Labyrinth (by Ravensburger)

Labyrinth

Labyrinth is one of the first games of strategy that I have played with my son where the game is very balanced for children as well as adults.  It plays 2-4 players and takes about 20 minutes.  It was created in 1986 and as been a best seller for a very long time. There are also junior versions of this game which have less and larger tiles to make moving the labyrinth slightly easier for younger kids.  This game is recommended for children 8 and up however I play it with my 5 year old.  I think easily you can skip over the junior version unless you have younger kids and you want your children to play together instead of playing with you helping them out.

There are also now many themes of Labyrinth so check these out if you want one of those to get the one you desire. I love our original copy but occasionally I wish we had the Harry Potter one, however I really don't need both so we will stick with the original one.


Game Play

This game requires a little bit of set up. The game board has fixed square labyrinth pieces and then enough labyrinth pieces to fill the board in plus one extra.  These tile pieces are placed in the labyrinth for set up in a random order. The extra piece is how the labyrinth is moved throughout the game. All over the labyrinth there are images of the treasures which correspond to the 24 treasure cards your wizard must land on to be able to win the game.

Each player is given a number of cards with treasures on them, divided by the number of players. In a four player game all the cards are used, with each player getting six. When we playing just a two player game get eight cards each to make it more enjoyable. Children playing the game are encouraged to have all their cards face up and they are allowed to land on their treasures in any order they choose.  Whereas adults must have a face down stack of treasure cards and are only allowed to look at one at a time. This balances the game very nicely between adults and kids. My son playing like this often wins now so only half of his cards are face up and the other half will be face down to allow us to increase the difficulty of the game for him.

Labyrinth is a racing to get your own treasures and get back to your home colour before any other wizard.  The players move the labyrinth squares on their turn to be able to move the wizard around it and land on the tiles with their own treasures on it.  The active player takes the labyrinth piece from where it has been left by the previous player, then that player slides one row or column of the labyrinth using that square. After the player moves the labyrinth they can move as far as they desire as long as the path is clear.  If the player lands on one if their card requirements then they can turn that card over, if not they wait until their next turn to be able to move the labyrinth again. There is only one massive rule when moving the labyrinth, you cannot move the row that the extra piece was taken from (there are more specifics to this so see the rules). This means that you cannot just move one row back and forth and so if someone pushes your wizard in a direction you don't like you can't always fix it in one move, it might take a few turns to fix your position.

This inability to just move one row back and forth makes the game a nice challenge and teaching players to look at the larger picture of the labyrinth is really interesting to watch how they go about achieving the goal of landing on their various treasures.


Review

If you can't tell I adore this game. It has a lot of subtle strategy and challenge when playing with a child but even more when playing with an adult where you can do things like wall each other in or screw each other over.  You cannot help messing with other players as you play and I like the fact that it isn't done in a "take that" fashion more as just part of the ever shifting labyrinth.  I dislike games that screw over other players for the sake of it, whereas in this game you might do it, but not necessarily on purpose (although you can do it on purpose as well if you desire).

I love that this game is teaching my child a lot about spacial reasoning and perception. Understanding things like looking at all his cards and not just picking the nearest one but maybe selecting the one that has the first easiest route, or the easiest route to the next treasure card. This game offers many many layers of thought and strategy for adults and kids hence why it has been around nearly as long as some of us parents! In comparison to games like monopoly I think hands down this one is considerably more fun and enjoyable by all, and the winner can truly feel like they worked towards their own win and not just rolled dice randomly until they won (you can see how I feel about monopoly there!).

This game is available everywhere! High street shops sell it, friendly local game stores, online, second hand - everywhere. Just check if you are buying it second hand that it has all the pieces because if you are missing even one you can't play it, there are ways to replace missing pieces but its hard so really check the box before buying one used.  I nearly bought one that was missing three pieces and that would have been a very sad day when we got home and couldn't play it!

Magic Labyrinth

Magic Labyrinth 

Magic Labyrinth is a simple and lovely magnetic finding game that can be easy or very hard.  It is by Drei Magier Spiele and is about 10 years old.  It plays 2-4 players and takes about 20 minutes.

I really like this game and play it plenty with my 4 year old.  However it has very small ball bearings and they are magnetic so this game is definitely not one to be played without serious supervision of young children.  The game says its for 6 and up but this can be played younger and I think younger children love the magnetic aspect of it - but DO NOT play this game without supervising them as it can also be incredible dangerous if any pieces are swallowed.


Game Play

Each player is a little wizard looking for their items that have been lost in a maze.  There is a bag of items (the small blue tokens) from which at the beginning one gets chosen and then the players race to that token represented on the maze map.  The first player to reach the token image on the game board gets to keep the token.  Getting  five tokens wins that wizard the game. 

This seems really simple but the game is all about the set up and how the magnetic aspect of it works.  To set up you take the board out and rearrange all the wall tiles (see image on right) making sure that you do not cut off access to any one square (the rules explain this with pictures very well) then you put the board back on and spin it so you can't remember where you put the walls. Finally you attach your wizards to your "home" corner and off you go with your turn.

One turn is rolling the dice and moving that number of spaces (between 1-4) without hitting any walls underneath. If you hit a wall your marble dislocates from your wizard and you must return to your home corner to start again.  The point of this game is not only to get the tokens but to memorise the Labyrinth underneath so that it gets easier to get to each token.  When you play initially you put about 18 wall tiles in the game, however there are 24 available and trust me when I say that having all 24 can be really hard sometimes!

The only aspect of this game I don't love is the fact that the rules state you can "pass" other wizards but don't really show you how to do that, as one or two times when we have done this both magnets get stuck to one wizard or one disconnects by accident.  This isn't ideal and I just wish there was a better way to pass each other.  The rules allow for passing and in a 4 player game this is entirely necessary. Maybe we just haven't worked out the finesse of it :-).


Review

This is definitely one of my son's new favourite games as it combines racing with magnets (two of his favourite things). It is easy to set up and play and very easy to teach. We have played with other five year old and they get on well with this game as well.  The hardest part of this game I think is the magnets as if we had any younger children around this game would just be unsafe - so only really play this game during young person nap time or when all your kids are of an age they don't put things in their mouth.

In general the quality of the game is lovely as well. The wizards are nice and hefty wooden pieces with felt bottoms so the slide really well. The maze is easy to put together and the magnets are exactly strong enough to work well through the board and also disconnect when they hit a wall.  We bought this game second hand and have had it about a year with no quality issues (and who knows how long the previous owners had it). 

You can easily find this game from any friendly local game store or from Coiled Spring Games. Its around £40 new but I think worth every penny because of how many times we have played it already!

Pengoloo

Pengoloo is a fun memory game by Blue Orange that always entertains us.

This game is for ages 4 and up for 2-4 players.  We have been playing it at our house since my son was 3 and have played it with other 3 year olds, but please be careful as some of the pieces are small and can be swallowed by accident so always be there while playing games with young ones like this.

The game roughly takes about 15-20 minutes although we have had much shorter and longer games as well.



Game Play

Set up is simple, make a three by four grid with the wooden penguins and hide one coloured egg under each penguin.  Set up the icebergs around them, one for each player.  First person to get six penguins wins.

Playing is actually more complicated then it looks. On your turn you roll two dice with the colours on them. You state which colour you are going to find first, for example red, and then you lift a penguin to either find a red egg, in which case you can take that penguin and egg and place it on your iceberg.  If you can't find the colour you claimed then you have to place the penguin back over the egg and leave it in the grid.  For little children I let them look under any two penguins and they don't have to claim colours first as that can be harder for them. However by the age of 4.5 my son could easily understand and do this so we play it properly now.

The other aspect of this game that I love is that you can steal penguins.  If you can remember that someone has a blue penguin (see lower picture) on their iceberg and where it is you can choose to lift that penguin INSTEAD of lifting a penguin in the centre. This is occasionally hard for the youngest players as they think its snatching, but as they get older you can add this in and honestly in a four player game it is the only way to win as it is really hard to get six penguins without this game mechanic.  I love this part of is as we have had some kids come over who aren't great at remembering the grid but they are very good at remembering what others have taken so basically it is an alternative way of winning for them!

Review

If you can't tell I really like this game, well I do.  I like that is is a memory game with more mechanics involved then just matching and memory.  I like that I am introducing the general game mechanic of messing with others in a game but hopefully, in a friendly way so that everyone understands that it is just a game.  There are a lot of older games that we own where you can really mess with other players so I don't want my son sheltered from this and then surprised when later on he is affected by others.

Other things I love about this game - it is entirely wooden and all the pieces feel nice and sturdy. We have yet to break a nose off any penguins and that isn't for lack of trying. Some of the paint has rubbed off but I feel that is just normal wear.  Sometimes my son just plays with the pieces in a winter penguin play sort of way and this is one of the only games where I am not worried that cards might get wrecked or ripped etc.


Where to find it

As always you can usually find it online but also I know our Friendly Local Games Store (FLGs) usually has it in stock as well.  Alternatively you can buy it directly from the supplier here at Coiledspring Games.  It retails for around £25 and considering the wooden pieces I think that is worth it, but definitely you can find it cheaper some places.

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Petits Magiciens

Petits Magiciens is a Haba memory game about little wizards and magnets.  I adore this game but basically it is really only available second hand as I haven't seen it published in a while.  However Haba have a lot of memory games and they are really all good, so owning one is enough and you can find others like this but perhaps without the gears and magnets.


This is a really simple game for 3 and up though even I find it hard as the gears spin and the items you need to remember can move!




Game Play

Game play is incredibly simple, you roll the die and move the wizard that many on the picture track. Then whatever item you land on you try to find under the wizard hats using a magnetic wand. Each hat is lovely and has a mini magnet in and well made.  If you succeed in finding the item you get a star, most stars at the end of the game wins.

If the die is rolled an it lands on the plant symbol the gears move one quarter turn to make it harder for everyone to remember where stuff is!

A thought out aspect of this game is that there are three wizard hat colours so if the gears spin you can still try to remember where things are, for example on the blue gear under the red hat is the bat etc.


Review

As with all Haba items I have come across this is beautifully made and thought out. I love everything they make really and basically if you find something in their range that sounds fun you will most definitely enjoy it.  The only thing I don't love about this game is that the gears stick a little and so for very young children it can be frustrating.  However like I said this isn't really available to find anymore so if you look at other Haba memory games they don't have gears as often and so you will probably be fine with those.

Sorry I am reviewing a game you can't get easily - we just love it here too much not to include it!

Robot Turtles

Robot Turtles is a lovely programming game for kids by Think Fun.  The game says four and up but you should be able to play with a three year old as well with help. Important abilities for children to be able to play are: playing a card, knowing colours and waiting their turn. Aside from that it's simply using a turtle to capture a gem of the matching colour.

Robot Turtles is great because you can start very simply and add difficulty in a few different ways: increasing the number of cards you play per turn OR adding obstacles OR  both!

Game Play

You start with a board and set up based on the rule book as to roughly what "level" you want to start. This tells you where to place the gems and any obstacles you may need from the start. Each player has a coloured turtle and needs to get their turtle to their gem to win. First player to the gem wins.

The fun bit of this game is that you move the turtle with cards that move for example: forward, left, right, turn 90° etc. This aspect is the programming side of this game. A very simple version of play is just using one card at a time per player so children (and adults) can see immediately what they are asking the turtle to do. 

To make this game more challenging you can ask players to pre-set a run of 3 or more cards before "playing" or running the program, just like simplified programming, funny that.  Currently my son can do 4-6 cards without obstacles or 4 cards with obstacles.

The only challenging part of this game for adults is that one adult/older player needs to be the computer or controller who "runs" the program following the cards correctly in exact order they were placed.  When my son is ready to play his program I need to run it through, which means he can't stop a mistake from happening. I think older kids can definitely be this controller person. But I only warn about this as it's easy for littler kids to want to be the controller and stop their program part way through and fix any mistakes- which sort of defeats the point of the game.

A further way to add challenge to this game is to add obstacles that the kids have to go around or get through to get to their gem.  There are three main obstacles pictured here and they are all fun to play with!

Review

I love this game as it's a board game about programming and so many programming games are screen based. I don't always want him to be on a screen but that doesn't mean I can't satisfy his desire to do logic activities. This game is really perfect for anyone really as it is fun even if you don't like programming that much and the rules are beautifully thought out and written.

I also love that I can make it easier or harder based on my mental capacity or child's desire that day. Sometimes we even make the turtles get the gems and return home to make it even more challenging - something that isn't in the rules.

You can easily find this online or possibly at your local game store or toy store. I noticed also that you can find it at GAME which might be a useful place to look as well for it.  It retails for around £22-25.  We found our complete at a charity shop that sold games so were lucky enough to get it for less then £10, its really worth looking on ebay or second hand selling for kids games as there are lots you can fine there.  Just check it has all the pieces first (usually you can find out how many pieces a game has from either their own website or Board Game Geek summaries)

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.