Dice, Decks and Boards: A Review of Once a Pawn a Time

I received a COMPLIMENTARY copy of this product from the Timberdoodle in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not required to write a positive review or be compensated in any other way. This post contains affiliate links. Please see my Terms of Use and Disclosure Policy page for more information. Thank you.

Would your children like to learn chess? What if they could learn chess in a fun way that was offline? Once a Pawn a Time is part of the 2024 3rd Grade Curriculum Kit from Timberdoodle and allows you to teach even the youngest children to play chess with its fun and whimsical approach. 

What Do You Get? 

Once a Pawn a Time includes two fully-colored, illustrated books written by chess teacher, Patzi Stewart. Book I presents chess in a fun and fanciful way. If you are working through the book as intended, it will take you one to two hours to complete it. Book II is designed to be read in 20-minute increments to learn about the chess pieces before playing an actual game. 

The illustrations in the book match the chess pieces. The thirty pieces have amusing faces on them to match the story in the book. Each chess piece has a round circle of felt on the bottom of it. They are also pretty hefty feeling so they won't just fall over.

The board folds up by bending each quadrant into itself. This makes it compact for putting away. The chessboard is also erasable so you can use whiteboard pens on it. And the board is gridded to help you move the pieces according to the books and rules.  

Everything comes in a great box for storage. The pieces have their own bags, and the two books and the board fit perfectly with them into a box that can stand on your bookshelf. 

What Do We Think? 

I think Once a Pawn a Time is best introduced before your children know any chess. If your children have a basic knowledge of the game, like ours do, they will want to skip ahead and get playing. Since I hadn't played chess in quite a while, it wasn't too difficult to convince them to sit with me as I read through Book I.

I really loved the illustrations in the book. The text was easy to read aloud. The directions as to how to set up the board and how the chess pieces move were easy to understand. My only complaint with the books was that the text was small (there is a lot of information to share) and difficult to read on the darker pages (which are color-coded for the chess pieces). A favorite part of Book II for me was the section on opening moves. I must admit to usually starting each of my chess games the same way. 

Our children were excited to start playing. Having Once a Pawn a Time on our game shelf means I can incorporate something new into our homeschool day to strengthen critical thinking skills and emotional intelligence. And with the design of the box, we can easily take it with us to the park, library, etc. 

Would You Like To Play More Games? 

Games are a great way to boost critical thinking skills. Here a few more that I reviewed courtesy of Timberdoodle: 

• Dice, Decks, and Boards: Challenge Your Mind With Horse Academy
• Dice, Decks, and Boards: Navigate the High Seas through Critical Thinking
• Dice, Decks, and Boards: Penguins Huddle Up™ Game

Dice, Decks, and Boards: Dungeon Drop

This post contains affiliate links. Please see my Terms of Use and Disclosure Policy page for more information. Thank you.

Adventurers! Are you ready to explore an ever-changing dungeon? Then you'll love the game Dungeon Drop from designer Scott R. Smith and Artist Marília Nascimento. This game allows you to create the dungeon as you go using small cubes of varying sizes which serve as pillars to form rooms, the monsters guarding the rooms and treasure, as well as treasure of various value. 

What Is the Game Dungeon Drop? 

The game itself is self-contained in a small box, but the playing field will encompass your entire table as you drop the dungeon. One to four players will enjoy three rounds of dropping the dungeon and looting the dungeon over the course of about twenty minutes.

"Venture into an ever-shifting labyrinth teeming with untold treasure. Colorful cubes represent gold, gems, goblins, and more. Raid the rooms that best suit your hero's quest, but stay alert – the dungeon changes with every drop. Grab the most loot and become the Dungeon Drop Master!" (from the box) 

During Dungeon Drop, you assume the role of a brave hero who takes turns with the other players to explore the dungeon. You select your hero by choosing one random Race card and one random Class card. Race cards include humans, Boblins, high elves, dwarves, and others. Classes available include mage, cleric, bard, beastmaster, and more. These cards give you different choices of actions you can make, as well as your initiative score.

One player sets up the game by dropping all of the small cubes (plus the large dragon cube) on the table from about 6 to 12 inches in height. Be careful you don't lose any cubes! This is the dungeon where players will add additional cubes on their turn and then create rooms to loot.

What Do You Get? 

Dungeon Drop includes everything you need to play the game. The box contains the following: 

• Four player aids
• Four turn order markers 
• One score tracker
• Four Meeples
• Four solo tokens
• Four teamwork tokens
• 87 cubes
• Six custom dice 
• Fifteen Race cards
• Fifteen Class cards
• Ten quest cards

How Do You Play Dungeon Drop? 

After the dungeon is set up, initiative (that is, which player goes first) is first determined based on the initiative number on the Race card. In the next round, it will be determined based on the weight carried (how many cubes you have collected during the previous rounds).

During a player's turn, there are three things to do:

1. Explore: Draw cubes from the box without looking at them and drop them into the Dungeon.
2. Act: Use either their Race or Class ability. 
3. Loot: Form a room using the gray, shiny cubes as pillars and collect the cubes. 

The quest card selected helps players determine which cubes they want to try and collect. If they have a quest card where the clear cubes are worth more for scoring, they might want to focus on only collecting those particular cubes. Or perhaps they want to have the fewest number of cubes because they receive extra points for having the lightest weight. 

Players play three rounds and then everyone counts up their score based on their quest card and the scoring information in the ruler booklet. The player with the most points wins. 

What Do We Think? 

This is an easy game to set up (as long as you don't lose any cubes off the table) and clean up. As long as you have a large, flat surface, you can play this game almost anywhere. The box itself is rather small, which means it can fit in between your larger game boxes and tuck neatly in a bag to take with you. 

We haven't played the Heroic "Teamwork" Game Mode or Solo Spelunker versions yet, so I can only speak to the basic game. In general, I think this is an enjoyable game. There is competition, but it is not "in your face" and the points can fluctuate depending on which new cubes are adding to the dungeon or if any of the pillars are moved.

Our daughter who does not enjoy competitive games played this one rather readily without any tears. She and I played as a team (there were five of us at the table), and even though we went last, she was very patient. Each players' turn can take a while as they try to line up the pillars to create rooms in the form of triangles. Everyone definitely wants to see if they can collect the cubes most important to their quest. Sometimes, players get to flick cubes around the table in attempts to better their loot scoring!

Overall, I think this is a very fun game and I would recommend it. Is it educational? Well, any game helps you work on compassion, teamwork, and good sportsmanship. This one definitely helps you think about triangles as that is how you form rooms with the pillars. There is also some arithmetic involved on a few of the quest cards due to varying gem cube bonuses and values. Beyond that...I think it is just a fun game to bring families and friends together.

Interested in More Game Reviews? 

We play a lot of games in our family. Some are ones that I have reviewed in the past for Timberdoodle such as Penguins Huddle Up™ or for HomeschoolingFinds.com such as Math Sprint while others are ones we have picked up over the years. Here are a few favorites:

• Dice, Decks, and Boards: Mermaid Island
• Dice, Decks, and Boards: The Oregon Trail ®
• Dice, Decks, and Boards: Raccoon Rumpus
• Dice, Decks, and Boards: Tenzi Game and Tenzi Card Deck

Dice, Decks, and Boards: SmartGames IQ Waves

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Amazon Vine Program. I was not required to write a review on A Mom's Quest to Teach. This post contains affiliate links. 

IQ Waves from SmartGames is a fun, one-player logic game for ages 6 to adult. It is compact and easy to learn. SmartGames offer a variety of fun and educational games that help stimulate cognitive skills, such as: 

• Problem solving 
• Spatial insight
• Flexible thinking
• Memory
• And more! 

About IQ Waves 

This one-player game contains 120 challenges with five levels: 

• Starter
• Junior
• Expert
• Master
• Wizard 

The first starter challenges are the easiest, where the challenge position has the majority of the puzzle pieces laid out for you. As you move through the 120 challenges, you will be adding fewer and fewer pieces, per the booklet. By the time you reach the wizard level, you are only putting in one piece before you attempt the challenge. 

Playing the game is simple. You place the pieces as shown in the challenge booklet. Then, you place the remaining pieces on the board. There is only one solution for each challenge. If you struggle, you can find the answers in the back of the booklet. 

What Do You Get? 

There is one game board fitted into a self-closing container. One booklet with 120 challenges and solutions is provided, as well as the 8 puzzle pieces. The puzzle pieces are in different colors and shapes. 

Our Thoughts 

As we have played other logic games from SmartGames, we knew we were in for a treat. This is a great puzzle for travel and the home. Because everything fits together, you can stow it in a bag to take to a restaurant or office for those times when you and your children must wait. 

IQ Waves is great whether you homeschool or not! But it is especially great for a homeschooling family. While one child finishes an assignment with you, your other child could complete a challenge or two.

If you purchase more than one set, you could set up logic contests. Who can solve the most puzzles in five minutes? Or who can solve the first ten challenges first? There are a lot of fun ways to use IQ Waves in your homeschool. 

Other SmartGames Reviews 

Dice, Decks, and Boards: Challenge Your Mind With Horse Academy

Dice, Decks, and Boards: Navigate the High Seas through Critical Thinking

Dice, Decks, and Boards: Zig Zag Puzzler Review

Dice, Decks, and Boards: Penguins Huddle Up™ Game

Dice, Decks, and Boards: Dragon's Breath

This post contains affiliate links. Please see my Terms of Use and Disclosure Policy page for more information. Thank you.

Who doesn't love sparkling gems? In Dragon's Breath, children will collect gems that are released from the ice ring to add to their dragon hoard. 

Dragon's Breath from Haba® is for 2 to 4 players aged 5+. The game only takes about 15 minutes to play and set up, which means you can play over and over again in one gaming session. Since each game is so short, Dragon's Breath is also excellent for large families because you can swap out players. 

What Do You Get? 

The game comes in a sturdy box and contains the following: 

• 4 Dragon Children 
• 9 Ice Rings 
• 1 Ice Floe Tile 
• 90 Sparkling Stones (18 in each of 5 colors) 
• 1 Dragon Dad 
• 1 Box Base with 4 Dividers 
• 1 Game Board 
• 5 Sparkling Stone Tiles 

How Do You Play Dragon's Breath? 

Place the game board on the box base with the four dividers set up. Place the ice floe tile in the middle. 

Depending on how many players there are, you stack either 8 ice rings (2 or 4 players) or 9 ice rings (3 players) on the ice floe tile. This creates a column of ice that the dragon dad will "melt." 

Each player selects their dragon child and puts the marker in one of the four corners. 

All the sparkling stones are placed in the ice column. Any that fall, go into the holes in the base. The Dragon Dad and the sparkling stone tiles are set to the side for gameplay. 

Once play begins, each round is the same: 

1. Select a sparkling stone tile so you know which color you will collect. 
2. Lift an ice ring. The sparkling gems will fall (if they fall in a hole, they belong to Dragon Dad). 
3. Divide up the gems based on the stone tiles. Any left after you divide them go into Dragon Dad's hoard. 

There are variations of the game listed in the instruction manual. 

Our Thoughts 

This is a high-quality game made for repeated play by small children. It is playable by four-year-olds and up (supervision of littler ones is necessary). It teaches patience, colors, and counting, as well as good sportsmanship. 

How Can You Use This Game Elsewhere in Your Homeschool? 

• Use the game for sorting colors. 
• Spelling words: Use the ice round ice rings and gently toss them onto an alphabet board. Then, spell out a word that starts with that letter. 
• Trading and finances. Make each color represent a different amount and practice basic trading and bartering with the gems. 
• Work on learning Roman Numerals. Make the colors represent different numbers and then count out with math problems. 

Red = 1 = I 

Blue = 5 = V

Orange = 10 = X

Purple = 20 = XX 

Green = 50 = L 

Can you think of any other ways to use the game in your homeschool? 

Dice, Decks, and Boards: Penguins Huddle Up™ Game

 

I received a COMPLIMENTARY copy of this game from Timberdoodle in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not required to write a positive review, nor was I compensated in any other way. This post contains affiliate links. Please see my Terms of Use and Disclosure Policy page for more information. Thank you.

Critical thinking skills are a must. And thanks to Smart Games, it has never been easier to include games that teach critical thinking into your homeschool day. We had the pleasure to play Penguins Huddle Up™ in our homeschool for the past several weeks. It is such a fun but challenging game for our 8- and 10-year-olds. 

What is Penguin Huddle Up™? 

In this multi-level family game, the goal is to gather penguins into a huddle to prevent them from freezing. While you are gathering your penguins together to form a huddle, you are also trying to prevent your opponents from doing the same. The first player who huddles up their penguins wins. 

The game is for two to four players and stimulates flexible thinking, planning, problem-solving, spatial insight, and concentration. With every move by your opponent, you need to reevaluate if your previous plan will still work and adapt to the ever-changing board. 

What is in Your Box? 

• Game board 
• Four penguin families (red, blue, green, yellow) – each with 3 large and 3 small penguins 
• Six ice blocks (4 straight and 2 curved)
• Game rules with two different difficulty levels 

How Do You Play? 

The board is set up by placing the ice blocks on the game board. Next, you and your opponents take turns placing the penguins on the board. If you are playing with only two individuals, you place your opponent's penguins on the board, and they place yours on the board. 

After all the penguins are placed, you take turns moving them closer together. You can move them to an adjacent space, jump over another penguin, or dive underneath the ice using one of the breaks in the ice on the game board. 

Two playing modes!

With the goal being to huddle up the penguins, you want them all to be on adjacent spaces. If you are playing the easier difficulty, they can be next to each other in any way. If you are playing the harder difficulty level, then they all need to be the same height. So, small penguins will need to stand on one of the ice blocks next to the taller penguins of the same color. 

What Did We Think? 

This is such a quick game to learn! But that doesn't mean that it isn't challenging or fun to play. Because each game depends upon where you place the ice blocks and penguins, there are nearly limitless different gaming options. So, it has a very high replay value. 

I love games that encourage critical thinking skills in our children. Our daughter is just beginning to see how all her moves – from setting up the pieces and placing her opponent's penguins to moving them during the gameplay – are connected. Her older brother very quickly caught on that he should place his opponent's penguins as far apart and as far away from breaks in the ice as possible. He strategized from the setting up phase all the way through the playing phase of Penguins Huddle Up™. 

While this game is for ages six and up, I think it is best if children of similar skill level play together. For example, I played several times with our daughter and found it necessary to employ the harder rules for myself, or I would have easily beat her. It was more challenging to play with our son as he really planned ahead all his moves. 

I think this would make a great addition to your gaming shelves. Whether you homeschool or not, your children will enjoy playing this critical thinking game. I think it is one game that doesn't give away that kids are learning as they play it. 

Are you interested in learning about more critical thinking games? Read my reviews of other Timberdoodle Games by visiting my blog reviews.

Dice, Decks, and Boards: Zig Zag Puzzler Review

Dice, Decks, and Boards: Navigate the High Seas through Critical Thinking

Dice, Decks, and Boards: Challenge Your Mind With Horse Academy

Dice, Decks, and Boards: Gobblet Gobblers

Dice, Decks, and Boards: Qwirkle

This post contains affiliate links. Please see my Terms of Use and Disclosure Policy page for more information. Thank you.

Sometimes, there is a game that has been on your wishlist for so long that when you finally buy it, you worry if the game will actually be worth the wait. Qwirkle was the game on our wishlist for a long time. It was totally worth the wait!

What is Qwirkle?

Qwirkle is a fun game that will challenge your critical thinking skills. Yes, it is about matching shapes and colors, but you need to think and plan ahead to ensure that you will be able to score the most points. It is easy to learn but difficult to master! 

While you are looking to place your tiles or blocks, you need to make note of colors and shapes and make sure there are no duplicates in the row. So you can place a red circle in a row with a green circle and a blue circle, but not if there is already a red circle in that row. Since you connect the blocks in a way similar to a cross between Dominoes and Scrabble, you need to think ahead of the current move, too. 

Players score points by adding up how many tiles or blocks are in the row where they played their last block or blocks. If they are able to complete a row of six, they then score a "Qwirkle" and gain bonus points. So, it can be easy for the leadership board to change as people play their tiles. 

The game is designed for two to four players, ages 6 and up, with an average playtime of 30+ minutes. 

How else can you use the game?

The wooden tiles can help your younger children work on patterns and color recognition. Even if your little ones can't play Qwirkle, they can still use the brightly colored wooden blocks or tiles. 

• Place only one set of colors in the drawstring bag. Have your child pull out one block or tile and name the shape depicted. Or have them draw the shape shown on the block matching the color when they draw it. 
• Place only one set of shapes in the drawstring bag. Have your child pull out one block or tile at a time and identify the color. 
• With all the blocks or tiles in the bag, have your child draw one at a time. Ask them to identify both the color and the shape. 
• With all the blocks or tiles in the bag, have your child draw one at a time. Have them find an object in the house that matches the color or the shape. Or have objects or cards ready for them to match at the table. 
• Use them as building blocks to practice fine motor skills. 

Games in Your Homeschool 

Including games in your homeschool day can bring such joy and fun! When you are able to include games that encourage critical thinking skills, you are building those skills as well as communication skills, good sportsmanship, patience, and more. 

Read more about games that foster critical thinking skills in my reviews of Zig Zag Puzzler and Bugzzle. Click on the images below to visit the reviews!

Dice, Decks, and Boards: Navigate the High Seas through Critical Thinking

I received a COMPLIMENTARY copy of this one-person puzzle game from Timberdoodle in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not required to write a positive review, nor was I compensated in any other way. This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please see my Terms of Use and Disclosure Policy page. Thank you.

As you know, we love games in our homeschool, especially those that help our children challenge themselves. Having the opportunity to review the one-person puzzle game courtesy of Timberdoodle was a joy in our homeschool. Both our nine-year-old son and our seven-year-old daughter enjoyed working through the different puzzles and modes of play in Pirates Crossfire by Smart Games. 

What is Pirates Crossfire? 

This one-person puzzle game has four modes and five levels of difficulty. The general idea is to use the puzzle challenge booklet to place some pieces on the board and then use your critical thinking skills to fire out where the rest of the pieces go. Of course, there are restrictions as to where you can put the pirate and navy ships depending on which mode you are playing. 

The game is packaged in a sturdy box for storage and comes with: 

• A puzzle booklet
• The base for the game 
• Two rock pieces 
• Two pirate pieces 
• Four navy pieces 

Once you or your children decide upon which mode and which difficulty you want to play, you pick a challenge. You look in the puzzle booklet to see which pieces you need to add to the base first. You will always put the rock pieces on the board first. After that, you will use the hints (when provided) for placing the navy and pirate ships. 

Different Modes (I am sharing our son's descriptions and my notes for the different modes.) 

Peace Mode: My son shared that the ships can't hit each other. (The ships are armed with cannons on each side.) After you place the rocks, you need to make sure that the ships' cannons are not pointed at another ship. (They can be pointed at the rocks.)

Pirates Win Mode: "No pirates get hit, all navy get hit." In this mode, you need to make sure that all the ships' cannons are pointed in the right direction. You need to make sure that the pirate ships can shoot at the navy ships. 

Navy Ships Win Mode: In this mode, the goal is the opposite of the Pirates' Win mode. 

Total War: "All ships must be in (the) line of fire."

There are answer keys for all the challenges, but when just trying the starter level, I think, the Total War is the only mode where you might need to check the answer key for the solution.

Using Pirates Crossfire in Our Homeschool 

This one-person puzzle game is perfect when you are homeschooling children of multiple ages. While working with our daughter, I can easily hand this game to our son to keep him amused in an educational way while he waits for his one-on-one homeschool time. He can still work on a variety of cognitive skills like planning, spatial insight, problem-solving, concentration, and flexible thinking while he is playing a fun game.

As a typical boy, he does not just solve the puzzles but creates backstories for the adventures of the pirates and the navy as he works on the challenges. He also created his names for the different levels of the difficulties and the puzzle pieces themselves as he was helping me write this review. For example, the booklet calls the difficulties: starter, junior, expert, master, and wizard but he calls them first-time puzzling, good puzzler, teacher of puzzling, king of puzzling, and golden wizard king of puzzling. (I love how invested he was in using and reviewing Pirate Crossfires.)

After our daughter tried several puzzles in Horse Academy, she wanted to try her hand at Pirates Crossfire. She was not as successful with these challenges as they do require one to critically think in a totally different way. The pieces must fit together and meet different criteria depending upon which mode you have chosen. So while there is one correct answer, you come to a different way than her previous experience. I think it is great that Smart Games produces so many different puzzle games and that Timberdoodle offers than in their various curriculum packages. 

Our Thoughts 

I would highly recommend Pirates Crossfire. It is an excellent, high-quality one-person puzzle game. I think the inclusion in the 2022 Sixth-Grade Timberdoodle Curriculum Kit is spot on. While our nine-year-old son was able to complete all the starter puzzles without much help, he was having more difficulty as he tried harder puzzles. 

I like that through trial and error our son was able to puzzle out the solutions. It was also very easy for him to get the hang of the challenges. He could easily move through the different modes to show me how the game works. He was really good at explaining the game which to me means that it is well-written and easy to understand. 

With multiple modes and 80 challenges, Pirates Crossfire has longevity and replayability. And as a one-person puzzle game, it will help entertain you and your children during those moments when you or your children have some free time. It would be perfect for your family with your homeschool or not. So get ready to navigate the high seas through critical thinking with Pirates Crossfire. 

Dice, Decks, and Boards: Challenge Your Mind With Horse Academy

 

I received a COMPLIMENTARY copy of this game from Timberdoodle in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not required to write a positive review, nor was I compensated in any other way. This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please see my Terms of Use and Disclosure Policy page. Thank you.

Games are a great way to challenge your mind. There are many ways you can keep different skills fresh no matter what kind of game you are playing. Games help us: 

• Build critical thinking skills
• Practice cooperation, collaboration, and learning to win or lose with grace 
• Keep reading and/or math skills in use
• Use logic
• Practice problem solving 
• Work on planning
• And more! 

Some games are better equipped to help you and your children work on these skills and ideas than others. For example, while the popular -opoly games may help us learn and practice how to lose graciously, games like Horse Academy can help build cognitive skills like spatial insight, planning, and problem-solving. As it is a one-player game, it can also help with patience if there is more than one who wants to work on the challenge at one time.

What is Horse Academy? 

Horse Academy is a one-person puzzle game from Smart Games where players need to create a path for their horse to jump over obstacles in a specific sequence to reach the exit gate. The box contains

• 1 game board 
• 1 exit gate 
• 10 puzzle pieces with obstacles and paths
• 1 horse with a rider
• Booklet with 80 challenges
• 1 sticker sheet with instructions on where to download timesheets 

There are five levels of challenges: 

• Starter
• Junior 
• Expert
• Master
• Wizard 

You look at the challenge to pick out the pieces you need and find out where to place the start and finish pieces (except at the wizard level where they don't tell you the starter or end position). Your horse follows the path in the order laid out in the challenge without changing course. There are some additional specifications regarding turning, order, and color in the booklet. 

Our Thoughts on Horse Academy 

At first, I was a bit confused, but I found once we started trying to solve the challenges, it was easy to get the knack of this one-person puzzle game. I did not give our daughter too much instruction once she got started. We ran through a couple of the challenges together, and then I went to help her brother with another one-person puzzle game from Timberdoodle that he is helping us review.

When I asked our daughter what she thought of this challenging puzzle game, she told me that it would help people learn about horses. She said, "the puzzles are not difficult. They are fun. They are not too hard." She also gave the advice that "you have to stay on the road. Make your horse jump over the fences. Some paths are wriggly and shaky. Like challenge number 10."

I really liked how she took quickly to Horse Academy and worked through the challenges without even realizing she was using critical thinking skills. Her mind was being challenged but she did not know it. She just saw it as having fun. 

The pieces are hard plastic and fit well together on the game board. It all fits neatly in the box too which is wonderful for storage and organization. I really appreciate games that go back into the box easily. 

As a homeschooling mom of two elementary-aged children, I like having one-person games that focus on cognitive skills. While working with her brother, our daughter can have fun while building her critical thinking skills. 

I would recommend Horse Academy to families of both homeschooled and non-homeschooled children. It is a great game for those times when a child needs to amuse themselves. It is part of the 2022 Third-Grade Curriculum Kit at Timberdoodle which seems like a perfect fit to me. Our daughter is going to be in second grade and while she can do the easier challenges, I think the higher-level ones will be a bit too challenging without help. 

Interested in More Products from Timberdoodle 

Read my reviews of Battle Sheep in Building Critical Thinking Skills with Games, Me: A Compendium, in Documenting Memories with your Homeschooled Children: A Review of Me: A Compendium, or the Tiger Art Crystal Card Kit in Art in Our Homeschool: A Review of Tiger Crystal Art Card Kit. 

Dice, Decks, and Boards: Ghost Fightin' Treasure Hunters

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please see my Terms of Use and Disclosure Policy page. Thank you.

We love board games in our house, especially cooperative games! We haven't been able to play a lot of games as a family lately but as our home life and homeschool shift, we will be playing more games together. Perhaps even instituting a family game night. 

Family Game Night Ideas 

Speaking of family game night... do you hold one with your family and friends? There are so many great ways you can get together for games and there are so many games! We enjoy everything from board and card games to roleplaying games to video games, and we have played all these different types of games together. Here are some ideas you can try with your family and friends. You can host:

• A game night featuring cooperative games only 
• A game night featuring competitive games 
• A game night with family and friends where everyone brings their favorite short game to play 
• A virtual game night where you play video games remotely with your family and friends 
• A game night for roleplaying - create pre-generated characters or start an epic dungeon campaign 

A Few Favorites 

In the past, I have shared many games that our family enjoys from one of our favorite video games to how we used roleplaying games to inspire a birthday party. Games provide a great form of entertainment that allows our family to not only spend time together but work together too. 

On my blog, you will find a variety of favorite types of games including: 

Tenzi Game and Tenzi Card Deck (a review courtesy of Timberdoodle): This is a fun dice game taken to a new level using the deck of cards which changes how the game is played.  

Roleplaying: Our family enjoys roleplaying games, so much so that we have hosted roleplaying birthday parties for our oldest son.

Cooperative Games: Our daughter loves games where we all work together to win the game. She loves games like Mermaid Island because we have a common goal and we either win or lose together as a family.

Video Games: As much as we enjoy board games, dice games, and card games, we also love playing video games together. Minecraft has become a family favorite because we can all play together in one world.  If your child is a fan of Minecraft, I have shared several posts over the years including crafts featuring the letters of the alphabet or pixel art and a Minecraft-themed birthday party.

Ghost Fightin' Treasure Hunters 

While searching for unique Christmas gifts, my husband found Ghost Fightin' Treasure Hunters on a recommended list of cooperative games. As we like to purchase at least one game for Christmas each year, this seemed like the perfect game to purchase. Each game playthrough is different as you and your teammates draw cards, place ghosts, collect treasures, and make decisions. So, it has immense replay value. And the fact that we work together cooperatively also meant that our daughter would be more willing to join in our first play-through attempt. 

What exactly is Ghost Fightin' Treasure Hunters? 

From the back of the box: "In a dark and dreary house, every sound sends a cold chill through your bones. A door opens - is someone there? You hear whispers, but no one answers when you call. Your eyes and ears may deceive you, but the hair on your neck tells you what you already know: there are ghosts here." 

You and your teammates are on a quest to discover the 8 treasure jewels that are scattered throughout the haunted house. As you draw cards, you will either advance without adding any more ghosts or haunts, or you will add ghosts to the different rooms in the house. By adding ghosts into the house, you will be increasing the haunt level. If the house is fully haunted before you get all the treasure out, you will lose the game.

What Comes with the Game? 

With your game come all the necessary components to play Ghost Fightin' Treasure Hunters, including a set of instructions that provides you with the information to play the basic game and the advanced game. The advanced game adds in a few extra cards which will advance the haunting of the house as well as lock doors to the different rooms. 

Also included is the following: 

• 1 Game Board
• 4 Treasure Hunter Movers 
• 19 Cards 
• 24 Ghost Movers 
• 6 Haunting Figures
• 1 Movement Die
• 2 Fighting Die
• 8 Treasure Jewels 

What Do I Think? 

Due to the cooperative nature of Ghost Fightin' Treasure Hunters, this is a big win for our family. I love the fact that winning the game requires players to talk to each other and strategize. During one game session, we talked about who would team up with whom in order to defeat ghosts, to be able to escape rooms with jewels. (If there are two Treasure Hunters in one room with a ghost, you can roll two battle dice, giving you a better chance to succeed.) 

I am impressed with the quality of the pieces and the cards. If one plans on playing a game multiple times with children, it is nice to find all the pieces are well-made and have a sturdy box for storage. Each item goes in its own spot in the box which makes cleaning up rather easy, too. 

I would recommend Ghost Fightin' Treasure Hunters to families who enjoy playing games together. If you enjoy cooperative games, then this is a good challenging game for you and your family. In the half-dozen or more times our family has played the game, we have only won once. While it is difficult to beat the game, it is not difficult to learn how to play. No one was so disappointed in our previous losses that they didn't want to play the game again. I think this speaks volumes about the re-playability of a game.

It's not a scary game, only takes about 30 minutes, and is perfect for two to four players. I think you will enjoy playing Ghost Fightin' Treasure Hunters, too. 

Building Critical Thinking Skills with Games

 

I received a COMPLIMENTARY copy of Battle Sheep from Timberdoodle in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not required to write a positive review, nor was I compensated in any other way. This post contains tracking links. For more information, please see my Terms of Use and Disclosure Policy page. Thank you.

Building critical thinking skills is very important. As parents and homeschoolers, we want our children to be able to think through things critically, be able to access and understand a variety of reading materials, and be able to solve problems on their own. 

There are many ways we can help our children develop their ability to think critically. We want them to practice: 

• Observation skills 
• Analytical skills
• Inference skills 
• Problem-solving skills 
• Communication skills or applying what they learn as they think critically 

One of our favorite ways to encourage critical thinking is through games like Battle Sheep. This fun, easy-to-learn (but difficult-to-master) game is part of the Third Grade Timberdoodle Curriculum Kit. We were blessed with the opportunity to review it in our homeschool and Battle Sheep has quickly become a hit with our younger son. 

What is Battle Sheep? 

"Battle Sheep: Flock to Greener Pastures" is a Blue Orange game for two to four players of ages 7 to adult. Players are in charge of a sheep stack, and they attempt, through play, to gain control of all Farmer Pat's pastures. Before play starts, they create the board by placing each of their four pasture boards. Each hexagon on the pasture board represents one pasture, and each pasture board contains four hexagons (resulting in four pastures per pasture board piece).

Once all the pasture boards have been placed, players pick their starting point to place their stack of 16 sheep. From this point, each player moves their sheep to attempt to take over the pasture lands. When moving sheep, the stack is split into two stacks. Each stack must contain at least one sheep. The original stack stays in place, and the new stack moves as far as it can in a straight line. 

It is in the moving of the stacks of sheep where players need to use critical thinking skills. As you want to have the most sheep on each pasture board, it is important to spread your sheep throughout the game board. It is also important not to allow your sheep stack to be blocked by yourself or the other players. As you cannot jump over or combine stacks, you want to make sure you have many straight lines available for movement. 

What is in the Box? 

Battle Sheep has everything you need to play packed into a sturdy box. The 64 sheep chips (16 of each color - blue, white, black, and red) and 16 heavy, cardboard pasture tiles. Everyone in our family was impressed by the quality of the materials. In fact, our 18-year-old said, "wow, these chips are high quality." When you are done playing, everything fits neatly back in the box. 

Building Critical Thinking Skills 

The first time we played, it was just my husband, our eight-year-old son, and myself. We worked through the instructions, looked at the back of the box to see what a game in progress looks like, and then dove in for our first play through. There were a few instances where we needed to consult the rules again, but, in general, I found Battle Sheep easy to figure out. Personally, I jumped right into our first game without putting too much thought into where I wanted to start my sheep stack. This was a mistake, I quickly discovered. Players really need to think in advance of their steps to ensure that they are able to move their sheep in multiple ways. 

After our first game, our son said, "I already know how I want to play the game differently next time." I love the fact that he was thinking through the current game and building a strategy for future games, too. To me, this means that Battle Sheep is not just a game that one plays, enjoys, and then puts back on the shelf. It is a game that builds critical thinking skills. Battle Sheep helps one think differently about gameplay and how to implement different strategies. 

In addition to building critical thinking skills, Battle Sheep can also help foster healthy competition. After all, one person is going to win. Teaching our children how to be gracious winners and accept losses is important to our family. Battle Sheep can help in this area, too. As the game only takes about 15 minutes (or as long as everyone takes planning out their moves), you can play it multiple times in one sitting. Playing it over and over in a short amount of time helps work through new ideas for gaining more pasture land.

I think we would all recommend Battle Sheep. The recommended starting age of seven seems to be right on target. I think it would be a welcome addition to many a homeschool's game shelves. Our son said it is his new favorite game, and he has asked to play it on a regular basis. This makes Battle Sheep a win for our homeschooling family! 

If you are looking for another game from Blue Orange, you might want to give Gobblet Gobblers a try!