Merlin's Magical Boxes is a game of chance within the Kingdoms of Camelot game. It offers you the chance to win a random Shop Item without having to buy gems to pay for it.
How to Play[]
Once per day (per domain/server) the game will offer you a free play of Merlin's Magical Boxes. The first time you login that day, the game will open automatically. You'll see a Play Now button followed by 20 boxes containing a random selection of shop items.
If you have not sent gifts to your facebook friends today, the second 10 of these boxes will be locked. You can safely close the Merlin's Magical Boxes window at this point and go send a gift to at least one of your friends. When you return to the game, you can reopen the Merlin's Magical Boxes game and your 20 random items will be redisplayed with all of the items unlocked.
When you click on the Play Now button, the items will be hidden in each of the boxes, and you will be instructed to select one. Choose one at random, or try to select a box that contained an items that you wanted to win. The game will reveal your choice, and the item will be added to your Items inventory.
Additional Plays[]
Any time you have Merlin's Magical Tokens in your inventory you can turn them in to play additional games of Merlin's Magical Boxes.
When you offer to help a friend with construction through Facebook, the game will reward your help by giving you an additional Merlin's Magical Token. When timed right it is possible to get this reward twice a day - in the morning and the evening. It is also possible to get tokens by clicking on a link where someone has posted what they won using merlins boxes and where someone has posted the random locked box event. At the current state of the game it is possible to get 4 tokens per day. It should be noted that the reward token can only be assigned to one of your characters if you play on multiple Domains.
You can win Merlin's Magical Tokens in a game of Merlin's Magical Boxes. In this case, it basically gives you a second chance to draw against a different set of 20 boxes.
You can also purchase Merlin's Magical Tokens in the Shop using gems.
When you agree to exchange a token for a new game of Merlin's Magical Boxes, do not close the game until you have made your selection. If you try to get a different set of boxes, or escape to send an gift to a friend, the game will be lost. Be sure to have your gifts completed before spending your tokens.
How Does It Work?[]
This section is based on observation of the game in practice, and not knowledge of the underlying system. Do not take these observations as proven fact, they are not.
The game appears to make 20 random selections from its winnings table to fill the boxes that you see. If you close the free game and come back to it, the same 20 boxes will be redisplayed, so you cannot close-and-reopen to try to improve your chances. (If you close a token game, you lose your token, as mentioned above.)
Your selection appears to be taken from the 20 boxes that have been selected for the round that you are playing. If you have a 1 in 1000 chance of seeing a rare item in a box, once it is there you appear to have a 1 in 20 chance of making the correct selection. However, if you know how the boxes are shuffled, you can improve your odds of getting the item you want to 1 in 6. [Note the method was changed in early 2011, the new method is not yet known as of November 2011.] If there are several items you like, your chance of getting one of them may even be improved to 50% or higher! Look in the comments section for a calculator that will help you choose the box that gives you the best chance of getting (one of the) item(s) that you want.
Locked boxes are presumably removed from the pool of available selections, so if you leave them locked and make your selection, you will only select from among the 10 unlocked boxes.
Approximate Odds of Winning[]
(When Merlin goes wild there are at least 4 tokens out of 20 that visually represent upgrades for Throne Room Items. However, the good stuff on those boards does not appear to be random. You think you have a 1 in 5 chance to get an upgrade item but your odds appear to be closer to getting struck by lightening than a 20% chance of getting these items. I used over 100 of Merlin's tokens and got zero good stuff. Doing the statistics if the chances of getting such an item was really 20% then I was struck by lightening. The point is don't throw a lot of money at buying tokens because it appears they are representing the odds of you getting an these items visually a lot higher than they are actually giving them out. Update August 28, 2012)
This table contains a history of the items that have appeared in the 20 boxes in more than 150 games of Merlin's Magical Boxes.
The data is showing some separation into groups of similar rarity. Assuming the odds for each item within the same rarity group is the same, we would find that:
- Common = 25/728 chance for each item (about 1/29, or 3.43%). Overall 86.3% chance of winning any Common item
- Rare = 5/728 chance for each item (about 1/146, or 0.69%). Overall 11.7% chance of winning any Rare item.
- Very Rare = 1/728 chance for each item (about 0.14%). Overall 2% chance of winning any Very Rare item.
| Item name | Rarity | Observed | Approx Odds |
Approx Percent | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20000 Food | Common | 83 / 3060 | 1:37 | 2.71% | |
| 20000 Gold | Common | 99 / 3060 | 1:31 | 3.24% | |
| 20000 Ore | Common | 108 / 3060 | 1:28 | 3.53% | |
| 20000 Stone | Common | 108 / 3060 | 1:28 | 3.53% | |
| 20000 Wood | Common | 103 / 3060 | 1:30 | 3.37% | |
| 40000 Food | Common | 109 / 3060 | 1:28 | 3.56% | |
| 40000 Gold | Common | 100 / 3060 | 1:31 | 3.27% | |
| 40000 Ore | Common | 94 / 3060 | 1:33 | 3.07% | |
| 40000 Stone | Common | 103 / 3060 | 1:30 | 3.37% | |
| 40000 Wood | Common | 99 / 3060 | 1:31 | 3.24% | |
| Arthur's Hourglass | Very Rare | 3 / 3060 | 1:1020 | 0.10% | |
| Aura of Command | Very Rare | 5 / 3060 | 1:612 | 0.16% | |
| Barkskin | Common | 115 / 3060 | 1:27 | 3.76% | |
| Blood Frenzy | Rare | 21 / 3060 | 1:146 | 0.69% | |
| Blood Lust | Common | 106 / 3060 | 1:29 | 3.46% | |
| Caravan Portal | Common | 115 / 3060 | 1:27 | 3.76% | |
| Day of Prosperity | Rare | 21 / 3060 | 1:146 | 0.69% | |
| Divine Inspiration | Very Rare | 5 / 3060 | 1:612 | 0.16% | |
| Dragon's Stomp | Common | 95 / 3060 | 1:32 | 3.10% | |
| Druidic Blessing | Common | 108 / 3060 | 1:28 | 3.53% | |
| Druidic Ceremony | Very Rare | 4 / 3060 | 1:765 | 0.13% | |
| Dwarven Assistance | Very Rare | 6 / 3060 | 1:510 | 0.20% | |
| Dwarven Mining Tools | Common | 111 / 3060 | 1:28 | 3.63% | |
| Experienced Volunteers | Rare | 17 / 3060 | 1:180 | 0.56% | |
| Fertile Winds | Rare | 22 / 3060 | 1:139 | 0.72% | |
| Fountain of Youth | Very Rare | 4 / 3060 | 1:765 | 0.13% | |
| Gauntlet of Courage | Rare | 11 / 3060 | 1:278 | 0.36% | |
| Gloves of Gathering | Rare | 22 / 3060 | 1:139 | 0.72% | |
| Gnomish Quarrying Team | Very Rare | 4 / 3060 | 1:765 | 0.13% | |
| Gnomish Stone Cutter | Common | 122 / 3060 | 1:25 | 3.99% | |
| Green Griffin Wings | Common | 104 / 3060 | 1:29 | 3.40% | |
| Guinevere's Hourglass | Common | 123 / 3060 | 1:25 | 4.02% | |
| Harvest Prayer | Common | 116 / 3060 | 1:26 | 3.79% | |
| Harvest Sacrifice | Very Rare | 2 / 3060 | 1:1530 | 0.07% | |
| Knight's Hourglass | Common | 100 / 3060 | 1:31 | 3.27% | |
| Lancelot's Tutelage | Rare | 19 / 3060 | 1:161 | 0.62% | |
| Mass Hypnosis | Rare | 21 / 3060 | 1:146 | 0.69% | |
| Merlin's Cloak | Very Rare | 6 / 3060 | 1:510 | 0.20% | |
| Merlin's Hourglass | Very Rare | 4 / 3060 | 1:765 | 0.13% | |
| Merlin's Magical Tokens | Common | 90 / 3060 | 1:34 | 2.94% | |
| Mirror of Knowledge | Rare | 18 / 3060 | 1:170 | 0.59% | |
| Morgana's Hourglass | Rare | 18 / 3060 | 1:170 | 0.59% | |
| Portal of Order | Very Rare | 4 / 3060 | 1:765 | 0.13% | |
| Portal of Refuge | Rare | 26 / 3060 | 1:118 | 0.85% | |
| Red Dragon Wings | Rare | 24 / 3060 | 1:128 | 0.78% | |
| Rose of Charisma | Rare | 21 / 3060 | 1:146 | 0.69% | |
| Siege Master's Tools | Very Rare | 5 / 3060 | 1:612 | 0.16% | |
| Siege Volunteers | Rare | 20 / 3060 | 1:153 | 0.65% | |
| Squires Hourglass | Common | 111 / 3060 | 1:28 | 3.63% | |
| Stoneskin | Rare | 26 / 3060 | 1:118 | 0.85% | |
| Train with Arthur | Very Rare | 5 / 3060 | 1:612 | 0.16% | |
| Train with Galahad | Rare | 27 / 3060 | 1:113 | 0.88% | |
| Train with Kay | Common | 99 / 3060 | 1:31 | 3.24% | |
| Veteran Volunteers | Rare | 17 / 3060 | 1:180 | 0.56% | |
| Week of Prosperity | Rare | 22 / 3060 | 1:139 | 0.72% | |
| Young Volunteers | Common | 109 / 3060 | 1:28 | 3.56% |