Domino Maze Review

Reviewed by Deborah Banasko

We are very much a family who love games, especially since Coronavirus hit, so Domino Maze by Thinkfun was gratefully received. My children are aged 9, 6 and 2, so with a target age of 8 it’s perfect for my older child.
I have to say I was quite intrigued by the idea of a one-player game as this kind of entertainment is usually a social affair in our house. With Domino Maze being a logic puzzle I was quite relieved to be able to work it out before showing the kids so as not to embarrass myself. However the tagline told me to “ignite your mind” so I intended to!
The packaging design is very much aimed at older children who like a mental challenge; no fancy cartoon drawings or images of over-excited children. I quite like the fact that it has a target audience and sticks to it, and it will appeal to adults this way too. That said, I’m not sure that it’s a game that my 9 year old would be drawn to were she to see it in a toy-store. It’s probably one that I would choose for her and convince her to try, but don’t judge the game by it’s packaging.
In the box you have a game board, 60 puzzle cards, dominos and various other pieces such as pivots, blockers and targets. Everything is laid out in the box in such a way that it can easily be packed away again.
The idea of the puzzle is to set up the dominos using one of the 60 scenarios included with the game; the aim being for all of the dominos to get knocked down by hitting the green starter domino, setting off a chain reaction as other dominos fall knocking down a series of red targets along the way.
The puzzle cards are set at different levels (beginner, intermediate and so on) and they detail the puzzle task on the front with the answer on the back. There is a handy symbol guide which acts as a key, and I really needed this at the start so that I knew which symbol related to which game piece.
For example a card may depict where set pieces such as the start domino should be placed on the board along with a red target, and you have to decide where a stated number of dominos and other game pieces (known as game tokens) should be placed in order for the chain reaction to work, all of the dominos to fall, and the target(s) to be hit. It does take a bit of “engaging brain”, and believe me you do not always get it right first time! There’s nothing more frustrating that the system not working!
You really should start at the beginners level even though they are quite basic for adults, just to practice getting your head around the many rules. I did try to jump to a higher level for review purposes, but I learned the hard way that this isn’t the best approach.
As the difficulty levels progress you will need to build a staircase and a platform onto the game, so it becomes quite complex and really challenging no matter how smart you think you are. I have to be honest, I’m not quite at that stage yet! There is a handy tips section, but it is a case of completing a few puzzles before you really get the hang of it.
You also have to ensure that each domino is facing the correct way using the arrow notches on the bottom as they will only fall one way, unlike normal dominos.
There are a lot of rules to this game and it took me a few attempts before I felt happy to explain this to my daughter. The instruction booklet is small and easy to follow, it’s just there is so much to it that it takes practice and a bit of referring back to real grasp the rules.
It isn’t a quick puzzle, as it can be fiddly to set up your circuit and this is time consuming. It certainly isn’t one to play when you’re tired or stressed as my little girl realised; patience and a calm steady hand are required (cue two year old comes stampeding over). She was pretty ecstatic once she got the hang of it and managed to complete a few of the puzzles.
I’m not sure how often she will come back to it, only time will tell, but I can see a bit of quiet time being quite nice when her brothers are being noisy. From a parent perspective, it’s nice to see her using her brain out of school too with a bit of critical thinking.

This game has longevity, with the difficulty building as you progress from challenge 1 to 60. This does mean that it has an end for some people who may consider it to be “beaten” by card 60, however that is a lot of game play and there’s no reason why you can’t try again and possibly time yourself (just a thought).
I like that your only opponent is “you”, as there’s no falling out that way! That said, by 6 year old liked to try and help his sister and it was lovely to see them work together and have a collective success, even if he didn’t do a great deal to help. However my 6 year old also likes to cheat, so the solution being on the back of the card proved too tempting so we had to ban him from the second game. This is definitely one for older children, and won’t be every child’s idea of fun.

I do think it would make a great gift for Christmas as it keeps children (and adults!) occupied on their own. If I’m honest it probably wouldn’t be a game that I would have considered buying for my children before, as it’s not got the flashy packaging and sing-song TV adverts. It may not be eye catching on the shelf or even on first opening the box, but it really is a fantastic game and a little bit different from the norm. It’s a great gift especially for those children who are coming away from toys and at that funny age where you have no idea what to buy them but still want them to have some fun. Dare I suggest that it may draw them away from the TV or computer game as well!
It also has appeal to that relative who likes to keep his brain active and have some quiet time. It’s a pretty versatile gift for the right person, but it does help if you like logic puzzles and dominos!

Rating: 4.5/5

RRP: £29.99

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