Hold one hand on your head. Yes, you physically have to keep one of your hands on your head, while rolling and moving with your other. It can really get tiresome if you don’t get rid of the curse, and is a lot worse than just keeping your other hand idle and resting. Example: Frank has rolled his dice and uses the two adventurer icons to enter the next chamber. 2. Discover a chamber A golden mask – each such symbol counteracts two cursed masks, either your own or those of another explorer in the same room.

What would not be enough: Mice and Mystics would be out of a question, because there’s too many rules to teach, for zero action and not enough strategy. You get 19 well-sized and chunky cardboard chamber tiles for the basic game, plus one narrower gem depot tile. On top of that, there are 13 curse and treasure chamber tiles for the built-in expansions. These are accompanied by 14 cardboard curse cards and 13 treasure tiles. Now that those rules are out of the way you’re probably asking ‘how do I play?’ It’s fairly simple; you roll dice. The game comes with some custom dice and each face represents an action you are able to perform or store.

Example: Two of this chamber's gems have been activated, so players cannot activate any more gems here. A new chamber from the draw pile must be placed next to an entrance on a face-up tile. Die icons with a red frame We have people in our gaming group that don’t enjoy that aspect of it, but I find the immersive feelings integral to the experience. That’s the challenge: you don’t just have to escape, but you have to escape NOW. In addition, there are four special gem chambers. These allow you to activate 1, 2 or 3 gems – although for 2 or 3 you’ll need to roll 7 and 10 keys or torches respectively. If other players are in the same chamber as you, you can all contribute dice towards that total. So what are the mask symbols for…? Example: Frank has managed to escape and gives one of his dice to Ani (red), who can use it immediately.

The 10 minute timeframe immediately brings to mind Space Alert, another timed coop. Escape: The Curse of the Temple is a much lighter, more casual game than Space Alert. You can have the game setup, rules explained, and game started in under 10 minutes (often Space Alert requires that just to get the board arranged). As one would expect, this ease of learning/play means Escape: The Curse of the Temple doesn’t grab you quite the same way. I don’t feel nearly as much tension, and there isn’t as great of a need to communicate. This doesn’t mean Escape: The Curse of the Temple is a bad game or should be avoided, it’s just lighter, and thus more accessible. Adventurers who are in the same chamber may help one another. For example, if a player rolls a golden mask and doesn't use it for himself, one other player may use it to break the spell on up to two of his accursed dice.

The Temple Chambers

You may enter certain chambers only by rolling keys or torches; you will also need these icons to activate the magic gems. Escape: If you make it to the exit chamber, you must roll as many keys as there are gems left in the depot plus one — by yourself. So if there are two gems left in the depot, you must roll three keys to escape. If you escape successfully, you may give one of your dice to another player still in the temple and they can start using it immediately. Many good games contain a strong mechanic paired with a good story. The goal of the game is to let you experience the story with the mechanic. And if any game is dedicated to replicating the experience of the story, that game is Escape!. For all the hesitating you’re going to experience the next time you’re figuring out which game you want to buy, remember my words: