''Spellmaker'' is a board game for two to four players published by Gametime Games, a subsidiary of

Heritage Models Heritage Models was an American game company that produced role-playing games and game supplements. History Wargame company Battleline Publications merged into Heritage USA to speed its growth. Heritage sold off the Battleline operation to Avalon ...

, in 1978.

Gameplay

''Spellmaker'' is a fantasy game where wizards are competing against each other to rescue a princess from captivity by a dragon. The first wizard to successfully lead the princess to his castle is the winner. The wizard stays in his tower for the entire game and from afar, uses a variety of creatures (giants, princes, dwarves, and frogs) to escort the princess. Combat is resolved with a simple "larger creature wins", but movement takes place before combat, so a weaker creature can move away from a more powerful creature before combat takes place. Of more importance to victory is the use of magic to create new creatures and move them (and the princess) towards a particular wizard's castle.

Reception

In the March–April 1979 edition of '' The Space Gamer'' (Issue No. 22) Norman S. Howe found the game had problems: "''Spellmaker'' is a very exciting game, but much too well-balanced. Whenever one player starts to win the others gang up on him and obliterate his pieces." In the April–May 1979 edition of ''

White Dwarf A white dwarf is a stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to the Sun's, while its volume is comparable to the Earth's. A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes fro ...

'' (Issue 12), Don Turnbull gave the game a below average score of 6 out of 10. Turnbull liked the high quality of the game components, but he also had issues with the four-player game, finding that it was impossible for anyone to win. He concluded, "I am in a quandary about a recommendation. Played 'straight', I cannot honestly recommend the game, but it has many entertaining qualities... A pity. Here is an excellent idea, but something went wrong in the works." In the October 1979 edition of ''

Dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

'' (Issue 30), Bruce Boegman especially liked the game when played by only two players, finding that when three or four players played, there was no room on the board to properly maneuver. "This is my only criticism of an excellent game, which provides fine entertainment and can be played in the time that it takes a DM to persuade some obnoxious player that his character really did die."

Reviews

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Games A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (such ...

'' #14

References

{{Reflist Board games introduced in 1978 Heritage Models games