Components: Tilt-able wooden base with holes and rails; a ball, usually metal.
Skills required / taught: Fine motor skills
Object: By tilting the base of the game the player guides the ball from start to finish avoiding holes in the base.


About the Game
Labyrinth is a game of physical skill consisting of a box with a maze on top with holes, and a steel marble. The object of the game is to try and tilt the playfield to guide the marble to the end of the maze, without letting it fall into any of the holes.


How it Works
Using two knobs as controls, a single player or two people working together tilt the base to cause the marble to roll along a marked path from start to finish. Though a simple game design this structure could be used for a multitude of situations: Perhaps the steel marble is a gladiator, avoiding pitfalls and traps as he tracks his quarry through a maze; maybe it is a spaceship, attempting to reach it’s destination without being sucked into a black hole; or it could also be a lab mouse, sniffing its way around traps to reach a tasty chunk of cheese.


Thought Bubble
Tutorial - a splash screen or a "controls" button is a good way to explain your interface to the user

Maze – In a constructed wooden box the maze is a fixed maze, in that it can not change, if there are mazes in your game you can make them static so they are always the same, or perhaps you can devise a way so that dynamic mazes are created for each game… perhaps you can even include the ability to allow the player to design their own mazes and play those.

Marked Path – The wooden labyrinth game usually features a marked path so that the player knows how to proceed, making the game less about decision making and more manual ability. However an intelligent player can sometimes devise shortcuts, which, while risky, allows the player to finish quicker than they normally would.