The Lost World: Jurassic Park Game (Classic)

The Lost World Jurassic Park Game

• designer: uncredited
• publisher: Milton Bradley
• date: 1996
• BoardGameGeek rank/rating: 7266/5.84
• age: 8+
• # of players: 2-4
• print status: OOP

You may or may not be a fan of the films - for the record, I really liked the first one, tolerated the second one, and ignored the third one - but if you like dinosaurs, you'll love the whole "run or be eaten" vibe that the game gives off. 

You'll also love the cool bits vibe as well - as you can see from the picture, the game has a number of cardboard buildings that you assemble & use for play. (Unusual for an American game - there's actually a diagram to show you how to get them all back in the box!) 

The game is pretty simple - the human player (or players) start with 12 people and are trying to get them across the ruined compound to the helicopter pad. (Three people escaped counts as a win.) The dinosaur player has a T-Rex & four 'raptors to chase down & eat the humans. Each team has a different set of dice for movement. One of the dice for each side is a "go/stop" dice - on a "go" roll, you do your move & then roll again. On a "stop" roll, your turn ends with this move. (There's a lot of complaining about this particular mechanic on the Geek - there are a couple of fixes posted in the forums there & both of them look like they'd work pretty well. It hasn't bothered us that much - it's just the way a dice-heavy game goes sometimes.) 

Players can hide in buildings - but there are ways for the raptors to jump in and eat everyone. Thankfully, raptors who get into buildings sometimes have a hard time getting out, which is good for the humans. There's no hiding in the start building, however - that's what the T-Rex is there to prevent. He rumbles forward during the early turns & when he arrives eats whoever is left in the building.

For the human player(s), it's a game of lunging forward to safe zones and hoping for streaky runs... while the dinosaur player usually ends up playing a combination of offense (sending raptors forward to snack on humans caught outside) and defense (keeping a raptor or two close to the helipad to pick up anyone who's trying to make an end run.)

It's not a particularly balanced game - again, something that bothers some folks over on the Geek. I think it's actually part of the charm of the game - the dinosaur player has a built-in advantage that makes this a great parent/kid game. In our case, Dad takes the humans & my son takes the dinos - I'm lucky to get 3 players out! (I have got as many as 5 and as few as, well, zero.)

Along the same lines, there's:

Jurassic Park III: Island Survival Game

• designer: uncredited
• publisher: Milton Bradley
• date: 2001
• BoardGameGeek rank/rating: 7179/5.88
• age: 8+
• # of players: 2-4
• print status: OOP

Also unbalanced, but it works much better for 3 or 4 players. This time around, the dinosaur player is at a disadvantage. Still, a ton of fun in the box.

Avoid at all costs the Jurassic Park III: Spinosauras Chase game... blech. (There are actually 4 more licensed games for JP franchise - these are the only three I've played.)

This is an updated version of post that appeared a VERY long time ago on this blog... and which I've trotted back out in honor of Jurassic World. (No, I haven't seen any of the licensed games from the newest member of the franchise.)

Essen 2013: Best. News. Ever.

Yes, yes... there will be lots of cool new games at Essen this year - the "official" Geeklist on BGG runs 19 pages as of yesterday. (For the math-challenged among us, that's over 450 board & card games being released.) But the most important board game news is not a new game - it's a reprint. 

Haba is reprinting Kayanak!

To understand why I think that's so cool, you need to know that:

a) it's been out-of-print for quite a while
b) it was the #1 game on my Kid Games 100 back in 2009

Here's what I wrote about it back then - and while there's been some good kid games since (Monster-Falle, for example), it's still #1 in my book.

Yes, my friends, we’ve finally reached Number One on the Kid Games 100. The Numero Uno, the Big Kahuna, the game that I believe is possibly the best kid game ever. 

Or at least that’s what I think today – and for the past year or so. (I actually made the Kid Games 100 list in May of 2008.) It’s possible something better will come along – but for now, this is my favorite. 

Sadly, it’s out of print… which I know (from your emails) makes some of you a bit testy. Sorry about that – but I think two of the best race games on the planet are Entenrallye & Um Reifenbreite… and both of them are OOP as well. 

But why do I like Kayanak so much? In the words of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “let me count the ways”:

• the theme (ice-fishing) and the mechanics (using a wooden stick to poke holes in the [paper] ice and fishing out small metal balls with a magnet) work together perfectly
• the components are, as is typical for Haba games, top-notch. In this case, they not only look good but are extremely functional.
• The game plays well with 2, 3 or 4 players… and with children as young as four & adults as old as dirt.
• It's freakishly fun - I mean, seriously - you get to poke holes in paper (what kid hasn't spent most of slow school morning doing that?!), play with magnets, and pretend to be an Inuit out on a frozen lake. (OK, I have no desire to ACTUALLY be on a frozen lake, but the pretending part is fun.)

The gameplay is dice-activated: what you roll tell you what you can do (cut holes, fish, move or a combination of things) as well as how many times you can do them. The dice also give you opportunities to ice over other players fishing holes and "melt" portions of the board (making them impassable). 

There's a lot of ways to play tactically - and yet, part of the charm of the game is that the fish (little metal balls in two sizes: regular & "fish story") sometimes clump together so that make an amazing haul... and sometimes you fish in an area that is, sadly, fishless. (Is "fishless" a word? I'm not sure that I care.)

I never refuse to play this with my boys... or at game conventions... or wherever. And that's why Kayanak is #1.

The Problem With Sorting Kid Games By Age

I've promised a couple of you that I would eventually sort the Kid Games 100 (and other kid games I've reviewed) by appropriate age... but in the process of doing so, I've run into some snags.

• Most importantly, there is a marked difference between "age at which a child can play the game with a parent/adult" and "age at which a child can play the game with kids his/her own age." For example, my 9 year old son can play a number of games (Thebes, Return of the Heroes, Axis & Allies: Battle of the Bulge, Battlelore) while I'm at the table that he would have a difficult teaching and/or "officiating" with his friends.
• A similar issue: the intellectual maturity of kids varies wildly - while both my boys seem to have developed reading skills very quickly, some kids don't... and that keeps them from comfortably learning and/or playing certain games.
• Along the same lines: the emotional maturity of kids also varies - my five year old can make the decisions needed to play Dungeonquest... but he was completely creeped out by his character being bitten by a vampire (for those who don't know the game, it's just a card w/some game effects) and refuses to play again. Other kids we know don't have the ability to play games with hosage without having major breakdowns.

Those three issues are making it tough to know how best to sort the games... I'm thinking that I'll probably make multiple lists, but that's going to delay the project a bit.

Sorry.

Kid Games 100: Recap

Back in June of 2008, I decided to create my own list of the top 100 Kid Games. It took me a long time (more than a year) to get the whole thing blogged out... and I'm still in the process of copying the reviews over to the Geek. (A number of them also appear on Erik Arneson's board games site on About.com.)

The following links will help you find your way to the key posts in the series... but if you want to see all 127 of them, you can use the Kid Games label link.

• The Whole Enchilada - this is the list of all 100 games
• The Kid Games 100 Geeklist - if you like using the Boardgamegeek website, this is how you find the list of the top 100 games arranged in BGG ranking order.
• Kid Games 100: Designers & Kid Games 100: Publishers

When the Kid Games 100 was finally finished, I realized that I needed to explain why a number of games were missing... so the MIA Games posts began:

• MIA Games (Never Played)
• MIA Games (Better With Adults)
• MIA Games (Just Not Up To Snuff)
• MIA Games (Just Missed the Cut)
• MIA Games (Recent But Really Good)

MIA #1: Cheese Snatching (Kaseklau!)

Cheese Snatching (Kaseklau!)

• designer: Wolfgang Dirscherl
• publisher: Haba
• date: 2008
• BoardGameGeek rank/rating: not ranked/7.25
• age: 5+
• # of players: 2-4
• print status: in print
• cost: $12.59 (maukilo.com)

And we've reached #1 again - this time of the MIA (missing in action) games from the Kid Games 100. Once again, it's a Haba game (the Kid Games 100 #1 was Kayanak) and once again it has been a rousing success with every group of people I've roped into playing it, regardless of age or gaming background. In fact, I think this would almost have certainly have ended up in the top ten of the Kid Games 100 had I played it before I made the list.

The premise is simple & timeless: it's "Tom & Jerry" meets Can't Stop. In turn, players roll the dice & move the mouse and the cat clockwise. If the mouse ends up on a space without the cat, he can take the top cheese card on the pile. Then comes the big decision: keep scavenging for cheese or keep what you have?

You only get to take the cheese cards into your scoring pile when you end your turn... unless your turn ends by the cat & the mouse ending up on the same space. In that case, you lose all the cheese you collected that turn.

When 3 rooms (spaces) are empty, the game is over. You count up cheese (each card has 1-3 pieces on it) and the person with the most cheese wins.

OK, I'm a little worried that being able to explain the rules in 7 sentences will turn people away from this wonderful little game - but the simplicity is part of what makes it so darn likable. You can teach anyone how to play in less than 30 seconds... and the game takes no more than 10 minutes. It packs a nifty push-your-luck wallop into a very small time frame.

It also is highly portable. The box isn't huge to begin with, but for our last vacation I put the components in a sandwich bag & we played it in airports, on coffee tables & even in the floor of our bedroom.

Finally, the recommended age of 5 is only necessary for counting up score - the actual playing of the game is easy enough that a 3 year old can do it. At roughly $13.00, it'll be one of the best kid gaming investments you're likely to make this year.

MIA #2: Chicken Squabble (Zoff im Huhnerhof)

Chicken Squabble (Zoff im Huhnerhof)

• designer: Marco Teubner
• publisher: Haba
• date: 2006
• BoardGameGeek rank/rating: 3349/6.35
• age: 4+
• # of players: 2-4
• print status: in print
• cost: $35.99 (maukilo.com)

It's a good thing that the crow is warning the chickens about the approach of the fox... otherwise they wouldn't have enough time to dash back to the hen house when he appears. Of course, you'd think the rubber-armed farmhand who's flinging wooden chicken feed at them would figure that out himself, but that's the way it goes in agribusiness.

Zoff im Huhnerhof (literally "Trouble in the Henhouse") brings this whole farming thing down to a very simple level - the individual chicken. Players are hungry hens who venture deep into the pen, hunting for spots where the lowly farmhand has thrown the feed. At the end of the game, the chicken with the most feed amassed wins the game.

So, other than sounding like the least interesting Agricola spin-off expansion ever, why would I put this game near the top of my MIA from the Kid Games 100 list? It really boils down to two things:

1. It is a gorgeous game - chunky wooden chips, a very responsive farmhand/flinging figure, and an inside-the-box playing area complete with individual "pits" for the feed, a hen house twice as high as the box side & the crow/fox timer built into the side of the board.
2. It is loads of fun - I happily played 3 games of this (with adults!) in one afternoon at a gaming convention... and with other "important" games calling for my attention. This just has such a high FPM (Fun Per Minute) ratio that I gladly jumped into it again & again.

Each player begins the game with 10 chicken feed - and, in turn, they flick a piece of feed onto/into the game board, both seeding the board for chickens to feed and, by the nature of the space they shoot into, determining how/if their chicken will move & if the crow (game timer) moves forward. Accuracy helps... you need your chicken to fly (so to speak) if they're going to get out to the highly profitable spaces that are seeded before the game with feed before the fox appears.

Wherever a chicken ends their move, they pick up the feed in that space & put it in their supply... the same supply they fling into the pen in order to move. So, a safety tip: you don't want a lot of turns where you aren't moving & picking up feed, because you're spending it regardless.

When the fox appears, the chickens turn & run back to the coop - only now they are in full panic, so they can't stop & pick up feed... so every turn burns feed until the chicken reaches the safety of the coop. Burning feed = bad, btw, since feed = end game score. (I'm so math-y.)

I think the game is playable by 4 year olds (as claimed by the box) but real accuracy won't kick in for a year or two after that. Of course, there are a number of adults who will never grok the Way of Feed-Throwing Farmer... doesn't lower the fun factor of this game one bit.

MIA #3: The Rolling Gang (Die Kullerbande)

The Rolling Gang (Die Kullerbande)

• designer: Heinz Meister
• publisher: Haba
• date: 2006
• BoardGameGeek rank/rating: no ranking/6.67
• age: 5+
• # of players: 2-8
• print status: in print
• cost: $27.99 (maukilo.com)

Actually, only one of the members of the gang is rolling... but the other members of his posse have decided (due to the benefits of magnetic power) to stand really still and let their friend the mouse (who to all normal powers of observation looks like a small wooden ball) run between their legs. Your mission (should you choose to accept it) is to manipulate the aforementioned mouse through the aforementioned legs as quickly as possible.

This weird & wonderful crass between Croquet & the old Labyrinth tilting mazes comes from the fertile creative mind of Heinz Meister - I mean, seriously, when is the last time you thought of putting a thin sheet of metal in the bottom of a game box in order to turn it into a farmyard with six animals wickets?

The rolling part itself is simple - take the box in both hands & tilt it in order to maneuver the mouse (small wooden ball) between the legs (magnetically attached wickets) of the various animals. The order is determined by a set of twelve very chunky cards with whimsical artistic representations of our barnyard friends - there are two of each animal. The basic version of the game involves laying out a line of all 12 cards & doing them in order while a sand timer runs. The second (not necessarily advanced) version of the game uses the same cards, but another player turns them over and makes the appropriate animal noise to clue the roller as to the next domesticated beast to approach.

This, of course, is where it is only fair & right to let you see this in action, courtesy of Doug "Garrett's Games & Geekiness" Garrett...

There are two other variations in the rules: one which uses a stick (much like Haba's OOP Mause-Rallye) and one that is basically a Name That Tune-like gambling game. We haven't played either of these because we've had so much fun with the first two.

The game also includes a wooden semi-sphere to put under the box to make it easier for smaller kids... we haven't found this to work well in practice but that may be our problem. Either way, I think the age 5+ suggestion is a little low - I'd say the fine motor skills needed to play don't kick in for a year or two after that.

MIA #4: Fluch der Mumie

Fluch der Mumie

• designer: Marcel-Andre Casasola Merkle
• publisher: Ravensburger
• date: 2008
• BoardGameGeek rank/rating: 903/6.98
• age: 8+
• # of players: 2-5
• print status: in print
• cost: $36.90 (Boards & Bits)

Many, many moons ago, I bought this weird magnetic game called Zomax on the recommendation of Games Magazine... and I wasn't disappointed. It's not perfect, mind you - it's kind of like Risk crossed w/Conquest, but it's played "blind" because of the magnets & the vertical metal board.

One of my other early German game acquisitions was Ravensburger's Scotland Yard, where one of the players was Mr. X & used hidden movement to try to escape from the other players - the detectives. A similar hidden movement system was used in Clue: The Great Museum Caper... which is a great game with a 3D-molded plastic board, btw.

Imagine that you crossed Zomax with Scotland Yard & A-mazing Labyrinth... then drenched the game in kid-friendly mummy garb: you've got Fluch der Mumie. (In English, that translates to "Curse of the Mummy.")

One player is the Mummy of the title and sits on one side of the board - he can only see his piece. On the other side of the board sit 2-4 adventurers, who can see their pieces as well as the location of the mummy. Each player starts with 3 ankh symbols (life points) and a hankering for Egyptian treasure. (The hankering is represented by 5 different treasure tiles matching treasures printed on the board.)

The objective of the Mummy is to catch the players X number of times (X = a certain number of ankh tiles, depending on the number of adventurers). The objective of the players is to be the first adventurer to get all five treasures.

On a turn, the player rolls the five dice & chooses one of them to be his move. There are a range of numbers on each die, plus an arrow that indicates that the player may move in a straight line until he reaches another player, a wall or the Mummy.

There is also a Mummy symbol on the adventurer's dice - if you roll one (or more) of these, you set them aside. You may choose at the beginning of your turn to pick up all the saved Mummy dice set aside from other player's turns... but if you do, the Mummy gets an "interrupt" turn for as many spaces as there were set-aside dice.

Once each player has moved, the Mummy rolls his die (making suitable mummy-like groaning noises). He adds the number of set-aside Mummy dice to his number & moves the appropriate number of spaces. If he catches an adventurer, his movement is done... and he gets an ankh symbol from that adventurer as well as sending him/her to the bottom of the board.

A player who loses all his ankh symbols is out of the game (aka "dead"). OTOH, a player who finds all of the treasures on his cards wins the game.

The flow of this game is almost perfect - in the early going, the adventurers are willing to toss each other "under the bus" (so to speak), letting the Mummy conk other players without being concerned about the ankh count. Later in the game, adventurers are torn between taking chances to race for the treasures & playing it safe so as not to hand the game to the Mummy.

As well, the "must reveal when & where you pick up treasure" mechanic means that whoever is in the lead is giving clues to the Mummy on where to find him/her - an excellent game-balancing mechanic.

This is one of those special games that is loved equally by kids and adults. With kids, the game is random but really a lot of fun. With adults, there's some strategy and some definite hosage. Highly recommended!

MIA #5: Treasure, Ready, Go! (Auf die Schätze, fertig, los!)

Treasure, Ready, Go! (Auf die Schätze, fertig, los!)

• designer: Roberto Fraga
• publisher: Haba
• date: 2008
• BoardGameGeek rank/rating: not ranked/7.17
• age: 5+
• # of players: 2-4
• print status: in print
• cost: $31.49 (maukilo.com)

I'm already on record as a huge fan of Jungle Treasure, Roberto Fraga's frenetic mash-up of Time is Money (his own design) & Make'n'Break. (BTW, Jungle Treasure is published by Haba!)

So it comes as no surprise to my faithful readers (and even to my unfaithful ones) that I thoroughly enjoy Treasure, Ready, Go! This is a big box version of the aforementioned Jungle Treasure with some great adaptions to the game to make it more accessible to younger children.

Once again, we are seeking treasure - but this time we're on the island of Mad Roger Sword... and in order to successfully collect his gold coins we must complete a variety of tasks:

• rebuild the ancient ruins (using six 1-inch square colored blocks)
• locate important supplies (by rolling a custom die)
• reorganize the animals (there are four chunky wooden animals included)
• find matching treasures (8 treasure tokens lay in the middle of the board)
• recognize animals in disguise (the first player to do so, even if they aren't the active player, receive the card)
• imitate local wildlife (three different cards have players posing & making animal noises)
• take a penny/pick it up/then all day/you'll have good luck (there are some cards that are give free gold)

On your turn, another player flips the (roughly) 1 minute timer over and you begin flipping the over-sized cards & completing as many tasks as you can before time runs out. Once you finish a task, you can flip another card or call "Stop!" - of course, if you don't call "Stop!" before the time runs out, you get no treasure (points) for this turn. (Ouch.) Each player gets three turns... and the person with the most treasure at the end of the game wins.

It's amazingly simple to teach - once you explain the timer, you take the first turn & they'll figure most of the game out. Kids love the frenetic activity... but don't count adults out. I've tried this with numerous groups of adults only, always with success.

The rules contain a couple of great variants to tune the game to your taste:

• In Jungle Treasure, the timer is hidden behind a player's hand. You can do that here - in fact, it's a good balancing mechanic when playing with kids for the adults to use the hidden timer rule.
• You can also count cards instead of coins (marked on the cards), making it easier to little ones to count their points.

I've also used this with my 4 year old as an experience/imagination game - we each took turns doing 10 cards and just had fun.

MIA #6: Die Siedler von Catan Junior

Die Siedler von Catan Junior

• designer: Klaus Teuber
• publisher: Kosmos
• date: 2007
• BoardGameGeek rank/rating: 3156/6.43
• age: 6+
• # of players: 3-4
• print status: in print
• cost: $40.95 (FunAgain)

Please, whatever you do, do not confuse this "training wheels for kids" version of The Settlers of Catan with the gorgeous, expensive & empty of substance The Kids of Catan. (Which, btw, also could win an award for "Did We Forget We Were Playing This Game With Children?" Award - tippy wooden pieces on a board with a spinning wheel that is moved every turn?! Klaus, come on!)

But, in the words of Airplane, "That's not important right now." You've come here to read about the game, not about my whining about a different game. (The lines can get kinda blurry sometimes 'round these parts.)

I'm going to assume that you already have some working knowledge of The Settlers of Catan... if you don't, Shannon Applecline's review on RPGnet is an excellent place to learn more. (I've also got my own Unofficial Guide To Catan, Part 1 & Part 2, but those are written to the less-casual player.)

Here's the basic differences between the original game & the "junior" version:

• In Settlers, you're a settler. In Junior, you're a pirate.
• In Junior, there is one additional trading option: you can trade once per turn 1-for-1 with the Marketplace board.
• In Junior, resources are generated w/one die - and unless you're blocked by the "ghost pirate", you get something every turn.
• In Junior, you are simply trying to build 7 pirate warehouses - no upgrading to cities & no open points between settlements. (You simply connect them via ships.)

The changes in the game mean that experienced players (well, folks who've played the game once before) can knock out a game in 30 minutes. It's simple enough that a 6 year old can play it - but there's enough game here that adults can enjoy it with kids.

Kid Games You Can Find (Without Much Work)

One of my readers (hi, Paul!) left this comment earlier today on one of the MIA game reviews:

Mark, your lists are great and very helpful,. How about a list of good games that you can actually go to a local store and pick up instead of purchasing them by mail order via Germany or somewhere else? Just a thought.

I decided to respond here with a blog post rather than confine my answer to the comments section... as I think this is a really good question. However, there are a couple of problems with answering it.

#1 - What do you mean by "local store"?

Most folks buy games at their local "big box" store - Wal-Mart, Target, K-Mart, etc. Your average American has easy access to these kinds of stores - but while the prices are good, the selection is pretty slim. You can find some of the better Gamewright card games along with both the good & bad Cranium games for kids (Cariboo & Hullabaloo = good, Squawkbox games = bad). Of course they stock the Hasbro games, which have a few neat items (the newest version of Risk, Sorry! Sliders, the Bop It! toy/game, etc.) but a whole lot more of the "themed versions of classic games" kind of thing.

If you live in a larger city or nearby suburbs, you probably have an upscale toy store in your area. Depending on who runs the store, they are likely to stock Ravensburger, Haba & Selecta games, along with the full Gamewright line. Prices are usually retail (or higher, depending on their overhead), however.

Again, in larger cities or suburbs, you may have access to a store that sells board & card games. Those stores will almost certainly stock Rio Grande Games (who publishes or distributes a number of kid games in addition to the more gamer-oriented heart of their line). They are less likely to stock games you can find in the "big box" stores as they can't compete on price.

With all that said, it's important to note that really good, well-stocked game stores and upscale toy stores with a wide variety of board & card games are a rarity. Here in Fresno (a town of nearly 500,000 people), there are only two game stores and neither of them does a good job of stocking kid games. There are a couple of high-end toy stores that will order Haba games for me, but they don't typically stock them.

#2 - What's the problem with online shopping/mail order?

I understand the whole "buy local/keep the tax revenue local" emphasis - but if there isn't anyone local who stocks that item, it's not like I was going to make the purchase here in the first place.

But maybe that's not your problem with what you call "mail order." Maybe you're worrying since so many of these games have foreign-sounding names that the only way to get them is from across the Atlantic.

First, all of the Haba & Selecta games are multi-lingual. They do not have text on the pieces or board and they come with rulebooks printed in multiple languages - thankfully for those of us with English as our native tongue, it's always in there. Ravensburger games printed with an English name have English rules & components included.

Second, I don't order very much directly from Germany any longer... while it was once quite lucrative (thanks to a strong dollar & the overseas ability to not pay the VAT) to buy games from Germany, that situation has changed. As well, many of the really good German games are now re-published in English, thanks to Rio Grande, Mayfair & a host of other companies.

I do order from a number of different online retailers here in the U.S.

• maukilo.com is owned by Haba USA and has an excellent stock of Haba products (toys as well as games)... they also have some great clearance deals if you keep your eyes peeled. (NOTE: I have an agreement with Haba USA where they provide me with games to review - possible conflict of interest disclosure.)
• funagain.com does a great job of stocking older & odd kid games, but they can sometimes be a bit pricey... they do have great clearance sales if you get on their mailing list.
• thoughthammer.com has historically had a good selection of classy kid games
• timewellspent.org also has a good selection
• gamesurplus.com has the best customer service in the business as well as a good selection of kid games

I have done business multiple times with all of these folks & recommend them without reservation.

So, you asked about a list...

I combed through the Kid Games 100 to come up with a list of games that are (a) in print, and (b) available for purchase at your local store (with the caveat that YOUR local store may not carry them.) I've divided the list into four groups (by type of store) and added some notes to some of the games.

Game Stores

• Au Backe!/By Golly - By Golly is the new version of this great little memory game published by Rio Grande
• Chateau Roquefort - the most gamer-y of the Kid Games 100, also published by Rio Grande
• Chicken Cha Cha Cha - gorgeous memory game published by Rio Grande
• Gulo Gulo - classic family dexterity game published by Rio Grande
• Gumball Rally - an American design published by Z-Man Games

Upscale Toy Stores

• Cat & Mouse - a Ravensburger "square box" game.
• Chuck-It Chicken - another Ravensburger "square box" game.
• Enchanted Forest - this is an older Ravensburger game - it's seen print under a variey of themes (including Wizard of Oz!)
• Giro Galoppo - a great Selecta game that was imported by Rio Grande.
• Hop Hop Hurray! - Ravensburger game that's as big a hit with adults as with kids.
• Jungle Treasure - Haba medium box game of speed & dexterity.
• Klondike - Haba big box game of dexterity & bluffing.
• Pirates on the High Seas - Ravensburger game with a HUGE box - and incredible components.
• Sherlock - now published by Playroom - great little memory card game.
• Smuggler's Island - Haba big box "delivery" game.
• Strong Stuff - the Goldsieber version is OOP, but this nifty dexterity game has been republished by Haba and is shipping to the U.S. as I type
• The Black Pirate - Haba big box game - lots of fun.
• The Ladybug's Costume Party - classic Selecta cooperative game imported by Rio Grande
• Turbulento - another Selecta game... may be tougher to find.
• Twiddle Turtle - Haba long box with amazing wooden turtles.
• Viva Topo - Selecta game that should be easiest to find.

Book Stores

• Corsaro is a German game that was reprinted in Klutz Books' The 15 Greatest Board Games in the World... again, a full disclosure moment: I was one of the consultants on this book. (I don't actually see any more money from it but I do like to pump the sales as much as possible. You can read more about my experiences with the book in my post Klutz & Konsulting.)

Target/Wal-Mart/etc.

• Balloon Lagoon - There's been a number of editions of this one by Cranium - all of them have a lot of early elementary age goodness in 'em.
• Duck Duck Bruce - My only frustration with this game is the lower quality cards - but the gameplay itself is delightful. I think I paid $5 at Target for this Gamewright reprint of a an older German card game.
• Hula Hippos - Another Gamewright reprint of a German game (this time from Haba).
• Hullabaloo - Twister for the preschool set - I'd shoot for the non-DVD version. Published by Cranium.
• Operation Rescue Kit - a nice re-imagining of the classic game from Hasbro - comes in a plastic case & with a timer/scorekeeping mini-computer, which makes the game MUCH more fun.
• Scene-It Disney - two editions exist - both are good.
• Thing-a-ma-bots - another Gamewright card game.
• Yahtzee Junior - again, lots of editions of this dice game. Great introductory game from Hasbro. (We have Toy Story, but the edition doesn't really matter - choose one your kid enjoys!)
• Zingo! - Bingo for the younger set... ThinkFun did a nice job on this one.

Final Note

In the process of researching this post, I found a new blog about board games that speaks to Paul's question: The Game Aisle by Kim Vandenbroucke.

MIA #7: The Suitcase Detectives (Kofferdetektive)

The Suitcase Detectives (Kofferdetektive)

• designer: Guido Hoffman
• publisher: Haba
• date: 2008
• BoardGameGeek rank/rating: not ranked/6.83
• age: 5+
• # of players: 2-4
• print status: in print
• cost: $23.39 (maukilo.com)

We "serious gamers" spend an inordinate amount of time carping about things like oversized game boxes. (Yes, you may laugh & point & make fun of us if you wish.) That's not a problem for The Suitcase Detectives - in the words of Comic Book Guy: "Best. Game. Box. Ever."

You see, the box is not simply the right-sized container for the game components... it IS a game component. The box has a thin pull-out tray, covered by a semi-transparent window inside the main compartment of the box/suitcase. The suitcase/box also closes to hide the window - we'll get to "why" in just a minute. The other components include a bag with a variety of silhouette pieces, 4 small card decks w/the silhouette shapes, a sand timer and a score board & markers.

The players are detectives, trying to spot what's been stolen out of this mysterious suitcase (aka "game box"). In turn, each player gets to be "the thief" and remove 2 (or possibly more or less, if you're playing with the variant rules in the rulebook) of the silhouette shapes from the tray & hide them in the provided bag. The suitcase is shaken & then opened, allowing the detective players to peer through the semi-transparent window & attempt to figure out which items are gone.

Of course, as the pieces lay across each other, it can be very difficult to figure out what is & isn't there. The detective players use their individual card decks to secretly register their guesses. When time runs out, the pieces are pulled out of the bag and each correct guess is worth one point on the scoring track.

Depending on the number of players, each person gets to be "Percy the Pilferer" a certain number of times & then the game is over. (Yes, that's his name in the rules - I think if I was a master thief and required to have an alliterative nickname, I'd go with something like Harry the Heistmaster or Sammy the Safecracker. "Percy the Pilferer" sounds like Neville Longbottom's equivalent number at Slytherin.) The player with the most points (correct identifications) wins.

There's some really nice flexibility built into the game. You can make it easier by placing less objects in the game (there are 13 different ones & you normally take 5 out of the game)... or you can increase the difficulty by playing with more objects. You can also vary the number of objects removed.

The Suitcase Detectives has gone over well with the early elementary set (1st-3rd grades)... and, with the number of objects reduced, actually works pretty well with my 4 year old.

MIA #8: Ghost Hunters (Geisterjager)

Ghost Hunters (Geisterjager)

• designer: Andreas, Lukas & Ulei Frei
• publisher: Haba
• date: 2007
• BoardGameGeek rank/rating: not ranked/6.92
• age: 5+
• # of players: 3-5
• print status: in print
• cost: $35.99 (maukilo.com)

Haba does "mildy creepy" as well as any game company I've seen - and Ghost Hunters is an excellent example of how this works. The atmospheric backdrop to the scoring board (which is a haunted castle, complete with a full moon silouetting bats flying by) is offset by the adorable ghost pieces - evidently in this haunted castle, the ghosts need illumination (a candle), a key (what? they can't float through locked doors?!) and a refreshing beverage (it looks like lemonade). So kids get a little bit of scary with enough comforting things to make it accessible even to the most jittery child in your house. (For comparison, Fantasy Flight Games has a version of Fury of Dracula with real menace... and in the late 80's/early 90's, Games Workshop published nearly every game with an abundance of skulls. Seriously - it was as if the Headhunter from Disneyland's "Jungle Cruise" was following you around & decorating.)

But back to the game itself - the players here are ghost hunters (hence the name), trying to identify which ghosts are haunting the castle. They do this by watching as one of the ghosts (under the control of one of the players) flits past the windows. When one of the hunters thinks they've recognized the ghost, they call for a halt to the haunting. All of the hunters then use their "hunt wheels" to secretly make a guess at which ghost they've seen. (There are 12 ghosts in the game - 8 which you must identify correctly & 4 more which you can simply guess as "haven't seen these".)

The answers are revealed and the hunters advance along the track: 2 spots if they're the only correct hunter & 1 spot if more than one hunter is right. If none of the hunters are correct, the player moving the ghost moves forward.

The ingenious construction of the game is fascinating: the scoreboard actually hides the pieces when you're not playing... and the castle is a hollow stand-up piece that fits into the side of the box. The ghost player manipulates the ghost in question with a magnet. (It's also nice if the ghost player makes spooky noises... but that's not really a design feature of the game.)

The game comes with two sets of ghosts to vary the difficulty of the game. The "easy" set is easy enough that my 4 year old & 8 year old can play together.

MIA #9: Butterfingers Cube (Kubus Fidibus)

Butterfingers Cube (Kubus Fidibus)

• designer: uncredited
• publisher: Haba
• date: 2005
• BoardGameGeek rank/rating: not ranked/6.33
• age: 6+
• # of players: 2-5
• print status: OOP
• cost: $21.99 (Oompa.com)

For all the Harry Potter fans out there in the audience, I give you Kubus Fidibus (which, frankly, is a lot more magical sounding name than "Butterfingers Cube.") This tricky little dexterity game is another bit of oddball genius from the folks at Haba. (I need to check this, but the Geek says this design is "uncredited" - which is weird, as Haba is usually really good about crediting designers.)

The magical cube, shot through with holes shaped like the magical items it is meant to contain, sits on a frame. In turn, players roll the die & then rotate the cube so that the side indicated by the die is facing up. Carefully they place/drop the appropriate item (pointy hat, magic ring, wand, spell book) into the cube & place it back on the frame.

There are two special sides to the die (and the magic cube!): the stars is a "wild card" side, in which you can drop any object, and the square indicates a side without any holes (so you don't have to drop an object into the cube.)

If (well, when) objects fall out of the cube, the player who causes this magical catastrophe has to keep them as evidence of his sqibb-ish tendencies. Thankfully, the "no more than 2" rule from Animal Upon Animal is found in this game as well... meaning that the competition is not unduly long or harsh to novice players. (For those who don't know the rule, it simply means that you never have to take more than 2 pieces, regardless of how many fall out of the cube.)

When a roll is made that can't be fulfilled from the existing pile of magic objects, the game is over. The player who has taken the least fallen items is the winner.

The trickiest part of the game is the one-handed turning of the magic cube - it's all too easy to get your hand in a very uncomfortable position trying to get the cube flipped around without sending an avalanche of magical stuff to the table. This, of course, is part of the fun.

Like all dexterity games, the fine motor skills required to play at some level of skill don't occur until kids are 6+. Adults can also "handicap" themselves by agreeing to take "no more than 3 items" when they have a fall... or by spotting a younger player an item or two. Adults can also beg the kids they are playing with for mercy, as some adults should not play dexterity games - as they have none!

MIA #10: Panda, Gorilla & Co.: Das Spiel

Panda, Gorilla & Co.: Das Spiel

• designer: Peter Wichmann
• publisher: Schmidt Spiele
• date: 2003
• BoardGameGeek rank/rating: not ranked/5.32
• age: 8+
• # of players: 2-4
• print status: OOP
• cost: $43.95 (FunAgain.com)

I'm a sucker for zoo games: I'm a huge fan of Michael Schacht's Zooloretto & Aquaretto (and I'm probably way too proud that Michael published a variant for Aquaretto created by my then-7-year-old son, Braeden on his website.) I think O Zoo le Mio is great fun (and actually works with kids, though they have real trouble with correctly judging the values of the various auctions.) Frank's Zoo is The Great Dalmuti on steroids (and, IMHO, a better game)... though I like the German name (Zoff im Zoo = "Trouble in the Zoo") better than the American one.

So Panda, Gorilla & Co. was a natural fit for me: a game about filling a zoo with animals with a mechanic based on the Carcassonne game system. But after I purchased it through an Ebay auction, I read the comments on BGG, which were, shall we say, not positive. So it was with great trepidation that I opened the box & got ready to play.

What I found was a game that we've had a lot of fun with as a family... though not a game that I'd likely pull out at a gathering of hardcore gamers. If you've played Carcassonne (draw & lay a tile; optionally place one marker/person on the board to attempt to claim victory points), this will seem very familiar.

Each player has three sets of "suggestion" markers: 3 large, 3 medium & 3 small. (Yes, it's beginning to sound like a odd triplets-oriented version of Goldilocks & the Three Bears.) After they place a tile into the zoo (matching roads & colors of grass), they may place one of those suggestions on the tile. When an area is completed (surrounded by pathways), animals are placed in the area based on the suggestions: large animals take up 6 squares & are worth 5 points; medium animals take up 4 squares & are worth 3 points; small animals take up 2 spaces & are worth 1 point. Suggestions are resolved in order of size - biggest to smallest.

Similar to Carcassonne, you can't place same-sized suggestions into an area - but you can place different-sized suggestions into the same area... and you can hook two areas together that both contain same-sized suggestions.

The game continues until the board is filled. Late in the game, it can become difficult to match tiles, so the flip side of each tile contains a lake that can be placed (and potentially covered over by later plays.)

Panda, Gorilla & Co. was originally published by the Polish game/puzzle company, Trefl, back in 2003... but only appeared in the German market in 2007. There have been some changes in the rules - but we haven't been able to figure out what those changes are/were. Anyone knowing how this information can be obtained, contact me!

My four year old likes the "choosing animals" part of the game - the tiles are nicely illustrated & there's a large variety of species. My 8 year old actually does pretty well at the game - there are less strategic decisions than Carcassonne but it still involves actual thinking & spatial skills.

Finally, while I haven't played The Kids of Carcassonne, I have read through the rules because both games are aimed at the "junior version of a classic" market. From that simple perusal, I'm happy with Panda, Gorilla & Co. There's just more interesting things going on in the zoo!

MIA #11: Fleet Fins (Flotte Flosse)

Fleet Fins (Flotte Flosse)

• designer: Reiner Knizia
• publisher: Haba
• date: 2003
• BoardGameGeek rank/rating: not ranked/6.15
• age: 4+
• # of players: 2-4
• print status: OOP
• cost: $21.60 (FunAgain.com)

Disclosure moment: I played this one just over three years ago at Gulf Games... and wasn't particularly impressed. Then last year FunAgain had it on sale and I picked up a copy for Collin... and I was forced to revise my opinion.

The game itself is a standard speed/recognition game (along the lines of Barnyard Critters) with a quirky little adaption - since the players are hunting fish, they use fishing net to "catch" the fish. However, you don't want to catch fish with teeth - they bite, you know - so it's not only a matter of finding the right fish but also of making sure he's a friendly little fellow. There's also a fisherman for you to net (his is the only card that appears multiple times in the deck).

So, one player flips the card (usually the adult playing), everyone hunts for the fish, someone slaps it with their net & claims the card (if he's friendly) or loses a card (if his teeth are showing). Play to the end of the deck.

You can see why I was underwhelmed the first time out. But then I got to play it with my just-turned-4-year-old & the genius of the game became clear. This is a game that he can do well at... and at the same time engages his imagination with the very cute cartoon-y fish pictures. We've had to train him not to shout out when he saw that the fish we were looking for has teeth - he was so busy getting it right that he didn't realize he was helping the rest of us as well.

The age recommendation is spot on, btw. His older brother (8) is still willing to play this one, which gives it a reasonably long lifespan for a kid game.

MIA #12: Pirates Blast (der schwarze Pirat: Das Duell)

Pirates Blast (der schwarze Pirat: Das Duell)

• designer: Guido Hoffman
• publisher: Haba
• date: 2007
• BoardGameGeek rank/rating: not ranked/5.68
• age: 5+
• # of players: 2
• print status: in print
• cost: $19.79 (maukilo.com)

In a world where sequels are par for the course (did we really need 6 "Rocky" films?) and pirates are hip (did we really need 3 "Pirates of the Caribbean" films?), it wasn't a big surprise that Haba would crank out a sequel to the award-winning game, The Black Pirate. What is surprising is how much fun they managed to pack into the smaller/more portable game... and how it doesn't feel like a cheap knock-off of the original.

This time around, there's only two islands... that come equipped with two small wooden cannons that fire (wait for it!) wooden cubes. (Somewhere in there is a really great joke about Ameritrash violence & Eurogame wooden cubes, but I just haven't been able to tease it out.) There are also two pirate ships & 5 treasure tokens in each of two colors. In case you haven't been paying attention, this sequel is just for - wait for it - two players.

The islands are set across the table from each other... and then one of the players rolls the die & "puffs" his boat forward that many squeezes of the puffing device. When he finishes that move, the other player gets to "fire" his cannon by shooting a cube out of it, again with the puffer. If he manages to hit the ship, it's his turn to move his ship. If he misses, the first player continues rolling the dice and "sailing."

When a ship reaches the opposite harbor, they pick up one of the treasure tokens - 3 of which have chests on them & 2 of which are simply sand. The first player to get 3 treasure chests wins the game.

There's some art/skill to using the puffers... while you'd think that the tiny cloth sail would be the best place to aim, it turns out that it's more effective to puff at the hull of the boat. Tipping over a ship ends your turn, so you want to keep the boat moving without blowing it willy-nilly all over the playing surface.

That skill level means that Haba's "age 5+" designation is right on. But please note the plus sign... I've played almost as many games of this with 40+ year old folks as I have 5 year olds.

Kid Games 100: MIA Games (Recent But Really Good)

This is an edited repost... because I've had the opportunity to play a couple of new(er) games that MUST be included in the list! The new games are in bold... and their appearance will cause Mausen to drop to unlucky #13.

There are a number of well-known/well-liked kid games that didn't find their way onto my Kid Games 100. Over a series of posts, I'll try to explain the logic of why I didn't include them - or, in some cases, actively excluded them. This fifth & final post are the games that might well have made their way into the Kid Games 100... IF I'd played them before I made the list in May of 2008.

MIA Games: "Recent But Really Good"

Over the next few weeks, I'll be giving these the same kind & loving treatment I gave the Kid Games 100: individual blog posts & their very own Geeklist. I'll even rank them, because that's the kind of guy I am.

• Auf die Schätze, fertig, los! (Treasure, Ready, Go!) - #5
• Der schwarze Pirat: Das Duell (The Black Pirate: The Duel) - #12
• Die Kullerbande (The Rolling Gang) - #3
• Die Siedler von Catan Junior - #6
• Flotte Flosse (Fleet Fins)- #11
• Fluch der Mumie (Curse of the Mummy) - #4
• Geisterjager (Ghost Hunters) - #8
• Kaseklau (Cheese Snatching) - #1
• Kofferdetektive (The Suitcase Detectives) - #7
• Kubus Fidibus (Butterfingers Cube) - #9
• Mausen - #13
• Panda, Gorilla & Co.: Das Spiel - #10
• Zoff Im Huhnerhoff (Trouble in the Henhouse) - #2

So, I guess this really isn't "the fifth & final post" like I said above. Oh, well.

MIA #13: Mausen

Mausen

• designer: Detlef Wendt
• publisher: Abacus
• date: 2004
• BoardGameGeek rank/rating: 3513/5.98
• age: 8+
• # of players: 3-6
• print status: in print
• cost: approx. $8.41 (boardsandbits.com)

I am not a well individual. As I start to write this post, all that's running through my brain is that Mausen rhymes with "Housin'" - which means I'm singing a Mike-E song to myself... and not a particularly good Mike-E song. (Most of you don't even know who Mike-E is... oh well. If you're interested, avoid "G-Rap Crew" and find "Good News For the Bad Timez".)

Ah, but I'm supposed to be writing about games that were MIA from the Kid Games 100... and so let's begin.

The game in question is basically a Raj/Beat the Buzzard variant. After the game is "seeded" with some initial animals, players choose one of their 16 cards simultaneously and flip them over. The highest elephant claims all the dog cards in play, the highest dog claims all the cat cards in play, the highest cat claims all the mice cards in play & the highest mouse claims all the elephant cards in play. Any unclaimed cards stay around for the next turn... and, as in Beat the Buzzard, ties go to the next highest untied player.

Animals are worth as many points as their value (players start with 4 of each animal ranked 1-4) and the winner of the game is the person with the most points.

It's kind of think-y with 3-4 players, though not so much to keep my 4 year old from playing with an adult present. It's chaotic & lots of fun with 5-6.

I put it on the list for one simple reason: it takes a pretty standard game mechanic and uses theme to complicate it in a good way.

Kid Games 100: MIA Games (Just Missed The Cut)

There are a number of well-known/well-liked kid games that didn't find their way onto my Kid Games 100. Over a series of posts, I'll try to explain the logic of why I didn't include them - or, in some cases, actively excluded them. I used the top 100 games categorized on the Geek as the jumping off point for the fourth post in this series:

MIA Games: "Just Missed the Cut"

These are all games that I enjoy... but with the arbitrary "top 100" designation ended up not quite making the list. In a couple of cases, I hadn't had the opportunity to play with children before the list was made.

• Animal Upon Animal - The combination of cute wooden animals & a very kid-friendly set of rules makes this stacking/dexterity game a real winner. Probably #101 on the Kid Games 100. (There are two new games in this series: The Duel for 2 players & a card game that involves stacking cards on a gator who looks like a refugee from the ballet in "Fantasia." I want to try both of them!)
• Bounce-It-In - Supplanted on the Kid Games 100 by Hop Hop Hurray, this is still a very good game. We've esp. taken a liking to the "Bounce 21" rules, which is a weird cross of dexterity game & Blackjack.
• Burg-Ritter (Castle Knights) - This is one of those wonderful games that you realize that could ONLY have come from Haba (or maybe Zoch) - it's a cooperative dexterity game involving big wooden pieces & a ponytail holder w/4 strings tied to it.
• Battleground: Crossbows & Catapults - I've played with these over the years... and we just got a bunch of them this Christmas, thanks to Toys'R'Us putting them on clearance. (We're still looking for a Tower set, btw.) It's a lot of plastic shooting fun... though I think I still like Attacktix better, probably because it doesn't require so much set-up/tear-down time. (Again, I think the better game ended up on the Kid Games 100.)
• Go Away Monster - This is BARELY a game... but for younger kids (3-5 years), it's one they will play over & over & over again. I wish it was more difficult to tell the good things & monsters apart in the bag - but the opportunity to throw a monster tile into the box & yell "Go away, Monster!" at the top of your lungs is an awfully strong selling point.
• Hisss - Thick cardboard cards w/colorful snake art... the chance to build & claim snakes... learning color matching for the young ones... it's over quickly enough not to irritate the heck out of parents & older siblings...
• Lord of the Rings (Kids) - My view of this one has softened over time... the first time I played it (with adults), I was underwhelmed. The theme is a bit off (why are the hobbits racing each other to Mt. Doom?) and it's basically a roll'n'move/spin'n'fight. But then I played it with kids and discovered that they have a great time facing off against the bad guys. And multiple plays helped me see the benefits of some careful odds calculations... not to mention the very nice bits. It's not going to set the world on fire, but it's still a popular game at my house.
• Magic Dance (Hexentanz) - I just haven't played this enough to include it... I think it's a wonderful design (like I said elsewhere, it's got an abundant level of chaos due to 24 identical pieces & memory). I think it might crash with the wrong crowd - esp. gamers (it's an AP death trap waiting to happen) but it's a lot of fun with kids.
• Monza - While I appreciate this fine little dice racing game for what it is (a great introduction to proper sequencing for young gamers), I don't think I like it as much as some other folks.
• Piraten-Pitt (Pete the Pirate) - The same goes for the Kinderspiel winner, a bit-o-licious memory game with a good bit of potential hosage. It works very well with the intended age group (4-7 years) but doesn't have much staying power beyond that.
• Pounce - I've been playing this game (or variations of it) since I was a kid. It's more of a pastime (though the Haba version adds some nice rules variations to turn it into a bit more of a game) and an excuse to slam stuff down really hard on the table. Warning: put a tablecloth on any table you don't want scratched; spectators should stand clear to avoid have a mouse imprint on their face.
• Schloss Schlotterstein (Shiverstone Castle) - Once again, Haba makes a game with components so gorgeous it'll almost blind you: the box turns into the game with the addition of two dividing thick cardboard dividers & four wooden feet and the magnetic arm slides beneath the box while the cloth ghost (and a variety of other wooden debris) float around in the box. The only reason it didn't make the Kid Games 100 is that the dexterity required to play well is beyond most kids under the age of 7. (It is, however, great fun for younger kids to use for imaginative play.)
• Zitternix - One more Haba entry... and this pick-up-sticks variant misses the Kid Games 100 because I haven't played it with kids. (With adults, it's LOTS of fun.)