Customizable Magnetic Maze game

myminifactory

This is a maze game in which one player creates a maze and a second player trys to solve it in the quickest amount of time or turns.   As a youngster I played a game called THE PUZZLING PYRAMID. I loved playing that game. You can read about it at https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/53630/puzzling-pyramid . This is my attempt at creating a game that is somewhat similar to it and hopefully just as fun to play.  AGE: The game is probably best for ages 6 and up.   NUMBER OF PLAYERS: Can be played with 2 or more players.   OBJECT: Find the secret path from the entrance slot at the bottom of the game board to the exit slot at the top of the game board. PLAY: The game consists of a game board, a steel ball, a magnetic wand, and a quantity of walls.   To start the game the first player turns the playing board upside down. They then place walls between the posts on the back of the board so as to leave a winding path from the entrance at the bottom to the exit at the top. BE SURE THERE IS AT LEAST ONE UNINTERRUPTED PATH FROM THE ENTRANCE TO THE EXIT. After the player has completed a path, the board is placed back on the base. The second player starts the steel ball at the entrance slot, sliding the tip of the wand along the top of the board. The ball follows the wand beneath the surface of the board. The player traces a path on the board with the wand until the ball hits a wall and rolls back to the ball return tray, or until the ball emerges from the exit slot at the top of the board, thus solving the maze.   SCORING: There are several options for scoring. Each option involves players taking turns creating and solving mazes. Suggested scoring options are: Each player keeps track of the number of attempts needed to traverse the entire maze and uses that as their score. The player with the fewest number of attempts wins. Each player keeps track of the time it takes to traverse the entire maze. The player that solves the maze in the shortest amount of time wins. In cases where each player has a game box and wand, each player creates a maze to be solved by another player. The players then start play simultaneously. The winner is the player who solves their maze first.   VARIATIONS: A form of handicap could be to limit the number of walls a player is allowed to use. For new or younger players, simpler mazes should be used. In these cases, simple paths that traverse only toward the top should be made. For example, if rows are numbered from bottom to top as 1, 2, 3, … then the path would never be allowed to go from row 2 back to row 1 or similar. POSSIBLE FUTURE UPGRADES: The current version of the game is pretty rough and could use some refinement. If I ever feel like it, I may consider one or more of the following: Round the corners and edges on the game board and base to make a more professional looking/feeling game. This may require porting the design to OnShape or some other CAD tool. Add storage for the walls, ball, and wand. Add electronics to keep track of and display the number of tries and/or the amount of time to solve the maze.