Quoridor Pac-Man

The maze game in which the maze is the weapon.

Gigamic's Pac-Man edition of Quoridor, with pieces for Pac-Man and all four ghosts. Mirko Marchesi's abstract is one of those designs that turns out to be surprisingly deep for how little there is to explain, and the licence sits on top of it without getting in the way of anything.

The object is to get your pawn to the opposite edge of the board. On your turn you either move your pawn or place a wall — and the walls are the whole game, because you may hinder somebody's route but you may never seal it off completely. Every wall you drop therefore buys time rather than ending the race, which is a much more interesting problem. This edition adds a second mode leaning into the video game alongside the classic challenge. Fifteen minutes, playable from eight, and it seats up to five.

Perfect for: Anyone whose instinct in traffic is to quietly close the merging gap.

2–5 players | 15 minutes | Age 8+