Wizard’s Academy: Putting an Unruly Spellbook in Its Place
Cast unknown spells and manage all sorts of threats with a group of amateur magic users in Wizard’s Academy.
In some bizarre way, I discovered that I hadn’t played one of my favorite solo games of all time since… 2019. Excuse me?! 2019?! It was high time I brought Wizard’s Academy back to my table. The familiar sights brought back all the memories. And the unknown spells! Disasters! Bumbling wizards… Everything was right there, ready for more fun!
Game Overview
Game Name: Wizard’s Academy
Publication Year: 2016
Designer: Gregory Carslaw
Artists: Sean Andrew Murray and Ludwin Schouten
Publisher: 3DTotal Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game (Cooperative)
The academy consists of different rooms, all arranged in a random pattern. A scenario provides the general rules and victory conditions. Yet the amateur wizards must explore entirely unknown spells, deal with unique threats, and protect the mana crystal in order to survive the ordeal!
First Play
December 26, 2017
Complexity
4
Latest Play
December 29, 2024
Expansions
0
Setup Time
20 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
22
Play Time
1 Hour & 45 Minutes
High Score
N/A
Game Area
44" x 30"
Low Score
N/A
Back to School
Such a beautiful sight! While the rooms themselves form the main area that wizards move around in, the spells always look so inviting… And are entirely unknown!
The best part is that these are all randomized during setup. Depending on the scenario, there might be some information, but discovering spells comes down to…
Casting! That’s right: These amateur wizards use trial by error to figure out what’s available to them.
Add in random disasters and all sorts of potential threats for an absolutely wild adventure set inside the academy!
Little Miss Susie
Many wizards are available, each with their own unique ability and story. It’s possible to play with anywhere from 1 to 7 wizards, yet a trio is what works best for me!
There aren’t necessarily wizards that I prefer over others, as they all have their own advantages. But Susie? She’s just awesome with her small stature and zero fears.
Wizards can be augmented with some magical items during play, but each costs precious glyphs.
As I mentioned before, this has long been one of my favorite solo games. I was so excited to play again!
Lined Up at the Crystal
The heart of the academy rests with the mana crystal. Any threat that reaches it reduces its power, and instant loss occurs when all the mana disappears. Dangerous!
All the same, my bumbling wizards assembled to protect the academy. Susie was filled with so much attitude!
Klicks was known for causing fires all over the place… That seemed useful. Bramblethorne was a pretty safe bet with his ability to cancel botched spells… But that was costly.
Still, they each specialized in different magical schools, so I was vaguely confident in their ability to do… Satisfactory.
The Evasive Grimoire
Different scenarios provide all sorts of parameters, and the difficulty level can be adjusted. And things don’t feel limited, particularly with special expert-level scenarios.
Although I tried out this scenario before, I decided to dive into the hard mode. Why not?! My skills had to be there from about 3 years ago. These don’t dissipate, people. Ha!
I immediately enjoyed the idea behind this one, where almost all of the spells would be botches. And the goal?
Pin down the spellbook and show it who’s boss! A bit of humor set the right tone, and I eagerly got started.
A Spot of Darkness
The first few disasters were safe enough, particularly without any threats in the area. But the academy wasn’t an entirely safe place… The workshop fell into darkness!
Threat interaction is a core concept that can turn a bad situation into something actually helpful. For instance, darkness could put a troll to sleep in the same room.
At the same time, a dark room was more difficult to navigate because… Roaming around in the dark is hard!
Still, I felt like this wasn’t the worst thing that could happen near the start. The trio just needed to cast spells…
Cursed Room Partying
Things slowly progressed and botched spells began to set the academy into disarray. Fire and floods? Both were there while Klicks looked the other way. Not his fault!
But then Bramblethorne’s disaster brought everyone together to brainstorm. His brilliant plan? Get a party started in the cursed room, because why not?!
“Bad things are likely to happen here.” You think? Ha ha! There was already a fire raging on the other side.
Everyone had to race out of there before burning to death. Thanks, Bramblethorne. Great party planning skills!
Adapting Right Away
Yet the work on the spellbook continued. Klicks and Susie were best skilled at collecting glyphs to share, which were then passed along to Bramblethorne for safety’s sake.
I closed my eyes as I turned over the latest spell. Oh, my! An actual spell, and not a botch! And the best sort.
Bramblethorne was still drawn to the cursed room and that awful fire. Yet with this sudden adaptation, he hung around in order to gain immunity from the flames.
In other words, fire couldn’t affect him, despite his wooden appearance. A very useful spell in a pinch!
When Dangers Turn Out to be Helpful
One of my favorite aspects of this game is how unpredictable threats are. On the surface, each one is dangerous and poses some sort of problem. Some merely slow things down, while others can kill wizards. Yet at the most unexpected moments, those threats can be amazing! Take Bramblethorne and the fire above as an example. That worked out!
Each play may or may not use a threat, too. I’ve had situations where the whole academy was on fire, and there wasn’t any water or ice to slow it down. Other times, imps rule the corridors and fill the rooms… To the point that I run out of miniatures! At other times, most rooms can be haunted, leading to all sorts of unpredictable movement.
So it’s never a sure thing to assume that a fire can be put out. Figuring out how to make threats work against each other is a major part of the fun. If it’s impossible to stop a spreading threat directly, what can I do to slow it down? Do the wizards even need to worry about that part of the academy? Can that demon just waltz in and eat all of these imps?!
And like Bramblethorne’s example, glyphs can be used in the right room to acquire a robe and help wizards become immune to a single threat at a time. It’s all a complex sort of puzzle that is, at its forefront, fun. Finding those solutions, particularly the out-of-the-box ideas, offers a novel experience time and time again.
Just a Little Trouble
Up to this point, all of the threats were either elemental or otherwise simple. Death was possible, but it was only the fire that could spread. And that was contained.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything the trio could do about a new disaster… Demon! Just when it looked like everything was under control, a demon appeared.
This being can move about and is entirely lethal. It also requires a lot of points of damage to defeat.
With all of the botches, it didn’t look like there were any helpful damaging spells to use against the demon. Uh-oh!
Escape the Academy
Susie took it upon herself to cast a few spells, dangerous as that might be. She had a massive store of glyphs just waiting to be used, so she followed her heart’s desire!
This sent her to the warded room, which was outside the academy. Usually, this is where the outer dimension exists… But we had problems with dimensional stability!
Had the disaster card actually worked, she would have doubled all of those extra glyphs. Not today, though.
It was a slightly precarious spot with a demon portal just waiting to be activated. But Susie had no fear!
A Fiery Enchanted Well
Elsewhere, the enchanted well started to look a little… Murky? It worked nicely enough to start with. But then the water erupted in molten red flames. Not a good sign!
Next, the fire wasn’t done: A fire portal appeared, threatening to make sure the heat stayed on in there.
And lastly, because the fire wasn’t enough, a demon portal wound its way through the bricks. Who emerged? Not the trusty bucket. No: It was another demon, wreathed in fire!
In short: The enchanted well was right out. No one went in there for a long time. It still might not be working…
Way Too Close
Klicks and Bramblethorne continued to make their way through the academy, often teleporting or otherwise moving against their wills. It was all they could do!
That spellbook was out of control. First the enchanted well, and then… Oh, hello. Both of the wizards walked into the holy room to see a demon up close and personal.
Death only happened if they ended their turns in this room, so off they went at maximum speed!
All of the random movement made progress a little slow, though, and the botched spells were aplenty.
A Narrow Victory
Success! As soon as the fourth spell in the highest tier was bound, the spellbook calmed itself down. Life in the academy could return to normal, thanks to the wizards!
I made it just as the disaster deck was going through its final rotation, so defeat wasn’t too far off. A troll made it to the mana crystal, doing a little damage. Ouch!
Yet it was an exciting success! There were so many little story moments that made this an absolute blast to play.
Some threats were helpful, and even a few of the botched spells turned out to work wonders during several rounds.
Inter-Dimensionality
True to his story, Klicks always drew the portal disaster card. This made everyone end up in random rooms fairly frequently. Inter-dimensional accidents, indeed!
There was also a moment when he stole Bramblethorne’s fire robe. How rude! However, this helped him out.
One turn was particularly exciting when he had to cast a whole bunch of botched spells at once. There was ice, water, fire, and even an imp involved!
But by the time his turn ended, Klicks’s room was entirely clear via the way the threats interacted. So awesome!
Mana Safekeeping
After that troll damaged the mana crystal, there was only one thing to do… Protect it at all costs! So I called in the popcorn stand portion of the popcorn tricycle.
Everyone was very pleased by this addition, even if it didn’t quite fit in with the academy’s aesthetic. Susie ate all the popcorn, and Klicks lit half of it on fire. Oops!
I ended up resetting to play with the same assortment, just to see if it would be too repetitive and boring.
No surprise: Knowing some of the spells and disasters didn’t diminish the fun at all. Love this game!
Session Overview
Play Number: 19 and 20
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game (Cooperative)
Play Details: Evasive Grimoire at the Hard Difficulty Level
Outcome: 2 Wins
Such an amazing experience! Susie’s use of the alone spell was quite useful, especially since the rest of the botched spells could be cast in any order. This reduced the threats within the academy itself, while her boosted ability allowed her to teleport back. There are still plenty of scenarios to go, and I’m looking forward to seeing what other disasters strike these young, amateur wizards!
%
20 Plays
Affordability
Price & Value
10
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
10
Originality
Design & Theme
10
Quality
Components & Rules
8
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
10
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
10
+ Pros (Positives)
- The unknown spells and constant threats help bring the theme to life and make the wizards feel like students.
- Randomized disasters and spells add lots of surprises to each play, and each set can be very different.
- Various scenarios provide numerous ways to play with adjustable difficulty levels for a customized challenge.
- All of the wizards offer different abilities and specialized magic schools, adding new options for casting spells.
- Collecting glyphs and testing out hidden spells make for a real sense of discovery and wonder, even with botches.
- Threats interact in different ways and can actually be controlled in a way that can cancel or weaken each other.
– Cons (Negatives)
- The production quality is rather underwhelming with different colored card backs and scuffed cardboard tokens.
- All of the threats interact in different ways, but the rulebooks don’t lay out these details in the best way.
- Some rooms can get very busy with lots of tokens and miniatures, so it can be tricky to see everything from afar.
- Setup and cleanup can take a very long time with all of the components and deck creation guidelines.
Victory Conditions
Complete the Scenario
- Overall Goal Progress 80%
Goals and Milestones
Complete Demon Binding at the hard difficulty level.
Complete Evasive Grimoire at the hard difficulty level.
Complete Golem Construct at the hard difficulty level.
Complete the Inspector Calls at the hard difficulty level.
Complete the Unstable Academy at the hard difficulty level.
Continue the Conversation
Have you heard of Wizard’s Academy? It’s fairly rare and hard to find, but it’s such a unique blend of mechanics and theme. What other solo games do you love that might not be so common? I still can’t believe it took me this long to play again, but it only proved what I remembered: This continues to be one of my favorite solo games of all time!
It’s a gem of a game. Set up is the worst part, then cross referencing all the interactions during play, but once internalised the puzzle in this game is second to none for emergent and innovative solutions. Well done on your victory!
Thank you! There are some nice unofficial threat interaction charts out there: I need to use one the next time I play. Definitely helps with it! I also switched over to some component organizers that also act as storage in the box. Cutting down on the setup is crucial: I’m someone who loves aligning pieces, but I still want to get into playing the game relatively quickly. Despite its flaws, I absolutely love this game!
It looks like it gets faster after you play more. I have only managed the intro game twice since getting this delivered in the Kickstarter. Both times it took two hours from opening to closing the box, and the intro scenario has only half the spells and disasters. There’s just so much going on that handling it all solo was pretty tricky.
It does speed up over time! My first few plays were around 2-3 hours each, too. It depends on your comfort level, but a smaller number of characters can work well, too. I prefer a total of 3 characters, but have played with just 2 and found that worked! Having some sort of organization system and clear chart of the threat interactions are some other ways to cut down on the play time.
Things get more interesting beyond the introductory scenario, too. I hope you have a chance to play someday, and enjoy all the chaos that ensues! Good luck!
I thoroughly enjoyed this writeup.!
Thanks so much, Sara! It was awesome putting it together and writing about one of my favorite solo games. Always something interesting going on with this academy!
So does WA make your Top 20 for this year now it’s been played again? Incidentally I blame you and Jason for “making” me acquire a copy of this from your playthroughs and his review. It is a cracking game – only 1 play in so far for a horrific defeat of the hilarious kind. Looking forward to more craziness on my table soon.
It’s always earned a spot in my list of top solo games: Doesn’t look like it will be dropping out anytime soon! Actually, it’s probably hitting one of its highest rankings for me. Just such a fun and awesome game!
The Breaker of Wallets strikes again, with an accomplice! Even the losses are a lot of fun to deal with here. Always so many memorable turns. I can usually trace back where things went wrong, and I jokingly blame the whole situation on a single wizard. It’s usually Klicks and his penchant for starting fires at all the wrong times. Or when someone isn’t careful and casts the worst botched spell… Hope you have a great time the next time you play!
My session was botch after botch after botch. In the end I just starting chanting “Botchamania!” to myself before drawing and just laughing myself silly when it happened again and again.
That sounds like the perfect name for any scenario when things go poorly! I love the laughs, too. Although winning is great, this game does such a great job of making the losses memorable and comedic. Hopefully, the botches steer clear of you next time!