# Malefiz — The board game of barricades

> The board game of barricades (iPhone/iPad app by Philippe GUILLAUD.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/malefiz/id404445366 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Philippe GUILLAUD](https://appshunter.io/developer/378564341)
- Category: Games, Education, Board, Strategy
- Price: Free with in-app purchases
- Rating: 3.00/5 from 1 App Store ratings · 1 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 17.0 · 44 MB
- Languages: American English, French (France), European Spanish
- Released: 2010-12-01
- Data updated: 2026-11-07
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/malefiz/id404445366/reviews.md

## What is Malefiz?

Malefiz — sold in English as Barricade — is a race game with one very good idea in it. Getting a pawn to the top of the board is easy enough. Getting past the eleven black barricades in the way is not, because a barricade cannot be jumped. To pass one you have to land on it exactly — and then you pick it up and put it down again wherever you like.

That is the whole game. Every barricade you take is a barricade you can drop across somebody else's road, or on the square in front of their home, shutting them in until they roll their way out. Nothing is safe and nobody is ahead for long.


HOW TO PLAY

Roll the dice and move one pawn that many squares along the printed track, up, down or sideways. Land on an opponent and they go straight back to their home base, however far they had come. Land on a barricade and you take it. First pawn to the red square at the top wins.

Tap a pawn and every square it can reach lights up, so you can see the move before you commit to it — and the pawn travels the squares it actually walked, not a straight line, so you can follow the count.


FOUR WAYS TO PLAY

• Against the computer — one, two or three opponents, free and without limits
• Round one screen — pass the iPhone or iPad between two, three or four people
• Against other iPhones, iPads and Macs nearby — no account, no internet, no sign-in
• Join a game somebody else has started


ON IPHONE, IPAD AND MAC

One purchase covers all three. The board is drawn rather than photographed, so it is sharp on every display, and the layout follows the glass: the players sit beside the board when there is room and underneath when there is not. On a phone the board can be drawn larger than the screen and pushed about, so a pawn is still something you can tap. Light and dark, English, French and Spanish.


WHAT IT DOES NOT DO

No ads. No sign-in. No account. No subscription. No data leaves your device. Games between devices happen over your own Wi-Fi or Bluetooth and go nowhere near a server.


ABOUT THE PURCHASE

The game is free against the computer — the real board, the real rules, the same opponent that shipped in 2010, all four seats and every setting. One optional purchase adds the other people: more than one human player on this device, and games against other iPhones, iPads and Macs nearby. Bought once, no subscription, covers iPhone, iPad and Mac, and shareable with your family.


Malefiz was invented by Werner Schöppner and first published by Ravensburger in 1960. This version was written by Philippe Guillaud; the board, the rules and the computer opponent are the ones from the original 2010 release, carried across move for move.

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: Free.

**One-time purchases**

| Purchase | Price | Type |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Play With Friends | $2.99 | one-time |


## Is Malefiz safe?

Not enough ratings yet to assess Malefiz.

## Is Malefiz legit?

Malefiz appears to be a legitimate app. The AppsHunter Legitimacy Score for Malefiz is 90 out of 100 points across 7 verification signals from App Store and developer data.

## Recent user reviews (1 of 1)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/malefiz/id404445366/reviews.md

### 3/5 — Rules vary from physical version

*2012-01-14*

This is a well thought out game, but the version allows for the placement of blockades on the first row, which allow for blocks of the home spaces.  This changes the dynamics of the game, resulting in a rather frustrating (an boring!) search for a "1" to remove the blockade, and resume the game.  If the original rules were initiated (i.e.. no blockades in the first row), this game would be a "5".

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 3.0.1 — 2026-11-06

NOW ON IPHONE, AND ON IPHONE DUO
Malefiz was an iPad game. It is a phone game too now — the same board, the same opponent, the same purchase. On iPhone Duo it lays itself out for the cover display and for the inner one, and follows you across a fold.

A BOARD BIG ENOUGH TO PLAY ON
A Malefiz board is seventeen squares across, which on a phone would leave a pawn smaller than a fingertip. So the board is drawn larger than the screen and the screen becomes a window onto it: drag to move it, pinch to change how much is in view, or one tap to put the whole board back.

THE DIE COMES TO REST LIKE A DIE
Tilted rather than flat — three faces in view, rounded corners catching the light, a gloss on the one you are reading. The number is still the number you threw.

THE BOARD GETS THE WHOLE SCREEN
The clock, the Wi-Fi ring and the battery stand aside, on every device and every page.

AND
Closing the window on a Mac now quits the game, saving the position on the way out. Wherever the app names the thing in your hands, it now says iPhone, iPad or Mac, in English, French and Spanish.

### 3.0 — 2026-09-09

Malefiz has been rewritten from the ground up for iPad and Mac.

THE BOARD IS DRAWN, NOT PHOTOGRAPHED
Every square, pawn and barricade is drawn as you look at it, so the board is pin-sharp on any display instead of being a photograph stretched to fit. The dice is a real tumbling cube again, in the same red glass, and it lands flat on the number it rolled.

PAWNS FOLLOW THE TRACK
A moving pawn now travels the squares it actually walked — round the corners and along the lanes — so you can follow the count instead of watching it slide across the middle of the board.

NOW ON THE MAC
The same game, the same purchase, in a window that can be any shape you like.

PLAY WITH THE DEVICES AROUND YOU
The old Bluetooth link is gone — Apple removed it years ago — and nearby play is rebuilt on today's foundations. It works between iPads and Macs, over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, with no account and no internet connection. One device runs the game and the others follow it, so the boards can no longer drift apart.

AND THE SMALL THINGS
Light and dark. Any orientation. English, French and now Spanish — your language or the device's. A saved game that survives being closed. Sounds for the dice, for a piece landing and for a capture. VoiceOver throughout.

The board, the rules and the computer opponent are the ones you already know, carried across move for move — including a barricade bug from 2010 that could put a piece somewhere a piece may not go.

### 1.0.2 — 2014-11-15

Update for latest iOS versions

### 1.0.1 — 2011-01-07

Enhanced board design.
Minor bugs fixed.
Spanish version added.

### 1.0.0 — 2010-12-01

No release notes.

## More apps by Philippe GUILLAUD

- [Wordz Genius](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/wordz-genius/id1145639311)
- [Matrix Balls](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/matrix-balls/id1465412098)
- [My Melody](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/my-melody/id1466785452)
- [Mastermind Challenger](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/mastermind-challenger/id1467328443)
- [Muzeek Radio](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/muzeek-radio/id1471476576)

All apps by Philippe GUILLAUD: https://appshunter.io/developer/378564341

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-11-07.*