There's not a lot to say about Colour Magic (Math Magic Sdn Bhd, 2000 - Jimmy Yeoh and Paul Godding), so this review will be fairly short. In fact, the game is almost non-existent, as Colour Magic is more of a puzzle than a game. It's a puzzle/game that I'm happy to own, and it is very interesting that the game can appeal to a four year old as well as an adult and be equally challenging to both.
The game comes in a small flat box and is composed of a small square board, made up of a forty-nine space grid. Each square has a colored circle on it (pink, blue, purple, green, yellow, orange, or brown). A pile of soft foam pieces is included in the game in two shapes - a straight piece that is the length of three of the squares, and another three square piece that is in the shape of an "L".
One player takes the angle pieces, the other the straight pieces, and one player chooses a color. Players then take turns placing one of their pieces on the board, without covering the color that was chosen. Players may not lay tiles on top of other tiles and may not lay them so that they go off the board. The first player who cannot place a tile loses.
Sound easy? Well, the single player game/puzzle is very similar. A player simply takes all the pieces and attempts to cover up all of the squares except those of one of the seven colors. Some of the colors, such as blue, are easier to find a solution for; but most of them are quite difficult (at least for me).
In the two player game, the player who goes first has a rather large advantage, and thus a four match game is recommended, with each player taking a turn at going first, and a turn with both types of pieces. Games are very quick; and while tactics are involved, I would never recommend this game on the merits of the two-player version, it's simply too light - like eating a piece of candy when you're starving.
The single player version is better, and I keep it with my other puzzles, such as Rubik's Cube, etc. It's an interesting one, because even little children can figure out that you simply cover up all the squares except one color. In fact, younger folk often do better, and thus this makes Colour Magic an excellent educational classroom resource.
I enjoy trying the puzzle, which is rather fiendish, because it's a lot harder than it looks, and am glad to own Colour Magic because of this. But I would only recommend it to either a) someone attempting to add another puzzle to their collection, or b) someone wanting to improve the spatial skills of their students.
Tom Vasel
"Real men play board games"
www.tomvasel.com
