Parts of Speech Challenge

Subject: Language Arts

Category: Grammar

Ages: 10 to 14

# of players: 2 to 4

Time to play: 30 to 45 minutes

Mechanics/Game Type: Roll and move

Ratings (1 to 5)

Educational Value: 5

Gaming value: 1

Aesthetic value: 3

Price value: 1

Ease of play: 5

Younger adaptability: 1

My comments: Like a lot of educational games on the market, this is a poor excuse for a board game designed to practice parts of speech.  You roll the die, move along the perpetual board (there's no end space) and do what it says on the board.  The four corner spaces have printed on them the definition of a part of speech in a question form and you choose the correct answer.  Why bother with the question?  Most of the spaces have you pick a card and guess the part of speech of the underlined word in one of three sentences (the board tells you which sentence.)  When you get a correct answer you place a chip on that part of speech in the center of the board and when you get 4 chips in a row you earn points.  The instructions even have a variation to play without the board!  The only thing you are getting here of any value is a deck of cards with the sentences and the answer key on the game instructions.  The board is nice enough, though the cards are small while the pawns and chips are cheap stock models.  It is certainly not worth the $20+ price tag.

BoardGameGeek.com link to this game: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/25374/parts-of-speech-challenge

Blurt!

Subject: Language Arts
Category: Vocabulary
Ages: 8 and up
# of players: 2 to 4
Time to play: 45 to 60 min
Mechanics/Game Type: word game

Ratings (1 to 5)

Educational Value: 5
Gaming value: 3
Aesthetic value: 3
Price value: 2
Ease of play: 4
Younger adaptability: 5

My comments: Blurt! has a simple design with a 4-color playing board, playing pieces, a die, and a box of cards. One player rolls the die and reads a defunition (as they call it) while the other players try to be the first to blurt out the correct word and move ahead. There are also 1-on-1 challenges that can lead to players switching positions on the board.

The game moves quickly, though the board is long--use two dice instead of one to shorten the playing time. The rules include several variations, including some for younger players. For my 6 year old, I just read him the definition and let him answer without competition from other players.

There's also a Bible Blurt! available at Christian Book Distributors

Blurt! and Bible Blurt! both have card game versions that are less than $10 while the board game will cost anywhere between $25 and $30.

BoardGameGeek.com link to this game: http://boardgamegeek.com/game/1607

Last Word

Subject: Language Arts
Category: Vocabulary
Ages: 8 and up
# of players: 2 to 8
Time to play: 30 minutes
Mechanics/Game Type: Word Based

Ratings (1 to 5)

Educational Value: 4
Gaming value: 3
Aesthetic value: 3
Price value: 2
Ease of play: 3

My comments:
This is one of those speed word games similar to Discovery Toys' Whiz Kids with a small twist. Players are given a letter and subject and have to think of the first word that fits the category starting with the given letter and continue to come up with as many words as they can before the timer goes off. Those who come up with the last word advance around the gameboard. The fun and exciting part of this game is the timer. It goes off randomly so nobody ever knows when it will alarm.

While our family did consider this a fun and challenging game, it got old after a few plays and we had to put it away for a couple months before wanting to play again.

BoardGameGeek.com link to this game:
http://boardgamegeek.com/game/17709

Chronicles of Narnia--The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe Game

Subject: Language Arts
Category: Literature
Ages: 8 to adult
# of players: 2 to 4
Time to play: 60 to 90 minutes
Mechanics: roll and move

Ratings (1 to 5)

Educational Value: 2
Gaming value: 3
Aesthetic value: 4
Price value: 4
Ease of play: 3
Younger adaptability: 5 (Very easy to coach youngers to play)

My comments: This is the game based on the Disney movie. It includes 4 detailed playing pieces, and a nice board (though you have to annoyingly stick stickers on the dice.) Each player has different special abilities detailed on a well-drawn thick card. Players start at the lamppost and try to go around the board back to it, though you move wolves or the White Witch along with the characters. You also earn Aslan tokens (through rolling or card draw) that will help you use your special abilities, or turned you back from stone.

While this is roll and move, it has more complex movements, like moving the bad guys, and choosing to roll to move or roll to get tokens. You can use your special abilities cooperatively or competitively, so it is not too hard to modify this into a deliberately cooperative game.

Not too much educational value, other than improving gaming skills and hopefully inspiring reading. It is interesting enough that the kids will play it for several years.

BoardGameGeek.com link to this game: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/20028