Sometimes it takes me a little while to review a game that’s been on the market for years but I really enjoy.  And even though these games aren’t NEW they’re still worth reviewing because games don’t “go bad” unless they’re trivia based or heavily rely on pop culture or politics.  It’s what makes games so great!  If you pick up a game from the 1950s, odds are very good that it’s still playable (provided none of the key pieces wandered off in the last 60 years).  This week’s game isn’t quite that old, but it was a 2003 nominee for the Kinderspiel des Jahres* so it’s been out for close to a decade, but it would still be just as good if it came out a month ago.  What game am I talking about?  It’s Sherlock, Sherlock! An elementary game of memory and deduction. (that’s the last bad joke in the article, I promise.)

Sherlock is essentially a memory game – but a memory game that does not bore the adults!  The game starts with 8 cards placed face-up in a circle around the rest of the deck.  Players take time memorizing the pictures on each card and then they are flipped face-down.  The youngest player gets to be Sherlock first and they take the Sherlock mover (which is a card, see right) and place it above whichever face-down card they’d like to guess.   Then they guess and flip it over.  If they’re wrong their turn is over and you have to wonder what they were doing for the last minute instead of memorizing pictures!  If they’re correct the card stays face-up they get to continue and guess again – and this is where the game gets fun!  There are red arrows next to a number on the top of every card and that indicates which direction and how many cards over you need to go.  Where the Sherlock mover lands is the card you MUST guess next.  If you can’t recall correctly, your turn is over and all the cards are flipped over again.  But if you’re right you keep that card face-up and advance the Sherlock mover based on what the number and arrow says.  When the Sherlock mover finally lands on a face-up card you get to collect it and replace it with a new one from the deck (of course showing everyone what it is before you place it face-down).  Then make sure all of the cards are face-down and it’s the next player’s turn.  The goal is to be the first player to collect 6 cards.

What is so amazing about this game is that after a little bit you’ll realize that you can plan out shorter moves by remembering the number and arrow direction on the cards.  I also like that you can play with 6 (easiest), 7, or 8 (hardest) cards in the circle without taking away the fun and excitement of the game.  Sherlock was invented by Reinhard Staupe and this spring I wrote about another one of Reinhard Staupe’s games, Saddle Up! which is another cute game for kids 5 and up.  In that article I gave a little information about the inventor and if you’d like to read about Reinhard or Saddle Up! click HERE.

* The Kinderspiel des Jahres is awarded every year (since 1989, although prior to 2001 it was called the “Sonderpreis Kinderspiel”) to the best children’s game judged by German game critics.  It’s the “kid sister” to the Spiel des Jahres which is awarded to the best family game.

Sherlock Stats:

• ~$7-10 Amazon.com, FunagainGames.com, and some mom & pop game stores
• 2-5 players
• ~15 min. (but it kind of depends on how good you are at remembering!)
• Ages 5 and up

Earlier this month I was at Richard Gottlieb’s “Future of the Industry” conference and someone brought up the issue of packaging.  Given that “green” is a trend; the absence of throwaway packaging is definitely an a-peel-ing part of Bananagrams.  (Couldn’t resist a good pun!)  While this game feels familiar to other crossword games like Pick Two, we all agreed that the adorable zippered banana sack and the hanging merchandiser helped make this item a standout.

The game itself?  I think it’s great!  (FYI – I really like quick word games.)  The only real negative is that it’s not heavy on the player interaction because you’re working on your own mini-crossword while everyone else is working on theirs.  The other players essentially set the pace of the game.  When they need a new piece, you have to draw one too.  If you need a piece, they select one as well and this continues until all the pieces are gone.

Keeping up is key in this game.  You also need to be flexible; quickly morphing your words to include an unfortunate letter tile is essential.  It’s not easy to squeeze an X or Z into an existing crossword but the faster you can, the less likely you will fall behind.  It’s also advantageous to have a couple open spots to create quick short words like “it” and “am” towards the end of the game.

Bananagrams was first introduced at London Toy Fair in 2006 and has swiftly become a big success.  It’s hard to ignore their booth at toy shows because it is filled with tons of fabric bananas so you just have to stop to find out what’s going on!  And apparently the deluge of bananas has worked because Bananagrams is now stocked in Target, Barnes and Noble and a wide variety of retailers.  So maybe the next time you stop at the store you’ll pick up some bananas – from the game aisle.

Bananagrams Stats:
~$15 at Target, Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com, local Mom & Pop stores
2- Players
2-5 Minutes
Ages 5 and up

Earlier today I had an interesting conversation with the owner of the Chicago toy and game store Cat and Mouse about how there are tons of games that ”borrow” the play patterns of other games.  Some even look the same: Bananagrams and Scrabble Apple (both which are similar to Take Two), Yahtzee and Kismet, Connect Four and Toot and Otto to name a few.  Now my mother always told me that “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” so I guess that the duplication indicates that the initial product had a level of success that the new game would like to attain.  And that got me thinking.

As an inventor I’d like to believe that the original version is always the superior one; for how could anyone improve upon my idea?!  Well, after quickly glancing through my games when I got home I found the perfect example of when the newer version improved upon the initial game and believe it or not the NEW version had been out since 1954.  (My copy is from 1962 & it’s seen a lot of games.)

Mille Bornes was developed by Edmond Dujardin and was very, VERY similar to the game Touring which was invented around 1906 and then picked up by Parker Brothers in 1925.  Touring was manufactured until it was replaced in their line by Mille Bornes sometime after 1954 which makes sense because who really needs two automobile racing card games in their line?

So what was the improvement that made all the difference?  The coup-fourré.  This is when a player earns a large bonus for stopping an opponent from playing a hazard card such as a flat tire or an accident that would impede their progress.  You do this by having “Safety” in your hand when the hazard is played.  This little difference made the game so much better.  Now when you go to play a hazard on an opponent your actions could be very costly.  However once a particular safety has been played (there are four different ones, seen below) it’s kind of a free for all.  Sounds a little complicated, but really Mille Bornes is a very easy and fun game to play.  Hence the half a century — and then some — this game has been on the market.   In fact, you can still find it at Target and Toys ‘R Us today for right around $5.99 if you don’t already have a copy.  Look in the card game area, it’s manufactured by Winning Moves now.

Now I know that this one example should not indicate the rule, but I think it goes to show that sometimes game play can be improved upon.  But more often I think that the copy-cats are reusing a particular style of game play so that it is familiar, fun and easier to learn – something I guess we should chalk up to flattery.

Mille Bornes Stats:
~$5.99 and up at Target, Toys ‘R Us, Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com
2, 3, 4 or 6 Players (commonly played as a partnership game with 4 players, 2 per team)
35-45 Minutes
Ages 8 and up

**Cat and Mouse Game Store is located at 2212 W. Armitage in Chicago and is absolutely worth a look.

Another dice game that I just love is Cinq-O, from Mattel.  One of the best things about it is that it comes in a handy carrying case that easily clips to your backpack for on-the-go play.  Surprise, surprise, this can also be found in my car, neatly tucked within the Yahtzee box.  This game is a slightly similar to the style of Yahtzee because all players are taking turns with very little player interaction (versus Easy Come, Easy Go which has lots of stealing and retaliation).  In Cinq-O you’re rolling five dice trying to get the lowest or highest possible dice total which earns you points and the first one to 100 wins.  There is also a multiplier die which keeps things interesting and provides a great catch-up factor.  Overall, it’s simple to learn, easy to take with you and it definitely satisfies my dice craving in a pinch.

Now here’s where the product becomes a bit more interesting, it was invented by Reyn Guyer who also invented some products you may have heard of: Twister and Nerf.  Crazy right?  Well initially Cinq-O was going to be a Milton Bradley product but it fell out of the line at the last minute because they didn’t want to market two dice games.  But good for Reyn and for us dice lovers, a couple years later Mattel decided it was a good fit for it’s line.

And then there is the bad news…I don’t think this game is on the market anymore.  I didn’t see it at my last trip to Target and it’s not online at Amazon.com either.  So then, where to find it…eBay?

Cinq-O stats:

• $10 and (up if you can snag a copy)
• 2 or more players
• ~10 minutes
• Ages 7 and up

Thankfully, it’s not just me; I think my entire family has a weakness for dice games. Every one of us has at least one well-loved copy of Yahtzee and if you asked, I’d say we probably all have a copy tucked away in our cars “in case of an emergency.” I’m not kidding. Two winters ago, I was riding through the middle of nowhere Wisconsin in a blizzard with my father heading to my aunt’s 50th birthday party when we slid off the road. As we waited for the tow truck to arrive, I climbed into the back of his van to fish out Yahtzee. We played about ten games before the tow truck arrived. Unfortunately, I lost almost all of them, which seems totally unfair since he was the one who drove us off the road. Guess luck had to roll his way at some point!

Yahtzee is really a well-loved classic and if you haven’t played in a while, it’s worth another look. There were tons of similar poker-dice style games that are probably quite a bit older than Yahtzee, like Yacht and Cheerio. But Yahtzee showed up on store shelves in the mid-1950s and beat out other similar dice games like Kismet to become probably the best-known dice game of all time. And since the mid-1970s it’s been a strong dice-game brand with more than ten line line extensions, although classic Yahtzee is still my favorite.

As a note to parents, Yahtzee is a great way to teach your kids math (adding & multiplying) and probability. Take the time to let them add up their dice, and explain why they’d have better odds rolling for one thing over the other. Unfortunately they may start beating you, but it’s still a heck of a lot more fun than insisting they do math workbooks.

Yahtzee stats:

• $10 and up at all major retailers
• 2 or more players
• ~5-30 minutes (Depends on how quick the players are)
• Ages 8 and up

To me it’s sad that there are so many fun, entertaining and overall good games on the market that are virtual unknowns – especially when they cost less than a single movie ticket.  And all we really need is a glowing review from someone who’s actually played the game to convince us to try it.  So maybe there’s a lesson here.  Read more articles on this website (shameless plug) or ask your friends to play or borrow their favorite games.

I’m sure you’re wondering which game was so good that I insisted on recommending it to a total stranger; it was Gamewright’s There’s a Moose in the House.  While Gamewright isn’t the biggest game company out there, I’m sure you’ve seen at least a couple of their games marketed under the “12 Minute Games” brand (of which my favorite is Wig Out).   There’s a Moose in the House takes approximately 15 minutes, so it didn’t quite make the 12 minute cut but it’s still a winner in my eyes.  Gamewright’s too.  When the inventor, Scott Anderson, showed it to Gamewright it was love at first sight and it quickly rose to be one of their top selling games of all time.  They even liked his photo-real artwork so much that they kept the style when they produced the cards.  This is really impressive since games usually go through a series of modifications and changes so the product you see on the shelf is often quite different from the game that was initially pitched to the game company, especially when it comes to the artwork.  It’s similar to books going to an editor before they are published; they’re polished and tweaked until they are the best they can be.

So then where does one get the idea to make a game around a moose invading different rooms of a house?  You’ll never believe it but Scott got the idea from seeing a moose attempt to wander into a woman’s house on an episode of America’s Funniest Home Videos!  With this humorous image in his head, he set out to make a game he could play with his kids and that’s just what he did.  There’s a Moose in the House is a non-reading game for kids 8 and up and it’s just as fun for adults as it is for the under ten crowd.  The goal is to put as many moose as you can into the rooms of your opponent’s house but they can block you by playing door cards to close off a room or trapping a moose by using, what else, but a moose trap.  Who knew an oversized mousetrap baited with lettuce could trap a moose, but then again if it’s going to keep the moose out of my bathtub, that’s fine by me.  In the end, the only place a moose belongs in your house is on your game shelf or in your refrigerator, but only if it’s chocolate mousse.

There’s a Moose in the House stats:

• ~$6 at any major retailer
• 2-5 players (but 2 is not as fun)
• ~15 minutes
• Ages 8 and up