Magic Marbles

A curious game that came out of the wizard towers in the north. Created by an inventive but failed student at one of the towers and marketed for over a decade now. It is quite difficult to attain an original set as the apprentice who invented it vanished shortly after its creation. However, the enchantment used is simple enough that other enchanters have picked it up as a fairly generic offering for holidays or special events. There are rumors that the original sets were linked to the magical beacons within the wizard towers, and if observed carefully can give warning of the attack of dragons, and perhaps other goings on in the wizard towers.
The purpose of the game is to spread the area of your color across as much of the board as possible, while attempting to prevent your opponent(s) from doing the same to you. Upon achieving the desired level of influence, or in some versions, influencing key areas of the board, the player's castle will unlock. The shape and complexity of the bored can be varied, as well as the number of players. Making it an easily adapted game that often develop specific rules for each community that takes up playing it.
The game has also become popular in gambling organizations. The locked tower is filled with the bet, and the winner takes the prize from each tower they are able to crack open. Usually set up at a disadvantage through clever placement of 'neutral' pieces and overly complex terrain sets that are kept carefully rotating between games.
This modified version of the basic game has become quite popular in certain criminal groups. The pattern based locks can be easily adapted to function as deposits or doorway locks without requiring arcane skill. While usually only used by smaller criminal organizations, there are rumors that several secret societies have adopted the same practice.