Animal Adventures: RPG Starter Set Details

Product: Animal Adventures
Company: Steamforged Games
Website: https://steamforged.com/collections/animal-adventures
Recommended Age Range: Box says 14 and up. This seems a little ridiculous to me. I think that any child that can read has a decent shot of being able to solve some of these puzzles with adult help. We’ve done several of the puzzles, and I don’t believe there is any “adult” content that would prevent a child from participating. All of my kids, including my 9 year old, had a lot of fun with this.
Price Range: ~$30
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Review

Overall, I am really glad that we purchased this box set, as the instruction manual is of a reasonable length, the story line is fairly simple, the character sheets are cute and easy to understand, and my family had a lot of fun. I also really enjoyed that it came with a map and actual miniature figures that we could move around. I will say that my family did eventually give up on moving so many spaces per turn as is outlined in the instructions. I have enough experience attempting to be a game master for D&D that I now have confidence to just throw out the parts that are holding you up and move forward with what’s fun.

One issue I had when I first opened the box is that it comes with 7 character minatures and character sheets, but of those 4 were girls and 3 were boys. Since I have 2 younger boys who I didn’t think would want to play girl characters, the very first thing I did when I opened the box was laminate the character sheets, then use a sharpie to cover up the name and gender. I told each person in my family to pick a character and then give their character a name and gender. It might have been unnecessary, but this worked well for us.

My only other complaint with this game is that it that it can only be played once. Once you have worked your way through the campaign, it probably wouldn’t be very fun to do the same storyline again, at least with the same people. I feel like I’ve already missed the window with my teenagers, but I’m hoping that my younger two kids (9 and 11 years) will use what we did as inspiration to write their own campaigns. That has always been my goal…to plant the seeds in their heads to get them writing for fun.

I didn’t realize this until just now, but the company that makes this starter set has actually written other adventures. I just ordered this Gullet Cove sourcebook which sounds like it has “3 additional adventures.” It does also say it introduces new animal characters and monsters/villains, and I see that the company website sells additional minifigs, but I’m cheap, so I’ll see what I can make work using the ideas in the book without buying anything additional. I assume the book will not have a convenient map the way the starter set does.

Anyway, despite that diversion into other products produced by the same company, I can say with confidence that this Animal Adventures: RPG Starter Set comes with everything you will need for your first adventure. If you are already a fan of D&D and familiar with campaigns and the rules of D&D, this will probably not be extremely interesting to you, but if you are D&D curious and want to encourage imaginative play in your kids, this is a great place to start!

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Mysterium Details

Product: Mysterium
Company: Asmodee
Website: https://store.asmodee.com/products/mysterium
Recommended Age Range: Box says 10 and up. I think younger kids can play too since there isn’t any reading in the gameplay, but the directions are a bit complicated.
Price Range: ~$45
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Review

I’m going to start by saying that if you are easily overwhelmed by game directions and you haven’t played Dixit, play Dixit first. This game reminds us of Dixit which is one of our favorites, but Dixit is MUCH easier to learn how to play. If I hadn’t tried this game once before and given up, I probably wouldn’t have put in the 30 minutes or so it took to learn how to play this game. I was determined though. I watched a couple YouTube videos (I found this one them most helpful) and then it still took me like 15 to 20 minutes to set up the game the first time by looking at the directions.

The main premise is that there is a murder and one player is the ghost of the murder victim. The ghost has to send “visions” to the other players to help them figure out who the murderer is. The vision cards are a lot like the Dixit cards in that they are beautiful and totally random. The “ghost” has to make a connection between a random card and what they are trying to get you to notice and you have to just guess when connection they are making. For example, when I was the ghost, I was trying to direct my fifteen year old to a man who had half white hair and half black hair, so I was giving him vision after vision of black and white cards. He however, kept noticing different things about the subject of the cards and picked every character before the person I was directing him to.

Not only is this game really fun, but I feel like it is so good for kid’s creativity and flexible thinking skills. In a world where most video games and activities that kids participate in are very structured and cut and dry, it is so refreshing to be able to have fun in a way that encourages your brain to think divergently and make random associations. Now that we know how to play, I can definitely see this as one we will be playing for many years to come.

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Rack-O Details

Product: Rack-O
Company: Winning Moves Games (originally Milton Bradley)
Website: https://winning-moves.com/product/Rack-O.asp
Recommended Age Range: Box says 7 and up, but younger kids can play as well. They just might need someone to help them score at the end.
Price Range: ~$12
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Review

My biggest complaint about this game is that since I have four kids, I can’t play too. I really prefer games that allow up to 6 players, since that’s the size of my family, but we can’t always get what we want. Actually, if I really wanted to, I could buy a second box and then just double up and I think that would work great. The game is cheap enough, that it wouldn’t even be that expensive. I don’t think I will, mainly just because my game closet is already overflowing, but it’s nice to know that would work in case my kids ever developed a Rack-O obsession.

The premise is simple. You start with 10 cards in your rack in a random order. The cards have numbers between 1 and 60. Players take turns drawing cards and replacing cards in their rack until ALL of the cards are in order from smallest to largest. Then they yell Rack-O and are declared the winner. It literally takes about 2 minutes to learn and only about 15 minutes to play. Sometimes even just a few minutes if someone gets really lucky!

I think this is a great math game for kids who are learning to understand double digit numbers. Even if they were just working on their teens, you could remove all the numbers higher than 19 and tell the child you are only going to play with the first 5 slots instead of using all 10. This will allow children to understand concepts of greater than and less than in a fun, low pressure, motivating way. As they get better at this skill, you could gradually increase the number of cards and slots used until they can play the full game.

I also love that this game encourages critical thinking skills. There is an end goal of having your numbers in order from lowest to highest. The strategy for making this more likely to be possible probably won’t be obvious to all kids. As a tip, you can tell kids to try to make the card numbers closely match the numbers on the rack itself, because this will leave the cards fairly evenly spaced and prevent them from backing themselves into a corner. However, as they play more and get better, their intuition for good decisions will improve.

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Finders Seekers Mystery Game Subscription Details

Product: Finders Seekers Mysetery Game Subscription
Company: Finders Seekers
Website: https://findersseekers.com/
Recommended Age Range: 10 and up
Price Range: ~$30 per month

Review

I am so impressed by the Finders Seekers games. They are definitely worth $30 in my opinion. We have done 3 boxes so far (random ones, not ones shipped consecutively), and I don’t think we’ve had a duplicate puzzle type. They don’t have a formula that they are following, such that these games get old. The people that are creating them must be so creative, because each of the three games was distinctly different. The first one we did had like a murder board where you had to eliminate suspects by gathering Guess Who style clues. The second one was solving a giant crossword puzzle using a journal and momentos that turned in to it’s own suprising clue. (I won’t give it away.) The last one we did used a Paris train map to gather clues that allowed you to complete a paint-by-number. Even the individual puzzles within the games don’t seem to repeat. I’m assuming they must at some point, but we haven’t gotten there yet!

All together, this game takes our family about 2 to 3 hours. There are typically about 10 to 12 individual puzzles that need to be solved, though unlike other escape rooms, such as the ones by ThinkFun, they do not need to be solved sequentially. Multiple people can be working on separate puzzles at the same time. While our 9 and 11 year old do not often solve puzzles on their own, they are frequently able to contribute in some way and our 11 year old has cracked a few.

The individual puzzles themselves are frequently based on creative concepts like menus, postcards, photographs, even a fortune cookie. Some of the games require the use of a device in some way, either to read a webpage or use a QR code, but for the most part, the screen aspect is small if present. All the boxes provide hints if you get stuck. Our family really tries hard not to use them, but we do still usually do at least one or two hints per box. Often they are things that I think, “yeah, I literally never would have thought of that,” but the hints have been sufficient for us to get the answer with just a little help. Tip: don’t forget to use EVERYTHING in your box. At first I thought they were sending us some novelty items like an apron, then realized they were actually clues too.

In terms of price, Finders Seekers boxes definitely beat in-person escape rooms and the Mail Order Mystery boxes. In-person escape rooms are arguably more fun, but they are typically shorter and cost a LOT more. We do them at most once a year due to price. Mail Order Mystery boxes are also nearly 3 times as expensive and not as great at promoting critical thinking as there is actually very little puzzle-solving. They may be a better choice for kids who are under the age of 8, but Finders Seekers actually makes a junior version of their boxes as well for kids under 10. Since all but one of our family members has aged out of this group, we haven’t tried the junior version, but if they are similarly designed, they are probably really great as well.

My 15 year old enjoys Finders Seekers as much as the rest of us, but has said that he still slightly prefers Hunt a Killer boxes. They are similarly priced and include similar material. Those take a bit longer, but then again, I don’t think we’ve ever used a Hunt a Killer hint, so maybe that’s why. Honestly though, I think the material is actually slightly better in Finders Seekers and they promise that their kits are always family-friendly (no murder or violence), which definitely can’t be said of Hunt-a-Killer. One disadvantage of Finders Seekers is that the kits can’t be reused. The clues are definitely meant to be destroyed as part of solving the puzzle (which honestly makes it a little more fun, in my opinion). When we’ve done Hunt a Killer and Think Fun escape room boxes, I’ve repackaged them when we’re done to pass on to other people. Not a deal breaker, but something to know.

One other slight disadvantage compared to Hunt a Killer is that Hunt a Killer feels more realistic. You are looking through evidence that really could be clues in order to put everything together. Finders Seekers is more like an in-person escape room in that you are solving a bunch of random puzzles to move closer to achieving your goal. They do a good job building each box around a theme, but you have to suspend disbelief to interpret any of these clues as “evidence.” No criminal is going to leave a trail like this for you to follow. This matters very little to me, as we have so much fun playing the game and solving their puzzles, but it’s just something else to be aware of.

One advantage of Finders Seekers, particularly if you have kids and even more so if you’re homeschooling, is that there is some educational value. It’s not a ton, but each box is tied to a place. So far we have done Prague, San Francisco, and Paris and we have learned a little about landmarks and the culture in each location by doing these boxes. It’s sort of like watching the Amazing Race (which our family also does and calls educational). What you learn of the place and culture is superficial, but in my mind, it is still valuable, because connections are being built in kids brains that they will be able to draw on in the future.

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No Thanks! Details

Product: No Thanks!
Company: Amigo Games
Website: https://www.amigo.games/product/nothanks/
Recommended Age Range: Box says 8 and up. Any child that recognizes their numbers up to 35 (or is working on that skill) would benefit from this game.
Price Range: ~$13
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Review

I recognize that this is a small thing and doesn’t affect game play, but one of my favorite aspects of this game is all the words written around the cards. It’s like each card has a personality and is trying to entice you to pick it up or warn you against it. Many of the cards read like advertisements and my kids think it’s hilarious. It’s just a delightful touch.

As a family of 6, I am a huge fan of any game that allows for all of us to play, especially one that doesn’t take up much space. This one has fewer cards than a standard deck of playing cards, plus some tokens. In a pinch, you could use something else making this game higly portable. It is also very easy to learn to play. The instruction video produced by the company is just a touch over 3 minutes and we found it sufficient. Game play time is also only about 15 minutes, which is kind of perfect when you want to squeeze a little family fun into a busy schedule.

This game also has a suprising amount of addition and subtraction practice embedded within it. Unlike many games in which you really only have to pay attention to the numbers at the end when you are counting your score, this one requires strategic decisions throughout in which someone who wants to win will be motivated to do some simple on the fly addition and subtraction. Anytime I can get my kids practicing math facts without them complaining is a win in my book.

The last thing I love about this game is that there is not really any “meanness.” There’s no stealing or punishing other players. You make all the decision that affect your own score. There is strategy, so it’s not based just on luck, but you don’t have to hurt other players in order to benefit yourself. Don’t get my wrong…I love a good cutthroat game as much as the next girl, but when you’re playing with children, sometimes it’s just more headache than it’s worth if the game is going to end in tears. This one won’t!

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Cover Your Assets Details

Product: Cover Your Assets
Company: Grandpa Beck’s Games
Website: https://www.grandpabecksgames.com/
Recommended Age Range: Box says 8 and up, but this is a great game if you are trying to teach your child to understand double digit numbers.
Price Range: ~$17
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Review

First the good: My teens think the name is hilarious. It is super quick to learn and easy to play. Anyone can play, even kids that don’t know their numbers yet, as long as they can match pictures and understand the concept of a wild card. It encourages math skills because kids have to add numbers like 5, 10, 15, 25, and 50 to keep score at the end. The entire game can be played in about 15 minutes, so it’s a quick way to squeeze in a little fun. The pictures are colorful and appealing. Also, it seems like a delightful, family friendly company.

The less-than-good: If there is anyone in your family who gets frustrated when they feel like they aren’t being treated fairly and is going to be upset by someone stealing their points, this game is probably not for you. Granted, there are a lot of games like this, and I definitely think that being a gracious loser and having good sportsmanship are qualities that we want to cultivate in our kids. However, I don’t feel like there is enough “fun” aspects of this particular game to justify the unpleasantness of an unhappy kid.

Personally, I would like to see a little more strategy and variety in game play to keep it fun and entertaining. When I polled my kids on what they thought of this game, my 10 and 13 year olds said they really liked it, my 15 year old said “meh,” and my 8 year old was not a fan. (Guess which one is working on losing gracefully. ) I’m sort of with my older teen. I definitely don’t hate it, but I don’t get excited about it either. Than being said, card games take up so little space, that I will probably hang onto it for quite some time!

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Skyjo Details

Product: Skyjo
Company: Magilano
Website: https://magilano.com/en
Recommended Age Range: Box says 8 and up, but younger kids can enjoy it as well. Being able to recognize numbers and count to 12 is helpful.
Price Range: ~$17
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Review

We got this game back during the 2020 lockdowns and we used to play it ALL. THE. TIME. I was actually shocked when I checked the website and saw that I had never added it. It was definitely a family favorite for an extended period of time. However, it’s probably been over a year since the last time we played, so I was surprised when my 15 year old suggested it. As soon as I started setting it up, my 10 year old walked into the room and exclaimed, “I LOVE this game!”

There is a LOT to recommend about this game. One of the aspects I love most is that literally anyone who can count to 12 can play. My 10 year old was 5 or 6 back when we used to play this all the time, and was just as into it as the rest of us. It appeals to a wide age range. Grandparents seem to enjoy it too.

Second, up to 8 people can play. It’s hard to find a game like that for under $20 that is ACTUALLY fun. With a family of 6, it’s disappointing that so many of the most fun games are limited to 4 or 5 people. We usually make up house rules so everyone can play, or buy expansion packs or a second box so we have extra pieces, but the fact that this one works flawlessly, as is, for up to 8 people is a huge plus in my book.

Third, it is actually a math game and no one seems to mind. Kids have to add numbers between -2 and 12 at the end of the game to get their scores. You can help kids who are too young to do this, obviously, but I find that my own kids are impatient and don’t want to wait for me to get around to helping them to find out if they won. It provides a lot of adding practice. Also, the fact that it includes cards for negative numbers is a huge benefit. I know many high schoolers who struggle with negatives, but this game helps even the youngest kids gain an intuitive understanding of what they mean.

Fourth, the game does not actually take that long, so it’s an easy one to just squeeze into an afternoon with making a huge commitment. The box says 30 minutes, but I would say 20 minutes tops, even with 6 people. Or maybe we’re just having so much fun, that I don’t notice how much time is passing.

Lastly, I don’t know if this is an advantage or not to most people, but I would say this game is based more on luck than skill. There is SOME strategy involved, unlike the similar card game, Trash, which my family also likes to play, but I would say that luck is the bigger factor. Especially if you are playing with many different ages of kids, I think this is an advantage. No one gets discouraged by always losing, because honestly, if you play long enough, everyone will win at some point.

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Ribbon Ninja Details

Product: Ribbon Ninja
Company: Fat Brain Toy Stores
Website: sempersmartgames.com
Recommended Age Range: Box says 8 and up, but younger kids would enjoy as well as long as older kids went easy on them. My husband and I enjoyed it as well.
Price Range: ~$17
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Review

Probably the biggest endorsement for this game is that it has the words “Ninja” in the title which my 12 and 14 year old think makes it sound baby-ish and yet they were still intrigued enough that they wanted to play. Ordinarily they would avoid anything with Ninja in the title with a ten foot pole. The way the game work is that everyone gets two velcro wrist bands and 3 ribbons. They attach the ribbons to their wrists, reminiscent of flag football.

The players all put their front feet into a circle so they are the correct distance apart. The entire game, their back foot is supposed to stay planted. Everyone tries to rip off everyone elses ribbons until there is one person left standing. You put 2 ribbons on one wrist and 1 on the other (your choice), but once a hand loses all its ribbons, that hand has to go behind your back and can’t try to grab other people’s ribbons anymore. When you lose all your ribbons, you’re out.

The circle seemed a bit unfair given the length of my husband’s arms compared to the young kids, so after a couple minutes we changed our family rules and just specified that you had to stay in the room. This led to utter betrayal when I was going after mt 14 year old and my 8 year old snuck up behind me and grabbed my ribbons. I think it also led to a lot more laughing though.

The one downside of this game is that we have a family of 6 and the box only contains supplies for up to 4 players. I thought about buying a second box, since the color of the ribbons doesn’t really matter, but honestly, I think 6 people running around is too much for one room. We decided to go in groups of 3 and then have the winner of each group (which ended up being my husband and teenage son) go against each other. I have to say, it is fun even for spectators.

I think Ribbon Ninja will become a staple of family tournament days in the future. Normally we do minute-to-win-it games involving knocking over solo cups, trying to get cookies from our foreheads into our mouths, carrying balloons on plates carried by our mouths, that sort of thing. Those games are still a lot of fun, but Ribbon Ninja has the same silly energy, but takes it up a notch. I will definitely be hanging onto this game for awhile!

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One Night Ultimate Werewolf Details

Product: One Night Ultimate Werewolf
Company: Bézier Games
Website: beziergames.com/products/one-night-ultimate-werewolf
Recommended Age Range: Box says 14 and up. In terms of difficulty, our 6-year-old understands all the rules and can play independently. Some may find the dark, werewolf-hunting theme inappropriate.
Price Range: ~$20
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Review

The primary reason why I personally love this game is that it rarely lasts long enough to devolve into tears. You can set the length of the round, but I set it for either 2 or 3 minutes. There is a timer going, so it can’t last longer than what you set. Even with setup and the part of the game that happens before the time, it takes no more than 5 minutes. Games are so great for family bonding. Being able to squeeze in a round or two into a little pocket of time makes this game golden in my opinion.

On the downside, I’m not sure the game itself can be said to have any redeeming qualities whatsoever. It does not teach math or reading skills. Reading isn’t even required, which means non-readers can play too. I think this game is marketed as being for ages 14+ solely because of the content and not because of the difficulty. My 6-year-old can play just fine. The issue is that the primary skill promoted in this game is lying and deception. Each player draws a card showing them what character they are and it is the job of the group to locate and kill (by pointing at) the werewolf (or possibly werewolves). The werewolves, of course, need to lie convincingly to avoid being discovered.

Rather than teaching a skill, this game is really just fun. This makes kids want to play over and over and over again. The two other skills that this game encourages, besides deception, are cooperation and deductive reasoning skills. The non-werewolves have to cooperate with each other to figure out who is lying and actually the werewolf.

Some other points that you should know about this game is that it is best played using an app on your phone. In the first part of the game, everyone closes their eyes and takes turns opening their eyes and performing an action. You don’t NEED to use the app. The first several times we played, I wasn’t part of the game and read the script instead, so that we could figure out how to play and also so that I could make sure no one was opening their eyes and peeking. However, after a few rounds, I downloaded the app so I could play too and it is so much more fun that way.

The second thing you should know is that there are some cards that you may or may not want to use. For example, one character is a drunk and changes his card at random on his turn. Another character is a tanner that hates his life and wants to die. His job is to try and convince everyone that he is the werewolf. However, you only need all the cards if you have 10 people playing, which we never have. If you are not playing with the maximum number of people, then you can choose which cards to leave out.

If you are not turned off by the idea of werewolf-hunting and have 4 or more people to play, I say give this game a go. It is perfect for Halloween, but honestly, I know my kids are going to want to keep playing it year-round!

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Escape Room: Can You Escape the Museum? Details

Product: Escape Room: Can You Escape the Museum?
Company: Kane Miller Books
Author: Gareth Moore
Illustrator: Beatriz Castro
Copyright Year: 2021
Website: www.kanemiller.com
Recommended Age Range: There is not an official range, but my kids aged 5-12 all enjoyed it.
Price Range: ~$30
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Review

The best feature of this book is that it is unique. It allows your kids to have a hands-on experience that is completely unlike something they would get from a book or a board game. Its novelty is its biggest selling point, in my opinion. There is also a nice variety of puzzles. With 6 rooms, each containing 4 puzzles, you would think that there might be some repetition, but there really isn’t. We even have the companion book, Can You Escape the Video Game?, and that had completely distinct puzzles from this book as well.

The primary reason why I am glad I purchased this book is that it made my kids feel like a team. When you have kids of wide-ranging ages (mine are 5 to 12), it can sometimes be hard to find activities that will appeal to all of them. I want them to have memories when they grow up of fun things they did together. This at-home escape room is one of those memorable experiences. I like that the younger kids had to ask the older kids for help. I appreciate that the older kids were relatively kind and helpful in giving tips to the younger kids.

My biggest complaint with this book/game is that it comes with several sheets that need to be punched out and folded to make all the components necessary for the game. Some of the paper is thin and rips easily, so I couldn’t let the kids help me with those. The pieces have paper tabs, which theoretically should stay together without tape. However, we found that in handling them, several of them fell apart, so we needed to add a little tape temporarily. Some of the pieces are incredibly small (like fingernail size), so they can get misplaced easily.

The other downside of any escape room is that the same people can’t really do it more than once. However, you can pass it on to someone else. A nice feature of this is one is that even though the paper all folds into different three-dimensional shapes, in the end, it all unfolds and can be stored nicely in the envelope attached to the book.

All in all, if you have kids in middle school or older or if you don’t mind being heavily involved in the puzzle-solving, I recommend a boxed kit more like Escape the Room: Stargazer’s Manor instead. However, if you have elementary-aged kids and you would like them to be able to work independently or with each other, then this Kane Miller book might be the perfect fit.

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