Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom ~ gotta catch them...wait a minute!

“Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom” is the newest craze to his Walt Disney World. It’s an interactive card game that seems to be a bit of crowd control meets Pokémon. They’ve been testing it for about a month now and a lot of people have played it. Hades has decided to take over the Magic Kingdom and he needs Merlin’s crystal to do it. Hades’ Pain and Panic steal the crystal but accidentally break it into 9 pieces. Now Hades has to recruit the worst of the worst of Disney Villains to help him get the crystal pieces back. 

You get your cards at the Firehall next to City Hall or behind the Christmas Store in Liberty Square (across from the Tiana Pavilion). A cast member will train you how to play.  You give them your entry ticket. They will run it through the computer (to make sure you aren't trying to scam extra cards). They give you a key card and five spell cards (spell cards are numbered 1-70). They show you how to help Merlin fight off the minions of Hades. You’ll also receive a map with special icons to differentiate the portals from each other. There are 5 locations or portals in four of the lands thus far.

Main Street - Cruella is the Villain

Fantasy land - Maleficent and Ursula are the villains as well as the final battle with Hades and the winged golem from Fantasia.

Adventure land - Yzma (from The Emperor's new groove) and Jafar are the villains as well as Scar.

Liberty Square - Radcliffe and Shadowman villains.

So yes, you run around a bit, but they're relatively close together within the lands which turned out to not be such a great thing in Fantasyland because they are literally within 10 feet of each other. You find the portal, swipe your key card on the lock box provided. If you are in the correct spot, it plays a small movie which will prompt you to battle by using a spell card or the back of the spell card called the “Sorcerer’s Crest.” You need only hold up one, or multiple spell cards while standing on the SMK symbol. You're spell (whichever you choose) sets off an effect on the screen.

There is an easy mode you play at first in which any spell helps you defeat Hades, a medium and hard mode which take a little more thought on the spell and order in which you cast. On these harder modes, your time at the portal can last from 5-20 minutes depending. If you don’t use the right spell, it will have no effect and you may have to start again. As you can see, this will increase the lines at the portals, and I’d be curious to see what Disney will be doing to counter this.

Once you have won your battle, the screen will instruct you to move to another portal. There may be a small line of other players when you get there. After the ninth battle, you defeat Hades. Merlin awards you a virtual badge (whether it actually means anything I don't know) and you can go back to the firehouse of behind the Christmas store and start over.

You are allowed 5 new spell cards per day and the next time you play you need only have your key card. If you lose it, they will give you another. Sound fun? Well it is!

Traders are abound at nearly every portal, so if you’re looking to complete a set of cards, you may be able to do it rather easily. The shops in Frontier land also sell card protection sheets if you wish. Cards numbered 61-70 are considered rare and were distributed in the very early days of beta testing. The rumor is the parks will be selling them at a later date.

You will also see them appearing on EBay selling for $4.00 and greater, but as I said before, there is no need to buy a card, with traders so readily available. Rumors of booster packs and phase two of the portals and adventures are flying without confirmation as of yet.

Unofficially, it has been confirmed that scanning cards into a mobile phone or tablet will still allow you to enjoy the game without having to worry about carrying around your spell cards, but you will still need the key card to activate the portals.