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Magical Athlete Review: Is this game as cool as it sounds? | BoardGames.World

Family Kids Party Strategy Two player

Magical Athlete

Name: Magical Athlete
Brand: Magical Athlete
Rating: 5 (1300 reviews)

Just roll and let chaos ensue.

5.0

(0 reviews)

Top Rated

At a glance

Players: 2-6
Play Time: 30 min
Ages: 6+

✓ What We Love

•Easy to learn
•The character combinations always keep it interesting
•It is fast
•Great way to warm up before a "serious" game
•It really is for all ages

✗ Could Be Better

•Some characters are more difficult to learn
•You can get frustrated if you are ultra competitive
•It can be too random

About Magical Athlete

This is a crazy game where each player will have one die each and create chaos by rolling it. You race 4 times, each time with a different racer, but don’t get fooled by its simplicity. Every race will be crazy and chaotic.

You will think you are winning and all of a sudden, a series of unfortunate events will leave you pointless but laughing, kind of like life itself? Dare to try it?

Richard Garfield took Takashi Ishida’s old racer game and tuned it until the dice barely matter and the characters run or ruin the show (it depends if you’re winning, like always). This is a case where the Americans actually improved something the Japanese made, go figure!

It is so good that The American Tabletop Awards handed it Early Gamers game of the year for 2025. People are not wrong to love it — it also happens to be one of those rare family board games that doesn’t talk down to anyone at the table.

It is always difficult to find it just because it gets sold out so quickly, is it the Taylor Swift tickets of board games? Not quite, but she would make a great racer, that’s a fact.

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📖 Rulebook

How to play Magical Athlete

Lay out the racetrack with the Mild Mile side face up (the clean side). That side is used for races 1 and 3; you flip to the Wild Wilds side for races 2 and 4.
Stack the gold trophy (1st place) and silver medals (2nd place) point chips in order, largest values on the bottom. Later races pay out more because the bigger chips surface as the smaller ones get taken. Set the bronze 3-point and 1-point chips beside them (don't underestimate them, they will be your best friends).
Shuffle the racer cards and drop the matching racer tokens in the bag.
Give each player one die.
Draft teams. Flip twice as many racer cards as there are players (3 players = 6 cards, 4 = 8, 5 = 10, 6 = 12, and if you want to play with another person, each player picks 2, for a total of 8). Roll off; highest drafts first. Snake draft once, then snake draft a second time, so everyone ends with a team of 4 racers, one for each race.

On Your Turn

A turn is just your main move plus whatever it sets off, in this order:

Take your main move. Roll your die and move that many spaces. This specific roll-and-move is your "main move," and a large number of powers trigger only off it, not off warps or other movement. Remember this concept, it will save you a lot of arguing.
Resolve powers. When effects fire at the same time, resolve them in order: racetrack spaces first, then you as the current player, then the other players going clockwise.
Pass clockwise. The race ends the instant the second racer crosses the finish line. First place takes the top gold chip, second takes the top silver, and everyone else stops where they are and scores nothing that race.

Across the Game

Before each race, secretly choose which of your four racers to run, then everyone reveals at once. Each racer is used exactly once across the four races.
Race on Mild Mile, Wild Wilds, Mild Mile, Wild Wilds. The Wild side adds arrows, rocks, and stars that move, trip, and reward you.
After four races, the most points wins.