The GateI got a chance to meet the designer of The Gate: A Game of Myth and Magic at Toy Fair. Not only that, but he’s a fellow Connecticut resident. After talking with him a bit, I was eager to give the game a shot. At first glance it seemed to share a lot with Talisman, but that’s not wholly the case.

The object of the game is simple: get to the center of the board. To do so you need to traverse the 3 rings, gaining power by overcoming encounters, special spaces on the board, and overcoming monsters to move on to the next ring. During the game you’ll have Gate Cards and Links (the game’s currency) to help you out by providing special powers, weapons, shields, and the ability to survive multiple rounds with the major monsters on the board. There’s also Gnome cards to buy, a pit to fight in to earn extra links, and a bunch of other special things to spice things up.

In the box you’ll get a bunch of giant laminate reference sheets and rules for the basic game and the advanced game. The advanced game adds in more cards, dice, and fleshes every mechanic of the game out in a bit more depth. The basic game and the advanced game were both simple enough to learn for my 7 year old to play, both offered a good time.

The game plays much quicker than Talisman, with less tedium. Once you’re ready to move to the next ring, you can play your key to instantly move to the nearest monster to fight and attempt to move on. You don’t have to wait to land on one. I’d also like to note that each of the characters are relatively the same, but the catch comes that their cards get mixed into the Gate Card deck, and only can be used by their respective character. Trading comes into play here, though you may not always want to help out your fellow adventurers, because they can always use their new advantage to best you in battle.

Overall I had a much better time with the game than I expected at first glance. While it may not be everyone’s cup of tea, there’s a  lot in this box to please both the casual gamer and the gamer’s gamer. If you’re a fan of fantasy board games, I’d definitely give this a shot.

The Gate: A Game of Myth and Magic is available from Oofdah’s website for $54.95.

A copy of The Gate was provided free for review by Oofdah Games