Hotel Magic Games: My Honest Review After Staying 4 Nights
By Javier Sobrino
Founder of Discovering Stays · Visited in May 2025
I spent four nights at the Hotel Magic Games in Oropesa del Mar at the end of May 2025, on the ultra all-inclusive. It is one of the three hotels in Magic World, the resort complex that used to be called Marina d’Or.
Before you get to the score, you should know where I’m coming from. In 2024, the year it reopened, I said the complex was a disaster, and in 2025 I went back to see whether anything had changed. This is the review of that second visit.
If you still don’t know which of the three hotels suits you, start with the Magic World hotels in our Spain guide, where we score them side by side. Here I go deep into the Games, the video game one.
Transparency: we were invited on this stay
Magic invited us on this 2025 stay. I’m putting it before the score, not at the end, because you’re about to read that the hotel had improved a great deal, and you should know this first.
We aren’t paid to write this one, and Magic doesn’t read it before it’s published.
My take on the Magic Games in two minutes
I give it 8.5 out of 10, almost the same as the Magic Sports, which makes sense: they share the complex, the board plan and nearly everything outside the building.
The differences are small and nearly all in the Games’ favour. The room is a little bigger, and the bathroom and the buffet each score half a point more than at the Sports. The staff, on the other hand, come in half a point lower, at 8.
What really decides it is something else: if your children are into video games, this is the hotel in the complex to book, and not because of the price.
You can also watch it on YouTube.And one condition, without which none of the above holds: this is a hotel to enjoy on the ultra all-inclusive. For bed and breakfast I don’t see the point, and I explain why further down.
The best and the worst of the Magic Games
The best
- The video game theme runs through the whole hotel, not just the room.
- The water park right opposite: a thirty-second walk.
- A room a little bigger than at its sister hotels in the complex.
- The fideuà at the rice restaurant, the best thing I ate on the trip.
- The grill, the find of 2025.
The worst
- The buffet has gone up in quality, but the choice is still average.
- The fast slides aren’t here: they’re at the Magic Sports.
- It isn’t a hotel for Imserso trips, Spain’s subsidised holidays for pensioners.
What kind of hotel the Magic Games is
What sets it apart from the other two Magic World hotels is the theme. You notice it the moment you walk in: the lobby, the corridors and a museum are all about video games, and the rooms have a PlayStation or arcade machines.
The Sports is built around sport and the Fantasy around fairy tales. This is the console one, and for a child who plays video games, that’s half the holiday sorted.
And a practical point: Magic World isn’t a closed-off compound: it’s inside Oropesa del Mar itself. The town is right next door, and you don’t feel shut away in the resort.
The room at the Magic Games: an arcade theme and a little more space
This is where the hotel beats its sister hotels. It wins on space: the room is a little bigger than at the Sports, and with children you notice those extra metres every day. I give the room size an 8.5, and another 8.5 to the bed, which is genuinely comfortable.
The bathroom gets an 8, half a point more than at the Sports, and cleanliness gets a 9, the highest of the room scores.
Some context that sounds odd but explains the score. In 2024 I found rooms that weren’t finished, with bits of masking tape still stuck on, a washbasin that wouldn’t drain, the odd blown bulb, and tea but no kettle. In 2025 everything was finished and working, and after that, it counts as news.
Before you book, look carefully at the room types, because there are lots of them. They range from basic and single-parent rooms to family rooms for four; the biggest have both a bath and a shower, and some have a terrace with a private jacuzzi.
Coming with kids who love video games?
The pool and the water park: right opposite
It’s the Games’ practical advantage, and hardly anyone mentions it. The water park is right opposite the hotel, a thirty-second walk away. The Fantasy uses the same area, Magic Splash, but it’s two minutes from there, and with two wet children you feel the difference.
Inside there’s an area for little ones with water jets and slides their size, another with lots of slides and inflatable doughnut rings, and two big pools. One has a swim-up bar in the water and the other has its bar on the side.
If you’re after speed, here’s the warning: the fast slides are at the Magic Sports, not here. From the Games you can go and try them on the visits to other hotels that come with the board plan, and in 2025 I finally did: in 2024 they hadn’t even opened.
On heights, which is what everyone with children asks: the big slides in this area require 1.20 metres. If your child is close to it, bear that limit in mind before you book.
A tip from Cristina, who stayed at the Fantasy and used the same area: pack water shoes, because the floor at Magic Splash is very slippery.
The Magic Games buffet: breakfast, lunch and dinner
I give the buffet an 8, half a point more than the one at the Magic Sports. It has improved in quality, not in variety.
The best part is what’s cooked to order: you ask for your meat done just the way you like it, and that’s where the quality shows. The choice is still average, and it isn’t a buffet you’ll remember for the number of dishes.
Breakfast, at 7.5, is the weakest part of the buffet.
And a perk of the board plan that belongs here: the ultra all-inclusive lets you eat at the buffets of the other two hotels. Four nights in the same dining room gets tiring; being able to switch buffets doesn’t. And if one day you fancy something different, that’s what the themed restaurants are for.
The themed restaurants: the rice restaurant, the grill and the burger bar
The themed restaurants don’t belong to the Games: they belong to the complex, and they’re the same for all three hotels. What each hotel has of its own is its buffet. They’re table service, with a starter, main and dessert, so even though it isn’t help-yourself, you won’t leave hungry.
The fideuà at the rice restaurant was the best thing I ate on the trip, just as it had been in 2024. The paellas are good too, but the fideuà, a paella made with short noodles, is what I’d order again without looking at the menu.
At night the same place turns into a grill, and it was the find of 2025: Argentine-style meat, chargrilled vegetables and a portion so big we had food left over.
The burger bar is a cross between Mexico and the United States, and you order from the menu. The starters are good and the burger meat is good quality, which is what you want from a place like that.
I didn’t try the fourth, the Japanese restaurant, in 2025. I did in 2026, staying at the Magic Sports, and it was the only restaurant in the complex I wouldn’t go back to.
How the ultra all-inclusive works at the Magic Games
It’s the question I get asked most about this hotel. If you come to the Games, take the ultra all-inclusive: without it, the hotel loses almost everything that makes it interesting.
It covers the themed restaurants (booked in advance), the other hotels’ buffets, the Polinesia, the sister hotels’ facilities and nearly all the activities. That’s why the pools score a 10, even though the area opposite the Games is the quietest one.
And the thing that saves or costs you the most money: what’s included depends on the number of nights, and the big jump comes on the fourth. With fewer than four, no themed restaurant is included; with four, which is how long I stayed, you get one and the Mega Magic Escapada opens up.
| Nights | Themed restaurants | Play Zone | Visits to other hotels |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 3 | none | 1 entry | 1 visit |
| 4 | 1 (one sitting) | 2 entries | 2 visits |
| 5 to 6 | 2 (one sitting each) | 2 entries, 3 from the 6th night | 2 visits |
| 7 or more | 4 (one sitting each) | 3 entries | 2 visits, 3 from the 8th night |
That package adds two entries to the Polinesia, one to DinoLand, one to the Magic Show and a thalasso session. From seven nights it grows: up to five entries to the Polinesia and to DinoLand, the Enchanted Garden, the Pet House and two thalasso sessions.
It isn’t worth it at every Magic hotel, mind you: at the Magic Tropical Splash, near Benidorm, we wouldn’t always recommend it.
Is it a good hotel for an Imserso trip?
Lots of people ask, so I’ll get straight to the point: I wouldn’t recommend it for an Imserso trip.
From May to mid-September there are quite a few groups, and in May I saw a great many older people, so you won’t be short of company. If you want to eat, have a drink and walk by the sea, it does the job; everything else is designed for families with children.
If what you want is a quiet hotel on the Costa del Azahar, this isn’t it, and I’d rather tell you before you book.
Magic Games, Sports or Fantasy: which to choose
My rule has nothing to do with price: choose the hotel by your children’s ages and what they enjoy. The Games for video game fans; the Magic Sports for children aged 8 and over who want fast slides; and the Magic Fantasy for the little ones.
The Sports and the Fantasy are scored side by side in our guide to family hotels in Spain. And if you’re weighing up Magic World against Magic’s resorts around Benidorm, our Costa Blanca guide scores four of them.
Magic Games scores, category by category
| Category | Score |
|---|---|
| Overall | 8.5 |
| Cleanliness | 9 |
| Bed | 8.5 |
| Bathroom | 8 |
| Room size | 8.5 |
| Buffet (overall) | 8 |
| Buffet lunch | 8 |
| Buffet dinner | 8 |
| Breakfast | 7.5 |
| Ultra all-inclusive | 10 |
| Pools and water park | 10 |
| Kids’ facilities | 10 |
| Adult facilities | 8.5 |
| Beach | 7 |
| Staff | 8 |
The average of the fourteen categories is exactly 8.5, the overall score. The three 10s are the ultra all-inclusive, the pools and the kids’ facilities; the lowest is the beach, at 7.
Who the Magic Games is for, and who it isn’t for
It’s your hotel if:
- Your children love video games: that’s what this hotel has and the other two don’t.
- You want the water park right opposite, without crossing the complex.
- You’re going to take the ultra all-inclusive and stay four nights or more.
It isn’t your hotel if:
- You’re after the fastest slides: they’re at the Magic Sports.
- You want top-level food: the buffet has improved, but not that much.
- You’re travelling without children, want peace and quiet or are coming on an Imserso trip.
If the Magic Games isn’t for you
- Magic Sports: the one with the fast slides, for children aged 8 and over.
- Magic Fantasy: fairy-tale rooms for the youngest, where Cristina stayed.
- Family hotels on the Costa Blanca: Magic’s resorts around Benidorm, scored alongside the rest of the coast.
Magic Games discount code
The code magicDESCUBRIENDOVIAJES gets you an extra 3% off: it stacks with whatever offers Magic is running at the time, kids-go-free deals included. Enter it in the promo code box before you pay; it only works on the official website. It also works at Magic’s resorts around Benidorm, as on our Magic Robin Hood promo code page.
Is the Magic Games right for you?
Do I recommend the Magic Games? Yes, if your children are console fans
Yes, and above all if there’s a child at home who’s hooked on video games. For the theme, for having the water park right opposite and for a room a little bigger than at its sister hotels, it’s the hotel in the complex I’d choose for them.
But the recommendation comes tied to the board plan: without the ultra all-inclusive, it isn’t a hotel to come to just for bed and breakfast. And if you’re after peace and quiet or coming on an Imserso trip, you’re better off looking elsewhere.
If you’ve already stayed at the Games, tell us in the comments how it went and how old your children were: for someone still deciding, your experience is worth more than any fact sheet.
Do you have questions or need more information?
We've stayed here ourselves and can help you. Tell us what you'd like to know and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.