes from the movie, and in some cases you even benefit from quoting a scene. The only flimsy-ish part is the black-velvety box insert, which is meant to be lifted out to store the folded board underneath. Remove and replace with care. Fantastic presentation.

The game starts at the scene where Sarah has gotten lost in the labyrinth and falls into the Oubliette. Hoggle, Didymus and Ludo each start at the other three corners of the board. From here, it's a bit like a cooperative version of Talisman, where everyone is moving around an outer circle taking on challenges, until a card flips that allows access to the inner board (Goblin City), and finally to Jareth himself. All players in a shared space get to roll dice for skill tests and keep the highest result, or if it fails, any player in a shared space can discard a willpower token and roll the mighty d20. Essentially, players spend most of the game trying to get into a shared space, and have enough combined willpower to be able to defeat the goblins when the gate opens. This all requires some light strategy, with some risk and a little luck.

Note that if you have fewer than 4 players, all 4 characters are still on the board taking actions, so someone will be playing as 2 of them. A 5th player can play against the group as Jareth by drawing 2 event cards on everyone's turn and choosing the ones the players will face. It's best with exactly 4 players, which will limit the appeal for some people.

The endgame is the real downer here. I realize that thematically, Sarah has to ultimately face the Goblin King alone, but the way this mechanically plays out leaves winning or losing the game up to a die roll, and the other players can only watch. It parallels the climax of the movie, but it is terrible game design to have everyone strategically cooperating for an hour, only to make it to an ending where one player alone wins or loses for the entire group based on nothing but luck. At the end, everyone NOT playing as Sarah was just sort of like, "Oh, really? So how can we help you? We can't? Um...that's weird, but okay, go for it I guess." Normally I would prefer to play a board game with 3 or 4 friends instead of watch a movie, but in this case I'd rather just watch Labyrinth.
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Fight Bowie's bulge with you friends!
by Tnadz (5 out of 5 stars)
September 24, 2017

This is a really fantastic game. If you've ever played Dungeons and Dragons and Forbidden Island/Desert, this is almost like a mashup of the two. The game plays out pretty much with players trying to get closer to each other and "improving" their character's traits without getting knocked out of the game. Rules seem complex at the start but actually work out to be fairly simple once you've had a round of play. And if you're a fan of the movie, it plays true to the story. It very much resembles Walking Dead Risk in this way: Being reminiscent of the story in the way the game unfolds.

Players can choose to team up which has pros and cons or stay separate to achieve certain goals. In the end, it works out better if you're together (just like the movie!) and you have more choice when fighting the Elf King in the end. And yes, David Bowie's character replica also has a noticeable bulge.

The game doesn't take long to get through, probably 20-40 minutes of play time depending one ages and attention to the game. All the pieces are well crafted and the level of skill required is fairly open. Lots of fan service in a way that's meaningful to the gameplay and all around fun for everyone. Jim Henson and Bowie would be proud.
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You remind me of a babe...
by bchupp3 (5 out of 5 stars)
November 2, 2017

This game is really fun. I bought this for my wife as she is a huge fan of the movie. There's a slight learning curve to the game, as there are many dice that different characters roll, but all in all, our first play through the game went very well.

In contrast to many board games, you are not playing against your fellow players, but rather as a team trying to defeat the evil Jareth. Each player controls one of the four characters (Sarah, Hoggle, Didymus, and Ludo), and you navigate the labyrinth avoiding dangers while trying to find the way on. Since we only had two players, we each controlled two of the characters. The hazards are very thematic to the movie and it is a real pleasure if you're familiar with the film. One of the challenges involved reciting lines from the movie ("You remind me of a babe...").

My one complaint is that the final confrontation with Jareth is performed by Sarah alone, meaning only one player participates. This was only a minor problem, and overall, the game was very fun.

The 5 character miniatures (four playable characters plus Jareth) are supplied unpainted, which may be a let down for some, but I enjoy painting miniatures, so it doesn't bother me.
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I had so much fun playing by myself
by JazzyJ2817 (5 out of 5 stars)
October 11, 2017

I had so much fun playing by myself. I was a little confused about how play progressed when I first started, but after a few rolls of the dice, I picked up the game play fairly quickly. I would call this DND-super light. It was engaging, and being a fan of the movie, it was so much fun controlling characters and seeing how different aspects of the movie were incorporated into the game. I will never regret my choice in buying this game! I loved watching the movie while I played.
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Fun game, but really needs 4 people to really shine
by Somebody (4 out of 5 stars)
October 28, 2017

I'll start with the quality. The figurines are well done and ready to be painted for those that want to.

Gameplay: We weren't very impressed. It's fairly fast paced, but It really needs 4 players to make it shine. The penalty cards can really hurt you which does add a bit of strategy and choosing when to fight and run can really make the difference for winning.

This is a board game that is all about the players vs the game. You MUST work together to take down the goblin king
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Oh god yes!
by Donna C (5 out of 5 stars)
September 3, 2017

Oh god, I love this game. It's a must for any Labyrinth fan to own. And, as a sad only child, you can play it by yourself! The game itself is a bit involved but, personally, I think it's pretty easy to fall into once you get the hang of it and I like how everyone works as a team instead of against each other. The details are gorgeous and while a part of me likes that the figured are blank so you can paint them, since that area of art isn't my forte I wish they would have come painted. But that's pretty nitpicky. Now I just need to get the expansion pack.
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Fun, cooperative and great for Labyrinth fans!
by Kara J. Ayala (4 out of 5 stars)
July 20, 2017

Fun cooperative game -- surprisingly so, since I thought it would be nothing more than a marketing gimmick for the movie. Not too hard to learn (medium complexity, considering a 10-year-old and I were working together). Especially grand for "Labyrinth" movie fans ... I'm not sure it would have much meaning or be much fun to someone who isn't familiar with the movie. (Some tasks are won by reciting lines from the movie, etc.) The use of different dice is a great concept, but got confusing because the two of us were trying to play two characters each, as recommended for two players. High-quality cards and pieces: I would say it's worth the relatively expensive cost, again, especially if you're a fan of the movie.
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This is a pretty fun game
by Valerie (5 out of 5 stars)
December 2, 2017

This is a pretty fun game!

It wasn't super easy for us to learn, we had to keep referring back to the instructions to figure out which and who's dice to roll. My daughter is experienced with D&D, so she picked it up a lot faster than the rest of us.

You can tell that a lot of thought and time has gone into this game! All of our friends want to play it and plan on buying their own copy.

It's well worth the purchase! We don't have the goblin expansion pack, so we didn't have enough characters for everyone at Thanksgiving, but everyone was interested and impressed at the quality.
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Well made game but ultimately not very fun
by Patrick White (2 out of 5 stars)
February 14, 2019

This game was a pretty big disappointment. The presentation is top notch, the miniatures and cards are well made. The rules of the game are fairly easy to pick up and the rule book gets you started pretty quickly. Everything about this game is pretty nice EXCEPT actually playing the game. As other reviewers have noted, the end game is flimsy and the entire game seems to rely on luck alone. Getting a handful of bad rolls will have you wondering why you're still playing this game. The cards are made well but they lack variety. Watch the movie, forget about this game.
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Dance Magic Dance!
by Sarah (5 out of 5 stars)
June 7, 2019

My daughter loves playing this with me because she thinks David Bowie is a God. I don't recommend it for a typical 5yo, though. It's a great entry into table-top gaming but may be a struggle for people not used to that kind of experience. We love it.

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