It has been a long time since I did a game review! If I’m being honest, it has been a long time since my family consistently played games. Earning my teaching credential and starting a new job really put a damper on our amount of game play, but this is the year that I’m going to work to bring it back! Our family has a tradition of having a family tournament every New Years Eve, and last night, there was a clear winner of the evening. Ribbon Ninja was something that everyone enjoyed from the youngest kid to the adults. It got everyone laughing, moving around, and having a blast.
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
Amazon Product Page (Affiliate Link)
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!
Michelle has a PhD in Engineering from Stanford University and a Bachelor's Degree from the California Institute of Technology. 
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