Welcome to the magic academy

 In this co-op, you play as students of a wizarding academy who have just started learning magic. Sometimes it works as expected, sometimes it causes unforeseen consequences. Each student has his own unique ability. Use your magical knowledge (or lack thereof) wisely to successfully protect the academy from demons, trolls, demons, fires, and floods.

COMPONENTS

 There is a lot of everything in the box, no wonder it weighs more than 2 kg. Inside are two playing fields, two rulebooks, 41 miniatures, 14 thick double-sided room tiles, 143 cards, 7 character cards, and 246 tokens.

 There is also a plastic insert with inserts for cards and room tiles. Miniatures and other cardboard lie in one large recess. Considering the number of tokens, they must be distributed in bags to speed up the preparation for the game. Fortunately, the kit comes with 15 pieces.

 The miniatures are well done and add atmosphere to the game. Demons, it's true, are very small compared to the figures of players, trolls, demons and guards, but that's how it was intended, I guess.

RULES

 What is unusual is that there are two rulebooks here: the main one plus the grimoire. Mainly described are preparation for the game, room properties, cards and character cards. It also briefly mentions glyphs (required for spellcasting), threats, and mana, all of which you'll see in the first game. But the most important thing is that with the help of this book you will play an introductory game, which has fewer rules, but it helps a lot to get used to the gameplay. And finally, here are the differences in the rules between the introductory party and the traditional parties.

 Grimoire describes creatures, threats, properties of cards and room tiles in detail. There are also described scenarios (10 of them in total), which are divided into ordinary and expert levels.

 To be honest, I'm not entirely sure why the rules were split in two. Did it go well? Well... mediocre. Sometimes it's easier to find the information you need in one book than digging through two. All this could be contained in one book.

 In addition, although the rules are laid out in clear language, their structure leaves much to be desired. For example, the description of the layout of the opening game says to place guards in two rooms, but only three pages later you find out which of the minions are the guards.

 It is also worth noting that the author of the game released an era that explains some not entirely clear points. You can find her on BGG.

GAME PROCESS

 Since each scenario has its own special conditions, we will outline the main mechanics.

 During placement, you shuffle the room tiles and randomly place them on the field - except for the "Another Dimension" room, which is placed separately and can only be accessed with a teleportation spell. Before the start, it will be possible to change the location of up to 3 rooms for convenience.

 The room tiles have different doorways that can be connected to the opening of the next room by placing a passage token between them if they match. So it becomes immediately visible which rooms you can get to. Each room has its own name and the available special action that is in that room.

 There is a special Mana Crystal room where glass tokens are placed at the beginning of the game. The amount of mana is actually equal to your team's HP pool. If you run out of mana, you lose.

 On the second playing field, you will replenish your spell book. Each spell card has its own level (from 1 to 4). Spells are placed on the field according to their levels. In each scenario, each level will have several mandatory spells (in particular, both normal and failed spells), while others can be chosen by yourself.

 After that, it will be necessary to prepare decks of cataclysms and growing threats. Again, depending on the scenario, you'll need to shuffle certain cards from each tier and choose others yourself.

 And finally, it's the turn of the location deck. It is common to all scenarios.

 Each player chooses one of the beginner wizards. On any large character card, there is a description of his special ability and the symbol of the magic school in which he specializes. It plays a role when you reveal spell cards: if there is a corresponding symbol, the spell becomes stronger.

 Character cards also have space for glyphs, wands, staves, and robes, which can be obtained by activating room properties.

 Players take turns. At the beginning of the turn, the cataclysm card drawn from the deck is played first. These cards usually cause threats in certain rooms to activate. At the start of the game, there are no threats on the field, so there is no effect from cataclysms. But more and more problems will appear during the game.

 After that, you can spend three action points: to move from one room to the next, to activate the quality of the room or to select the glyph lying there, or to cast a spell (no more than once per turn).

 To cast a spell, the wizard must have at least two glyphs - either his own or those shared by another player. When you cast a spell, you turn over the spell cards that correspond to the glyphs used on the field where the spell cards are laid out face up. The effect of the spell is triggered immediately, after which the card is turned face up again. The effects can be both positive and negative (for "failed" spells). It is advisable to remember the name of the spell, because in this case, if you have the appropriate glyphs, you can "bind" it to the library (if you remember its name), after which it turns face up and is now always available. Binding spells is very useful because some cataclysms will require you to re-shuffle all unbound spells of a certain level.

 Initially, higher level spells are usually not available. More often than not, you'll have to deal with mounting problems for quite some time before you get access to high-level glyphs.

 As new cataclysm cards are activated, the academy will be filled with threats: monsters (demons, trolls, demons) and natural disasters (flood, fire, ice). Where they will be located will be determined by a card drawn from the location deck. Some cataclysms will force the threats on the field to activate; in this case, the location card will determine in which direction they will move.

 After the initial cataclysm deck is exhausted, you add the top two cards from the rising threat deck to it and reshuffle. This will give you new problems; the first increasing threat cards are not particularly dangerous, but later, as their total number increases, they become very harmful. If the stack of growing threats has run out, then you have lost.

REPLAYABILITY

 Wizard Academy's regalness is amazing. Yes, there are only ten scenarios, but there are a lot of variables in each of them. First, easy and difficult modes. Secondly, random layout of rooms. Thirdly, the ability to choose a portion of spell cards and cataclysms / increasing threats (or if you want to mix random ones) in each scenario.

 In addition, different monsters and natural disasters will appear in different parties, and they will also move around the field differently. In general, something new will be waiting for you every time.

 It is also worth noting that Wizard Academy can be played solo, both with one character and with several. The second option is probably better.

 Given the complexity of the game, the "12+" age rating given to it seems quite logical, although with the help of adults, younger children can also play.

PROS AND CONS

• +Glad that the game is truly cooperative. Everyone must work as a cohesive team, otherwise the chances of success plummet.
• -The game is very demanding on time. Each scenario has its own rules, the layout is by no means simple and not fast - together with cleaning, the party can take up to half an hour. The games themselves usually take 90 to 180 minutes.
• -There is a significant element of randomness: the speed of finding the necessary progress according to the script of spells depends on it. In the bad games, we were practically stomping around because we couldn't find the spells we needed. They only narrowed the circle of searches, as the deck was shuffled anew. Sometimes you come across the right card right away, sometimes you search in the sweat of your brow.
• +/-It is very difficult to win. This is not a problem for us, but others may think otherwise. In our parties, the win rate is around 20%. Moreover, due to the timer built into the game in the form of a deck of increasing threats, you will sometimes realize in advance how small the chances of success are, and it is not a fact that you will have a desire to continue the almost doomed game.
• -The game would certainly not be hindered by a reference sheet on glyphs and their types. When the script tells you to place types 1-7 in certain rooms, you have to consult the rulebook every time. It is a pity that the corresponding numbers of the glyphs and symbols are not specified in the description of the script. This would make it easier to prepare for the game, which is already long.