A rather extraordinary new fantasy board game is soon to hit shelves, and we’re about to reveal it to you on video, right here, in all its glory! This year, tabletop titan Ravensburger marks the 40th birthday of its most popular series, Labyrinth. And, as part of the first Wargamer Direct tabletop showcase, we’re proud to be joining the party with an incredible, in-depth video journey through Labyrinth Chronicles!
Coming to stores this Fall after a blockbusting $2 million crowdfunding campaign, Labyrinth Chronicles is a brand new, bigger, and bolder iteration of the beloved shifting maze family board game, updated for 2026 with gorgeous 3D components and a full co-op campaign. We’ll talk more about its delights in a moment – but for now: check your cape is on straight, light your torches, and join us on a journey deep inside the labyrinth:
While making this fantastical show, we sat down with Thomas Zumbühl – Head of Brands, Games at Ravensburger – and picked his brains about everything that makes this $200 big-box game special. We wanted to know what makes Labyrinth Chronicles both a surprising twist on the rock-solid, kid friendly original, and a modern creation that can turn the heads of Wargamer’s hobby gamer readers.
Which, as it turns out, is quite a bit.
A snazzy 3D glow-up
First off, there’s a lot more to this game than the 1986 original – not only figuratively, but literally more. Flat cardboard tiles have been replaced with detailed 3D plastic ones that rise off the table, just like the forbidding stone walls that tower over happy kids in the game’s classic commercial. The arcane portals you’ll go through, too, are tall, chunky and vivid enough that it’s easy to imagine really walking through them, with an otherworldly ‘bloomp’ sound.
Naturally, that extra level of tactile play and atmosphere is going to be a delight for youngsters, escalating the childlike, magical vibe that Labyrinth has always had. But, to our minds, it’s also a super smart, worthwhile upgrade to the fundamental, distinctive experience that set Labyrinth apart from earlier games: that “the board is changing always”, as Thomas Zumbühl neatly puts it.
Not every traditional, cardboard board game benefits from making the leap into three dimensions – it’s not a universal good. But here, it makes perfect sense, because so much of the fun comes from feeling like you’re inside the labyrinth; from seeing and feeling the pathways transform as you push in each new tile. That core ‘loop’ can’t help but get better when the pathways are so much more lifelike.
Besides that, the cards (representing the magical treasures you’ll have to collect) have been recreated with brand new art that’s bursting with color – and we haven’t even talked about the miniatures yet!
Miniatures are another thing that doesn’t always improve a board game, but absolutely does here – because who wants to explore daunting 3D corridors as a generic pawn or meeple? Not us. The doughty adventurers, gribbly goblins, and majestic dragon minis in this box are satisfyingly detailed, and sculpted in a lively, epic, but not-too-dark fantasy style that nicely straddles the game’s twin audiences: family game nights, and groups of grown-up hobbyists. We’re itching to paint them, honestly.
“Not a legacy game, but a campaign game”
Just like every other form of art, board games have changed a lot since 1986, and among those many evolutionary shifts has been a move towards cooperative play, and linking games together in a ‘campaign’, with storytelling to support it.
Labyrinth Chronicles has both – but it doesn’t follow the once modish path of the ‘legacy’ board game, where rules and gameplay change wildly over the course of multiple games, using disposable, one-use components and sealed envelopes containing one-and-done story reveals.
Instead, its campaign is fully replayable, with 12 separate boxes of extra content to unlock as you play, that don’t get damaged or destroyed when you use them. “After you find your treasures in the normal Labyrinth, your game is done,” Thomas explains to us. “Here, you get to the next level, get new tasks, new missions to fulfill, so the game itself is much more immersive – you dive much more into the game.”
We wouldn’t dream of giving any spoilers (even if we had snuck a peek, which as honest gamers we certainly haven’t) – but Thomas does give us one tantalizing clue: “you have magnets in this game. I’m not saying what you need these magnets for – but there’s much more than you’d expect in, kind of, hobby gameplay”. No kidding – we’re genuinely intrigued to find those magnets now…
After 40 years, Labyrinth is still choosing new paths
Across the board, what strikes us most about Labyrinth Chronicles – apart from its unarguable good looks and physical presence – is that it represents such a surprising new direction for a game that’s otherwise stuck close to its winning formula for four decades. Invented by psychology professor, human perception specialist, and labyrinth enthusiast Max Kobbert, the classic Labyrinth has remained in print non stop for 40 years, selling over 30 million copies in 70+ countries.
This isn’t the first time Ravensburger’s branched out into alternate versions, of course. Master Labyrinth, a more tactically challenging variant, arrived in 1991; a Junior Labyrinth for younger kids came out in 1995; and the series has met the changing times with editions themed around other popular IPs, with recent additions Spongebob Squarepants, Disney Stitch, and K-Pop Demon Hunters being added to the Labyrinth line-up this year.
But now, in its 40th year, Ravensburger’s expanding the game further than ever before. In addition to Labyrinth Chronicles‘ expanded, coop gameplay and lavish 3D components, we’re also getting a Carcassonne Labyrinth in 2026. The game merges Kobbert’s iconic shifting pathways with Klaus-Jürgen Wrede’s similarly seminal, tile laying classic to create something totally new.
Why do all this now? Thomas tells it plain: to celebrate the game’s enduring legacy. “Generations of children or families grew up with this game,” he tells us. Now, “the next generation of children [are becoming] parents – and they also play Labyrinth, because they know the rules; they played it as a child.”
For those many millions of board gamers who’ve grown up playing Max Kobbert’s profoundly influential original, he says, Labyrinth Chronicles is a “really big birthday cake”. All we can say is: we’re looking forward to cutting a slice and tucking in.
For now, that’s it for our guided tour through the labyrinth’s new depths – but if it’s made you want to venture inside, good news! Thanks to our partners at Ravensburger, two lucky Wargamer Direct viewers in the USA will win their very own copy of the game! Just enter our Labyrinth Chronicles giveaway for your chance to win.
Wargamer – Win Ravensburger’s new board game “Labyrinth Chronicles”!
And, in the meantime, why not head over to the free Wargamer Discord community to chat with over 4,600 fellow nerds about all the delights we showed off in the very first Wargamer Direct?
Source: Wargamer
