Magician's Night

There are a whole bunch of games in the "action/dexterity" class. These are games where players must physically manipulate something, a disc, a block, dice, etc., with the player's dexterity being the key to success. Mainstream game publishers are big on dexterity games because they have very simple rules and almost anyone can play them. The most famous of this class is probably Jenga, but Jenga is merely the tip of a huge iceberg.

As a general rule, I'm not a big fan of dexterity games. They can be fun but they're not particularly meaty game experiences. They're more like palate cleansers between heavier games. For the record, dexterity games I do enjoy include Crokinole, Bausack, Dancing Eggs, and Piratenbillard. Another dexterity game I enjoy that is particularly unique is Nacht der Magier or Magician's Night.

Nacht is played on a round board laid with two sizes of wooden discs, wooden trees, player cauldrons and a large bonfire in the center. Under the bonfire is a ring into which players are trying to push one of their three cauldrons. On her turn, a player uses her Wizard piece to push the rest of the pieces, hoping to push her cauldron into the center circle. Knocking anything off the board ends her turn.

Now this isn't particularly interesting or unique. What makes Nacht different is that the entire game is played IN THE DARK.

You see, the Wizards, the cauldrons, the bonfire and the center ring all glow in the dark. You can't see any of the trees or discs so when you start pushing, you don't know when you might hear the "Clack!" that ends your turn as something falls off the board. The tension is really sweet. A game takes about ten minutes, tops.

I first played the game earlier this year and only obtained my own copy about a month ago. Carol, Ben and I played a couple of games last night and had a fun time. As an added bonus, the game is beautiful when set up, so you can just leave it out until you play.

All images from Boardgamegeek. Here and here and here.