My First Game of Magic Realm In 2010

The Sentry Box is having it's 30th Anniversary Party this weekend. The Sentry Box is actually older than that, but Gord became it's proprietor 30 years ago.

I made a visit to The Sentry Box yesterday, with my two girls in tow. What should I discover on the used games shelf but another copy of Magic Realm for $50! Gord said it had been there for some time, but I don't know how I could have missed it. At any rate, another Sentry Box customer, who had sold his copy of Magic Realm many years ago and was waxing nostalgic, saw it in my hands and I offered to give it up to him (as I already have one copy). In the end, he decided to keep watching eBay, to see if he could get an unpunched copy.

After returning home, by way of McDonald's -- as a treat to the girls -- I wasted no time unpacking the game to see if all the parts were there. The game was complete! It appeared to be a true "first printing" of the game, as three of the Tremendous monster counters were misprinted, with the wrong monsters on the reverse side of the counters.

Since I had already unpacked the game to confirm its completeness, and had sorted all the chits, counters and cards, I suggested to the family that we take the game for a spin.

We played the first scenario of Magic Realm. The first scenario is basically a scavenger hunt. The characters meet up at the Inn, and challenge each other to visit all six dwellings -- the Inn, House, Chapel, Guardhouse, Large Campfire and Small Campfire -- and bring back one treasure. The character who returns to the Inn first, after visiting all six dwellings, and finding a treasure, would be the victor.

I played the Black Knight. My son DJ played the White Knight. My girls, Ceilidh and Meg, played the Amazon and the Woodsgirl, respectively, and my wife played the Witch. Fortunately for us, we were playing the scavenger hunt scenario, where the monsters block you but do not attack, as in short order we ended up with multiple Dragons, Trolls, Spiders, and Goblins blocking our paths. The Woodsgirl and Witch went in one direction, towards the Ruins and the Guardhouse, while the Black Knight, White Knight and Amazon headed in the other direction, towards the Chapel.

The Witch and Woodsgirl spied a couple of Trolls on their way through some Ruins, but found a secret path and so gave the Trolls the slip, finally arriving at the Guardhouse. Meanwhile, the White Knight, Black Knight and Amazon followed the Cliffs towards the Chapel, running into a couple of angry Giants and a demonic Imp. After making our way past those monsters, the Amazon located the Vault of the Troll-King in the Deep Forest, and looted the Battle Bracelets and magical Living Sword. The White and Black Knights were most appreciative of the Amazon's searching efforts, grabbing the King's Vestments (the Imperial Tabard) and the Lucky Charm from the Troll-King's Vault. My Lucky Charm must have been working at that point, as the Troll-King never appeared to take back his treasure!

Because of the number of monsters blocking our paths, the Woodsgirl had nearly caught up to us by this time, and, after locating the Altar on the edge of the Cliff, she grabbed the glimmering ring and the magic wand. The Witch found the Statue at the base of the Cliff, but could not find any of the treasures hidden nearby. While the Witch continued her search for a treasure, the Woodsgirl, White Knight and Amazon made a mad dash back to the Inn, having obtained a treasure each and visited each of the 6 dwellings. Meg (the Woodsgirl) was the victor, returning to the Inn mere moments before DJ (the White Knight) and Ceilidh (the Amazon) crashed through the Inn door. As for me (the Black Knight), I was still at least a day away, having been blocked by the Dragons, despite my lucky charm, and my wife (playing the Witch) was still looking for her treasure as the other three characters ended the game.

The game came down to the wire, and the kids had a lot of fun. Meg was quite excited to win, which was an unexpected turn of events (she had gone off towards the wilderness at one point).