A high tech interactive Theme Park Experience that uses a deck of trading cards. It sounds a bit crazy. Playing cards don't sound very high-tech, but Disney's new Scorers of the Magic Kingdom game proves the possibility with playing cards.

Warning. There may be a few spoilers in this review.

Scorers of the Magic Kingdom is a new interactive game that is played in the Magic Kingdom park at Walt Disney World in Florida. The game begins on Main Street USA inside the Firehouse. A simple banner outside says “Volunteers needed, Help protect our community! Inquire within.” It's simple, unassuming and fits in with the theming of Main Street. Once inside the Firehouse you queue in small line if front of the first “Magic Portal”. Every few minutes Merlin the magian (From Disney's The Sword in the Stone) appears and explains the backstory of the attraction. Hades (The Disney version from the Movie Hercules) wants a new Summer home, and what better place for a summer home than the Magic Kingdom. One obstacle though the only thing preventing him from doing so is the “Crystal of the Magic Kingdom” which can destroy all evil. Hades sends his bumbling minions to steal the Crystal (Which looks like a Snowglobe) however the Crystal ends up Shattering into 4 pieces.

Merlin has transferred some of his “Magic powers” to Spell Cards. There are SEVENTY different spell cards. When you approach the end of the line a Cast Member swipes your ticket and hands you a really cool looking map of the Magic Kingdom and 5 spell cards. You can only get five Spell Cards a day and the five you get are random, so plan spending at least 14 days acquiring a full deck (I know that I defiantly will be going out of my way to visit the Magic Kingdom when I'm in the Orlando to work towards getting a full deck!) You also receive a “Key” card which you can use to open the Portals. The Key card contains an RFID chip that is able to save your game information so the system can identify you.

A cast member then ushers you over to Sorcerers training. Which occurs in of all places a horse stall (without the horse of course). You are instructed to hold your Key Card up a symbol of a lock. Then the other wall of the stall beings to flash and a portal opens up. Inside the portal is Merlin who gives you a quick lesson in how to use your spell cards. A few moments later the portal closes and you are told where to go for your first mission. You will be sent to either Main Street U.S.A., Adventureland, Frontierland and Liberty Square or Fantasyland. The portal will flash the name of the land and display a picture of where you need to go along with a symbol that corresponds to the portals location on you map. Don't worry if you get lost or forget which portal you have to go to, simply find the nearest portal and flash your key card, you will be directed to the correct portal.

The portals are very cleverly hidden in plain sight. They could be cleverly disguised as a window display ,a themed information board or even paintings. Don't worry to hard about being able to find the disguised windows though, near each window is a “Circle of Power” a metal plate that you have to stand on to cast your spells as well as a lock that you have to activate with your key card. One thing to note about this game is that the portals you are assigned to is random. If fact even if you have to wait in a line for a portal you will most likely see someone working on a completely different quest!

The gameplay is really cool! Once you activate the portal you are usually shown a short video about what is going on in that land. At most portals at some point you will encounter a Villain. You will be promoted to “Cast your spell now”. Based on what spell you cast, the Villain will be defeated or will not react (Depends on the level of difficulty you are playing on. I'll talk about that in a moment). What you see on the train will correspond to what card you play. So when I played my Mr.Toad's Wild Ride Card I saw tire tracks across the screen and than a Red Roadster run over my enemy. It appears that on harder levels you will need to play more than one card. Once you beat a portal you will be directed to another one. The whole portal experience lasts about 90 seconds. Each quest consists of you visiting several portals.

Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom is also great because it doesn't have to be played all at one time. Each quest takes about 15-20 minutes (Including walking and possible waits to use the portal) and will take you to several portals inside the land. Be prepared to do quite a bit of walking if you are assigned to Adventureland and Frontierland for a mission. After you beat a land you are given the option to continue or to end playing. Have a FASTPASS return time or a meal reservation? No problem! Sorcerers can be played at your own pace. Between quests and even during the middle of them I found myself taking breaks to ride attractions or see shows. This really was great at times where the lines to access the portals were long.

There is also a very high level a repeatability. Besides collecting all the cards (Which from what I experienced the other day a very big deal!) There are different quests within each land (With the exception of Main Street which only has 1 quest themed to 101 Dalmatians). In Adventureland you are randomly assigned one of three quests themed to either The Lion King, The Emperors new Groove or Aladdin. In Frontierland there are two quests, one is themed to Pocahontas while the other is themed The Princess and the Frog. In Fantasyland there are also two quests, one themed to Sleeping Beauty and one about the Little Mermaid.
What you do on your quest will slightly vary as well. I noticed that in my Fantasyland quest I only battled the main Villain Maleficent. Though later in the day I saw someone on their Fantasyland level battle one of Maleficent's Goons as well.

Another repeatability factor is the level of difficulty. When you first start you are placed on an easy level. Once you complete the game on that level you are able to advance to the medium level and finally a hard level of the game. According to the Cast Members on the easy level you will win no matter what, this level is designed for beginners with few cards as well as for children and families. On the medium level of gameplay it is possible to lose a mission. However you will be given a second chance if you cannot defeat a Villain on your first try. I saw others experience this, one guest I was behind in line after trying to cast several spells on Scar he was not able to defeat him. After he tried twice the portal closed up and he was told to try again at another portal. On the medium level you are also able to play more than one card at once. Once you beat easy you are asked to return to Sorcerer Training on Main Street for Advanced training. On hard it is possible to lose. Nobody I talked to had made it to hard level yet. (The hard and Medium levels had only been made available just three days before I played).

I learned a few tips on gameplay as well! I though I'd share them with you.

Tips for gameplay

• Arrive at the park early. The lines for training and the portals won't be as long.
• The same thing goes for if you are staying late. I left the park early, but I'd imagine if you are at the Magic Kingdom after 10pm the lines will be a lot shorter.
• When you start to have lots of cards, you might want to invest in a pouch or book to keep them in.
• I saw someone take a picture of all their cards on their Iphone. They then held their Iphone up instead of Cards. It worked. (I've seen full lists of pictures of every card on the internet. You could probably show those if you really wanted too)
• Trade! Who knows you may find a card you really like!
• Don't just rotate your cards. Pick a favorite and use it often! If you use a card over and over (Like I used my Mr.Toad card) the attack it gives off grows stronger!

Pro's and Con's of the Game.

Cons

• Occasional waits will occur at some portals. The Fantasyland portals often suffered from this because the Portals were so close to each other.
• You will be walking quite a bit. (On the positive side, its good exercise).
• The voice actors of some of the characters have passed away, so some of the voices seem a bit off.
• It would probably take more than one day to beat all three levels of the game (Easy, Medium and Hard). The game does save your game for a period of 30 days.
  
  
  
  © Zachary Fakterowitz
  Portal in Adventureland

Pros

• Amazingly interactive
• Lots of fun
• The cards are a great souvenirs.
• The cards are much easier to carry around than the Cell Phone you have to carry around for the Kim Possible Adventure at EPCOT. (Now when you reach a full deck of seventy cards, it may be a bit more difficult. I'll talk about some tips to help you out with this next)
• The game can be played virtually at anytime. It's great if you have time to kill before a FASTPASS or Dining reservation.
• It seems that a lot of people really liked trading the cards. I even traded my cards so I could end up with ones I liked!
• Very repeatable.
• Great animation.
• Some of the dialogue is very humorous.
• There is a Mr.Toads Wild Ride card! (I managed to get ahold of two Toad cards!)

Final Thoughts
Overall this is an amazing game! Defiantly give it a chance, it will take at max fifteen minutes to grab your playing cards (Assuming there is a long line at the firehouse). Why would you pass up something FREE from Disney!

Have you played Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom? If you have and have any tips I should add be sure to send me an email at Zacharyfakterowitz@coaster-net.com. Talk to you later fellow Sorcerers!