L C R

Subject: General
Category: Preschool
Ages: 5 and up
# of players: 3 or more
Time to play: 20 minutes
Mechanics/Game Type: dice rolling

Ratings (1 to 5)

Educational Value: 2
Gaming value: 1

Aesthetic value: 3
Price value: 3
Ease of play: 5
Younger adaptability: 4

My comments: Left Center Right is a game that requires each person to know the difference between their left and their right and that is precisely why I purchased it. While I don't think the game is intended for preschoolers, I categorized it that way because it is really great for anybody who needs practice figuring out their left from their right, like my 4yo who just received it in her Christmas stocking.

You can purchase this game in a tube or a tin although I have found the tube to be less expensive and even better, I'm sure you can figure out how to make a version of your very own for next to nothing. The components include 3 dice, each one with an L, an R, a C and 3 dots on the remaining three sides as well as about 20-25 small poker or bingo chips. There is absolutely no strategy involved in playing this game, it is merely rolling the dice and passing your chips either to the left, right or into the center pot. Again, good for the preschooler who needs directional practice and who just needs time playing something that requires him to follow instructions.

Because it is so compact and is quick to play, you can get it out while waiting at the doctor's office or the airport or while waiting for the next game to start.

BoardGameGeek.com link to this game:http://boardgamegeek.com/game/3522

Have You Herd?

Subject: General
Category:
Ages: 8 and up
# of players: 2-4
Time to play: 30 minutes
Mechanics/Game Type: dice rolling and set collection

Ratings (1 to 5)

Educational Value: 2
Gaming value: 4
Aesthetic value: 5
Price value: 5
Ease of play: 5
Younger adaptability: 4

My comments: Unfortunately, you really have to stretch quite a bit to find the educational value in this game. I say "unfortunately" because other than educational value, Have You Herd is a great game in every other category.

There is a little strategy involved but mostly this game is based on the roll of the dice. The best time to use it is when your children are learning the concept of trading value and even dollar value although there is no money involved. One of the hardest things to get across to young children is that all coins are not created equal nor is all paper money and this game gives them a little practice in trading and learning that they have to trade more items to get a higher valued animal, ie. not everything in life has a one for one value.

Have You Herd is played with a pair of 12-sided dice and 52 animal tiles consisting of rabbits, sheep, pigs, cows, horses and two special animals: the guard dogs and the skunk. Throughout the game you roll to collect more tiles, each one representing a herd. On each turn you have opportunities to trade up for more expensive animals. With 5 rabbits you can trade up for one sheep and for 2 sheep you can trade up for one pig and so on. In the end you want to have one of each herd to win. The strategy comes in when you are trading, for example, it's a good idea to trade for a guard dog early on in the game if you can because he will protect your herds when the fox or the wolf are rolled.

This is an enjoyable game to play, requiring no set up time and is very easy to learn. In fact I'm not sure why the recommended age is 8 and up, I would gauge it at 6 and up without adapting any of the rules. The packaging is compact, everything fits into an adorable 3x6 inch silo. Finally a manufacturer that understands my distaste for wasteful, unnecessary packaging. :)

BoardGameGeek.com link to this game:http://boardgamegeek.com/game/33907

Totally Gross, The Game of Science

Subject: Science
Category: General
Ages: 8 and up
# of players: 2 to 4
Time to play: 60 minutes
Mechanics/Game Type: Trivia

Ratings (1 to 5)

Educational Value: 5
Gaming value: 2
Aesthetic value: 2
Price value: 3
Ease of play: 5
Younger adaptability: 2

My comments: Science games are hard to come by, so given the scope of what is available, this game is pretty good. Based on the "gross" theme that has been in vogue for the past few years (as if our children won't be interested in science otherwise,) the game does have a good amount of trivia covering both physical and life sciences.

You roll and move around the board and either answer a trivia question or complete a "totally gross" challenge in order to stretch a piece of "slime" 10 spaces (more about the slime later.) The challenges are as simple as showing your "abs" to as gross as making the noise of peeing, burping, and farting (I got that one and my 3 boys were literally rolling on the floor with laughter. I suppose I could have passed on that one.) Once you do that, you get to the lab so you can perform an experiment in order to answer the winning question. If you don't happen to have the materials needed for the experiment (though you most likely will) then you can just pick another experiment.

Like most educational games, the components are flimsy for the price. The board is nice, but that's all. The "slime" doesn't really stick or stretch well enough so we use other markers instead. The playing pawns are small standard pieces; nothing with a fun science theme. The cards maybe have the thickness of an index card. Really, for the $20+ price tag these companies should be able to put better components in their games. The game does provide a good amount of trivia, challenges, and experiments to make this game playable for awhile.

BoardGameGeek.com link to this game: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/14705

Bucket Brigade

Subject: General
Category:
Ages: 7 and up
# of players: 3 to 5
Time to play: 30 minutes
Mechanics/Game Type: card game with board

Ratings (1 to 5)

Educational Value: 2
Gaming value: 5
Aesthetic value: 4
Price value: 4
Ease of play: 5
Younger adaptability: 1 (card holding)

My comments: This is a quick, fun, and interesting game to play. The game board pictures a burning building with a ladder against it, and 4 wooden firefighter meeples. Each rung of the ladder has a point value, starting at -1 for the first several rungs up to 3 points at the top. The cards picture firefighters in each of the 4 colors walking (move 1 rung) or running (move 2 rungs) as well as wild cards than can move any color either 1 or 2 rungs.

When a firefighter gets to the top of the ladder the game is scored based on all the cards left in your hand. The player that brings the firefighter to the top gets 6 points. Wild cards are worthless, and the other cards are scored based on where that color firefighter is on the ladder.

What is so fascinating about this game is the incredible advantage to using either one of opposing plays. You want the color that you have the most of to get to the top yet you don't want to use up those color cards to get that piece there. You want the versatility of the wild cards but you don't want to have any at the end of the game. The higher up your preferred color gets, the less likely other players will move that color. "Move 1" cards are worth little in scoring alone, but in pairs they are very valuable. You'll see what I mean when you play.

All the cards are dealt out to play, making this game difficult for little hands. Also, your child has to understand that players don't pick just one color and race that one to the top like a typical game might be played.

The board and meeples are well-made, and it is all packaged in a handy 6.5" x 9" inch box with a compartmentalized plastic insert that holds the parts in place. At well under $20 this is a nice game to have.

BoardGameGeek.com link to this game: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/359 (the older Honeybears version)

Number Chase

Subject: Math
Category: Arithmetic
Ages: 6 and up
# of players: 2 -5
Time to play: 15 minutes
Mechanics/Game Type: Deduction/cards

Ratings (1 to 5)

Educational Value: 5
Gaming value: 4
Aesthetic value: 4
Price value: 4
Ease of play: 5
Younger adaptability: 3

My comments:
Number Chase is basically 20 Questions in Numberland. It is played with a nice quality set of cards and a pencil and paper which you supply. One person chooses a number between one and fifty while the other players try to guess what he chose by asking yes or no questions. What makes this fabulous is that the players do not choose their own questions but have to ask the questions that come up on the cards, which is where the educational value really comes in. Number Chase is a fun game for kids in the early grades who are learning math terms and symbols, number patterns, counting to 50 (you can easily tie in some mental computation) greater than/less than and number ranges as well as the art of narrowing things down in order to make an educated guess.

I bought this game for my son's 6th birthday and the age category is right on. I was able to include my 4yo (and she did better than I expected) but she really didn't understand some of the math concepts. So a younger player who doesn't understand ideas like odd and even numbers would need a partner to help them along with answering the questions. Although this game is ideal for the 6 - 9 crowd, it is fun enough for the 12yo to play along with little siblings without getting bored.

BoardGameGeek.com link to this game:

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/21635-Number%20Chase

Planet Earth DVD Game

Subject: Science
Category: Nature
Ages: 8 and up
# of players: 2 to 5
Time to play: 45 minutes
Mechanics/Game Type: Trivia

Ratings (1 to 5)

Educational Value: 5
Gaming value: 2
Aesthetic value: 4
Price value: 4 (or less for more expensive versions)
Ease of play: 5
Younger adaptability: 3

My comments: This game is like most DVD games on the market, except that this one is based on the visually spectacular Discovery series, Planet Earth. The object of the game is to complete a jigsaw puzzle by answering trivia questions. The board is like Trivial Pursuit in that it has 6 special spaces that require you to answer a question from a particular Planet Earth episode, and a correct answer earns you as many puzzle pieces as the narrator tells you. Unlike TP, you don't have to answer one question from each episode--you get a chance to earn pieces every time you land on any of these spaces. Otherwise the board is designed such that you get a question every turn.

It has the inherent limitations of a trivia game, and I cannot find any listing of how many total questions the game has. On the second playing I already had around 5 repeated questions. The game can be played cooperatively, everyone giving answers with an objective to complete the puzzle. The puzzle is actually double-sided with two pictures that are similar enough that it is difficult to tell which side needs to be up.

The beauty of this game is the DVD footage. If you have never seen Planet Earth, go to Discovery Streaming, sign up for a free 30 day trial, and watch. You will be awed.

As someone on BGG put it, Scene It meets Trivial Pursuit at the Discovery Channel...

BoardGameGeek.com link to this game: http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/34395

10 Days in the USA (Europe, Asia, Africa)

Subject: Geography
Category: US (Europe, Asia, Africa)
Ages: 10 and up
# of players: 2 to 4
Time to play: 30 minutes
Mechanics/Game Type: Set collection

Ratings (1 to 5)

Educational Value: 5
Gaming value: 4
Aesthetic value: 5
Price value: 5
Ease of play: 5
Younger adaptability: 3

My comments: The game has a large board picturing the United States, each state of a different color, but you don't play on it. Each player has a tray in which to place 10 "tiles" that are small, thick cards each with a picture of a state along with the capital city and population, as well as car and colored airplane tiles. The object of the game is to create a 10 day trip through the US. You can "walk" to bordering states, meaning the tiles can be placed next to each other in the tray; you can drive 2 states away, meaning you have to place a car between the two states; or you can fly between any two states of the same color so long as you have a plane of that color between them in your tray. You start the game by drawing and placing tiles in your tray--you cannot rearrange a tile once you place it--and you spend the rest of the game trying to complete your trip. The mechanics are easy--draw a tile (from the deck or discard pile) and then discard a tile into 1 of 3 discard piles.

Certainly children younger than 10 can play this game, and you could play "open hand" with younger children with minimal modification to depend more on the luck of the draw rather than the strategy of the discard pile. The parts are well made and colorful, the trays are wood, and the box is small and sturdy. Besides 10 Days in the USA, the company makes 10 Days in Europe, 10 Days in Asia, and 10 Days in Africa. It's a great way to really look at and get to know states and countries.

BoardGameGeek.com link to this game: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/7866

Way Back When in History

Subject: History
Category: Early American, Civics
Ages: 8 and up
# of players: 2 to 8
Time to play: Variable (45 minutes on average)
Mechanics/Game Type: Trivia, roll and move

Ratings (1 to 5)

Educational Value: 5
Gaming value: 3
Aesthetic value: 4
Price value: 4
Ease of play: 5
Younger adaptability: 5, playing in teams

My comments: This game is a really great way to review history facts with your kids. It comes with a colorful board divided into 5 sections--Explorers, Colonies, Revolution, Constitution, and Civil War. The 48 trivia cards each contain one question for each game board section, for a total of 5 questions on each card; there's also 6 wild cards. The very large six-sided die is made of a rubbery plastic so it bounces when it rolls and doesn't make a lot of noise. It also comes with eight pawn-shaped playing pieces.


Playing the game is simple--the player gets asked a question based on what section his playing piece is in; if he answers the question correctly, he rolls and moves. Everyone starts in Explorers; as you answer questions correctly you move from one time period into the next, and the questions change. The Constitution section has a lot of questions about the document itself (thus the civics lessons) as well as historical facts. We play with the variation that you move double the number rolled on the die to keep the game short.

The game is limited as any trivia game is, though you could get questions from other sources, like Professor Noggin card games, for example. They already have Explorers, Revolutionary War, and Civil War. I bought this game at Old Sturbridge Village; it is available online directly from the manufacturer.

BoardGameGeek.com link to this game: none

Manufacturer's web site: http://www.waybackwhengames.com/index.htm

Ingenious

Subject: Math
Category: Geometry, pattern recognition
Ages: 10 and up
# of players: 1 to 4
Time to play: 45 minutes
Mechanics/Game Type: abstract strategy; tile placement, pattern building

Ratings (1 to 5)

Educational Value: 5
Gaming value: 5
Aesthetic value: 4
Price value: 5
Ease of play: 5
Younger adaptability: 5

My comments: This elegant game consists of a game board (shaded three colors to accommodate different numbers of players,) a bag of double-sided hexagon tiles with one of six colored shapes at each end,a tile-keeping tray, and four scoring cards with a small wooden blocks for each color. The scoring cards have one row for each color and 18 columns; each time you score a color you advance the small wooden block of that color on the score card.

Each player starts with six tiles; you play a tile and then draw a tile, trying to get as many color matches as possible with each tile placed. Yet unlike most games, the object here is not to score the highest, but rather not to have the lowest-scoring color.

Both my six and nine year old sons can play this game. The tiles could be a bit thicker, and if they actually fit into a grooved board, like in Blokus, that would this easier to play with active kids. I picked this game up at Barnes & Noble so it was 20% off with my educator's discount. It is well worth it for a game that you'll never outgrow.

BoardGameGeek.com link to this game: http://boardgamegeek.com/game/9674

Sum Swamp

Subject: Math
Category: Addition, subtraction
Ages: 5 and up
# of players: 2 to 4
Time to play: 20 minutes
Mechanics/Game Type: roll and move

Ratings (1 to 5)

Educational Value: 4
Gaming value: 2
Aesthetic value: 5
Price value: 5
Ease of play: 5
Younger adaptability: 5

My comments: This simple game is a great way to practice single-digit addition and subtraction. Kids are really attracted to this game because of the chunky, soft, colorful swamp critter playing pieces, the "unusual" dice, and the colorful board. Two of the dice have integers 1 to 6 while the third die has + and - on it; roll the three, make the equation, and move that many spaces. If you land on a space that says even or odd then you need to roll the appropriate number to continue on; if you land on a number, roll the operation die to see if you go forward or back that many spaces. The first player to the finish line wins.

BoardGameGeek.com link to this game: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/11585

Big Top (also Barnyard Critters)

Subject: Math
Category: Pattern recognition, logic
Ages: 4 and up
# of players: 2 to 8
Time to play: 15 minutes
Mechanics/Game Type: card collection

Ratings (1 to 5)

Educational Value: 5
Gaming value: 3
Aesthetic value: 3
Price value: 5
Ease of play: 5
Younger adaptability: n/a

My comments: A nice twist on matching games, the object is to find what is missing rather than matching what is there. The game uses 5 animals and 5 colors on two types of cards--one type has one animal in one color that are spread out on the playing surface, and the other type has 4 animals in 4 colors that are stacked face down in the middle. You flip the top card and try to figure out which animal and color are missing, and the first player to slap the card with that single animal and color gets to keep it. After flipping all the cards in the deck and collecting all the single animal cards, the player with the most cards wins.

Because the cards have to be analyzed systematically on two different features, the game builds logic skills aw well as pattern recognition. Speed is a factor, which may be a bit frustrating for mixed-age players. It is a good game to start with if the Set (to be reviewed) is too challenging. The deck comes in a hard lidded box rather than the typical flimsy flip-top with colorful animals on them.

For a more challenging variation, switch the decks such that the 4-animal cards are spread out and the single-animal cards are flipped over.

NOTE: be sure to look at the images at Board Game Geek. Barnyard Critters is made by Rio Grande and though still available, it is discontinued (see here at Thoughthammer.com) Big Top is made by Gamewright (see here at Thoughthammer.com) in a magenta box with an elephant but there is another completely different game of the same name by Advanced Primate Entertainment in a yellow box with a ring master meant for older kids.

BoardGameGeek.com link to this game: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/486

Dutch Blitz

Subject: General
Category:
Ages: 8 and up
# of players: 2-4
Time to play: 10 min per round, 30+ min full game
Mechanics/Game Type: cards

Ratings (1 to 5)

Educational Value: 4
Gaming value: 5
Aesthetic value: 3
Price value: 5
Ease of play: 5
Younger adaptability: 3

My comments: "A Vonderful Goot Game!" That's what the box says and I agree wholeheartedly. This is a FUN game that is fairly easy to learn/teach for adults and children alike. And although it does require speed, I think if you are willing to slow your pace down a bit, you can play it with younger children who recognize their colors, numbers by sight and understand order.

Dutch Blitz will strengthen pattern recognition as well as manual dexterity. You are always holding cards and manuevering them as you play while watching several key areas for your next move, requiring hand/eye coordination and attentiveness. Interestingly enough, it seems that the fastest player will always win however that has not proven to be the case any of the times I've played it. The winner varies quite a bit.

I gave this game a 3 for aesthetic value because the packaging leaves something to be desired. It comes in a typical card box and although I am very careful when opening and closing the top flap, it is already starting to tear. The cards themselves are lovely though with little Pennsylvania Dutch boys and girls printed on them.

BoardGameGeek.com link to this game: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/943

Tumblin' Dice

Subject: Math
Category: multiplication
Ages: 8 and up
# of players: 2 to 4
Time to play: 15 minutes
Mechanics/Game Type: dexterity

Ratings (1 to 5)

Educational Value: 5
Gaming value: 5
Aesthetic value: 5
Price value: 3 (this is an expensive game!)
Ease of play: 5
Younger adaptability: 5

My comments: While expensive (somewhere around the $60 mark), Tumblin' Dice is a large, fun dexterity game everyone will enjoy. It consists of a large, multi-tiered, maple-topped board on which each tier multiplies the value of the dice that land on it. It comes with 4 sets of 4 hexahedral (6-sided) dice, each set a different color. Players roll/flick/slide the dice off the top tier to try and get the highest score. The board even has 4 small dry-erase boards to keep score.

Put this game on a table to have a little movement with your board gaming! Younger kids can easily launch the dice even if they can't do the math yet. You could easily change the multiplication values, use dice with more sides, or even add "special spaces" to practice a variety of multiplication facts.

Unfortunately, I have not seen this available new since Christmas. The company still continues to make the smaller Tumblin' Dice, Jr. for 2 players. For now, the full version is still available through Amazon.

BoardGameGeek.com link to this game: http://boardgamegeek.com/game/16747