Serpentina

Serpentina

Serpentina  (also called Hisss by Gamewright games in this country) is a cute little luck game that involves making sets of rainbow snakes. It's easy for children and not too mind numbing for adults either. 

Serpentina is by Amigo games and is advertised for 4 years and up. If your child understands taking turns and basic colours they can play this game. My little guy was playing this with help from 2.5 years old. I say help, but it was basically a constant reminder that he only got one turn at a time. By nearly 5 he can describe it and play with other children his age. So really this game is great for kids playing together because of the heavy luck and simplicity.

Game Play

Basic game play is draw a card and play that card.  Every player builds the rainbow snakes together on an open space so no one snake belongs to any one player. Winning means the most cards at the end of a game and you get the cards when you have completed any snake.  A completed snake is one with at least one head, one middle and one tail, however in practice usually there are lots of middle pieces. There is one rainbow head and tail that is basically a wild card and can be any head/tail colour.

It's slightly cooperative in that if you draw yellow/orange you attach it to any snake with available yellow or orange slot. However this can emotionally become challenging for little ones as sometimes they see a snake as "thier" snake and then someone else completes it and it goes away. 

This took a little time for me to explain to my son about the snakes being built together but belonging to no one.  He was little but I feel the work was worth it as he better understands cooperative play as well as loosing gracefully (although let's be realistic he's still only 4 so he cried after loosing Dobble today).

Review

As you can see I do love this game and I love that he can now play it with other kids basically without me. The cards are thicker then normal playing cards so we have played this a lot and have loaded it out to friends without it ever being damaged. 

However I do still feel I need to be there while he plays with others his age in case anyone gets upset about loosing a snake they thought was theirs. I think by about the age of 6 I wouldn't need to keep such a close eye. My kid and his best friend play this regularly with no issues as they are used to it together.  It isn't in my top 6 and that's mostly the reason why, it's not quiet cooperative and not really competitive so it isn't perfect for us- although it might be perfect for your kids!

Where to find it

You can find it in this country through the name of Hisss by Gamewright games (which is an american games company). I know that my local games shop usually stocks it when they can get a supply from the USA so it is worth calling and asking your Friendly Local Game Store first before heading online.

As of writing this in July 2019 it looked like Hisss was hard to get a hold of (maybe out of print) so before going and spending a bunch of money on this call your local shops as they might have one lying around. Or check out Board Game Geek and see what prices are roughly going for there as then if its more then about £15 or so pounds its likely its still out of print/stock. 

Cobra Paw

Cobra Paw 

Cobra Paw is a fantastic fast paced game for over 6s that plays up to six players. I mean seriously who wouldn't want to be a ninja cat in training?

The premise is simple, you want to be the fastest ninja cat by getting six tiles before any other player. Players roll dice and try and locate the tile with matching symbols faster then anyone else. I think this is suitable from six if your child can get on with other fast dexterity games like snap, Dobble or Jungle Speed for example. If not then possibly wait till they are older. I do play this game with my nearly 5 year old but as he can't keep up with my speed I don't have as much fun because I have to massively slow my speed down for him to even stand a chance.

I have played this with quick six year-olds and very nearly lost. So really it depends on your kid!

Game play

Cobra Paw is extremely simple dexterity game. While playing it is whoever last got a tile rolls the dice - which means a player might roll two or three times in a row. After the dice are rolled and showing two symbols EVERY player simultaneously looks for the tile and tries to "grab" it. First player to six tiles wins immediately (eight in a two player game).  If the tile is in someone else's collection players are allowed to steal it from them and they have the ability to defend it by grabbing it first.

I really like that grabbing isn't clawing at other players. There are a whole list of "respectful ninja" rules (see picture on the right) that need to be followed. So grabbing in this case is touching the tile with one or two fingers.

Equally there is a way of breaking any ties with multiple players- whomever has their finger closest to the center divot wins the tie. So children with little fingers if they are fast are actually more likely to win a tie.  You also cannot cover any of your tiles so all players can have a chance at seeing them.

Review

This is easily one of my favourite party, family or pub games. It's so quick and competitive you'll play it 3 or 4 times before realising. The other thing I enjoy about this game is the tiles are weighty and sort of like nice domino tiles which means they slide on the table really nicely. The dice a heavy too so overall the feel of this game is really satisfying as well. Definitely worth every cent. Did I mention there isn't any plastic inside the packaging? This feels like a forward step which makes me ecstatic. I realise that the game is still made of plastic, but one step at a time kids. 

For me it's like Dobble with stealing and really how is that not fun?! It's super easy to find online and around although as always I recommend finding it at friendly your local game store. If you can't find it there its also sold at John Lewis, Waterstones and other shops especially around Christmas.