On the very edge of the Chicago suburbs, right at the last exit that divides the bustling commuters from the nothingness that spans to westward to the Rockford oasis there is a Cabela’s store.  It outfits hikers, hunters and other people looking to venture away from the city.  This weekend I made the trek from Chicago proper to this oversized log cabin to return an ill-fitting Christmas gift.  As I wandered through the maze of camo and fishing gear, I spotted a game I knew, Find It.  It’s a charmingly simple game that can be enjoyed by a kid suffering through a fishing trip with their father, to an urban executive killing five minutes before an important conference call.  What a great find!

Find It is as simple as the name suggests.  Each tube contains 40-50 themed items surrounded by a zillion recycled plastic pellets.  The goal is to shake, twist and spin the tube until you find all of the stuff inside.  Each game comes with a tear-off pad with the list so you can cross them off as you go, but there is also a sticker on top that tells you what’s inside so you don’t have to bring the tally sheet with you.  I have the Find It Original, but when I was in Cabela’s I saw the “At the Zoo” and “Bird Watch” editions.  I know there are quite a few other versions including Find It Deluxe which has 70 items inside and a whole game built around it with cards and a spinner (that I have yet to play).

Find It is the brainchild of Bob Knight who I had the pleasure of meeting at ChiTag back in 2008.  He had an idea, prototyped it using plastic tubing and birdseed and with a lot of hard work and enthusiasm built a line of products that can be found in a wide variety of stores – including Cabela’s.  It appeals to almost everyone – old, young, gamers as well as those who aren’t – and you can play it for 2 minutes by yourself or pass it around a group until you find everything.  And for you parents out there, it’s a great way to keep the kids quiet during a car trip.

Find It Stats:
~$20 at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble and all sorts of specialty retailers (~$30 for the Deluxe Edition)
1 or more Players
As little or as long as you want
Ages 8 and up

Rush Hour is a great brain-teaser/puzzle.   The game consists of 15 cars and trucks that block your little red “fancy” car from getting off the grid.  To play you select one challenge card and set up a little traffic jam.  The goal is for you to get your car off the grid and it may take quite a bit of shuffling the other cars back and forth to make this happen.  The puzzles range from very easy to pretty challenging and the folks at ThinkFun were kind enough to include answers on the back of each card in case you are stumped.  There are also add-on packs that come with new cars, like a white stretched limo and a yellow taxi, that create all new puzzles so you have something to tackle after you’ve managed to conquer the forty it comes with!

Since it was released in 1996 more than 5 million copies of Rush Hour have been sold and it can be purchased in 32 countries! Rush Hour is used in schools to teach kids critical thinking skills including problem solving and strategy and this February ThinkFun is planning another Rush Hour iPhone Contest in which they will donate copies of Rush Hour to needy schools in the winner’s name!  (for more info: click here)

Rush Hour was invented by Nob Yoshigahara, a famous Japanese puzzle inventor who brought the concept to ThinkFun (then Binary Arts) back in 1995.  At the time is was called “Tokyo Parking” and instead of being a traffic jam, it was a hellish parking lot.  (Frankly, those seem pretty similar to me living in Chicago – our expressways at rush hour always look like one long parking lot!)  Anyway, ThinkFun improved upon Nob’s concept by placing it in a nice grid with cars that easily slid back and forth.  They also changed the name from Tokyo Parking to Rush Hour and insisted on keeping the message positive.  Instead of being angry at the terrible parking skills of the other cars, players see getting out of the tangled mess of rush hour traffic a challenge.  And with some of the more difficult cards – it really is!

In addition to the physical Rush Hour game, if you own an iPhone you can get the Rush Hour app that was released right before Christmas.  For less than a buck you can get over 2500 puzzles!  Quite a deal.  (And don’t be fooled by any of the similar apps – you really want the official Rush Hour one!)

So despite not really being a “game” this puzzle gets high marks with the game testers here at The Game Aisle.  It’s a great product to enjoy when no one wants to play any games against you!

Rush Hour Stats:
$15-$25 at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Target.com, and many more.  Other versions like a Railroad, Safari and Junior are available.  Add-on packs will run you about $8 for 1 new car and 40 new challenges.
1 Player
Time depends on level and skill
Ages 8 and up