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: 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

Learning Year Round: Wintertime Homeschool Fun

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

For those who live in the Northern Hemisphere, the winter season can bring drastic changes to their homeschool routine. If you are a homeschool family that spends a lot of time outdoors nature schooling, going on hikes and nature walks, or doing other outdoor activities, the winter may have you change up those routines. But learning year-round can continue to happen in fun and inventive ways. Wintertime homeschool fun can still happen outdoors. Or if your children prefer the indoors, there are new activities you can include. 

Learning Year-Round Outdoors 

Cold weather and snow do not need to keep you indoors. The wintertime opens up a new world of nature schooling. While many animals migrate or hibernate for the winter, there are quite a few that stay around for several reasons. If you or your neighbors have bird feeders out year-round, then you'll be sure to see birds and rodents around them, no matter the weather.  

Animals who stay active during the winter will provide your family with the opportunity to study how they adapt and change to the seasons. You can easily see their footprints in freshly fallen snow. Rabbits, squirrels, and other animals provide a great chance to observe animals from the inside comfort of your home. 

Outdoor physical activities can continue and change, too! Invite your children to help shovel snow and clean the walkways. Build snowmen, igloos, forts, and have snowball fights with your children. Ask your children to help take care of the outdoor animals. Teach them how to protect your home during the winter. These physical activities can bring together fun and education for your homeschool family.  

Indoor Wintertime Homeschool Fun 

In addition to sticking to your normal routine, you can add in new lessons, curriculum, resources, games, art projects, and more into your day. The new year is the perfect time to introduce these new activities. For example, we started a new social studies curriculum (courtesy of Timberdoodle) with our fifth-grader. It was a fun way to shack things up this winter.

To help with those fidgety moments, I also added some additional fidget toys. We introduced the Tangle™ to our children. This toy allows the user to twist and tangle it. They can keep their hands active while listening to read-alouds or thinking about math problems. 

Complementary Product Received

After visiting a table-top gaming convention, we also added in one new card game. There are two ways to play the game. The most basic way resembles the card game, War. Simply put: War of Beasts is a "twist on the classic card game war with magical beasts and enhancements." If you are playing the advanced version of the game, you want to collect enough gems to win the game. The cards are colorful and range from such mystical creatures as electric fire dragons and ethereal rats to phenomena modifiers like tornadoes, blizzards, and giant potions. 

What resources and activities do you add to your homeschool during the wintertime for fun? 

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: 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. 

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! 

Finding the Perfect Indoor Game for your Homeschool

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

There are so many great game choices for your homeschool that can be both fun and educational for your children and your entire family. Our family has quite a few that rank high among our favorites, including ones that require very little setup, ones that are cooperative, and ones that let us roll dice. With board games and tabletop games in general gaining in popularity over the years, you can find them sold at a variety of stores – both offline and online – like chain stores or your friendly local gaming store. I would always recommend you go to your local gaming store first when looking to purchase a new game. They might even be able to find the one you have been searching for through their buying power. 

Games for Toddlers 

It seems like there are a lot better games available for younger children now than when I was a child. I seem to recall games based upon Snow White, Care Bears, or E.T., but I cannot remember how they were played at all. The games we have purchased for our younger children or those they were gifted seem to be a huge step above those of my youth. 

We have many cooperative games (which our daughter loves because everyone wins or everyone loses), such as Mermaid Island, Noah's Animal Rescue, The Fairy Game, and others. These are wonderful for teaching children how to work together as a team and prevent tears when someone loses. Of course, our five-year-old daughter has been known to cry when she wins a cooperative game. 

Several card games that are educational and fun for toddlers include Raccoon Rumpus and Koala Capers. I love how these two games are random-based upon dice, so you don't really have to have a lot of skill to win or lose. I also like that they focus on colors and patterns – perfect learning opportunities for little ones.

Educational Board Games 

As our children get older, there are a variety of educational board games that we can incorporate into our homeschool day, such as those from Byron's Games that we have received for free to review. Our children really like Continent Race, which focuses upon learning the continents, countries, and flags. Math Sprint is also great fun because it not only includes reviewing math facts but also allows the children to do physical activities, like jumping jacks and jogging in place.

Games with Lots of Components 

I must admit that I love games with lots of stuff! Even though the extra items might also bring more difficulty to learn the game, I love opening the box and finding cards, dice, and other game pieces. Our son received a fun game for Christmas called Dragon's Breath. There are lots of little 'jewels' that your dragon wants to collect. For young children, they are so pretty! 

We picked up Dungeon Drop for our family game night because we enjoy role playing games with Dungeons, so why not create our own with this game? There are all these tiny little cubes that you drop to create the dungeon that represent pillars, monsters, and treasure. Because you drop them onto the table, each game is different from the next. It is a very neat concept that keeps the game fresh and new. 

Another game that my husband picked up is the Quarriors Dice Building Game. It has 130 custom dice and over 50 cards for gameplay. We have only tried playing it once because it is still a bit too advanced for our entire family to be able to enjoy it together, but I just love all the dice! 

Role-Playing Games 

My husband and my stepson have been gamers for longer than I have known either of them. My husband's journey with Dungeons and Dragons began when he was in elementary school. He has since gone on to play a variety of editions, versions, "retroclones" (which hearken back to the first three or four versions of Dungeons and Dragons games from the 1970s and early 1980s), and games of several genres. It took a few years for my husband to convince me to play, and now I have lots of pretty dice.

The wonderful thing about role-playing games is that you don't have to play ones that involve dragons or wizards. There are ones that are set in generic outer space or even the Star Wars or Star Trek universes. My husband bought me one set in the 1920s knowing I enjoy that era of history. There are versions geared towards children, too. 

Another benefit to playing role-playing games is the community of players. There are so many different groups out there – some of which may or may not be for you. You can play online through Zoom calls or other apps, watch others play online as they get together via long distance, or roll up a character gathered around the dining room table. And because the entire game requires your imagination and critical thinking skills, there really is no wrong way to play.  Yes, there are rules, but RPGs will help you think outside the box and make great stories with your friends. 

The Perfect Indoor Game 

Just what is the perfect indoor game for your homeschool? I think any game that brings you together with your family and friends – whether via technology or together in one room – is the perfect indoor game. That game may take 15 to 20 minutes, or it may take hours, days, or a lifetime if you are role-playing. There are so many great options available for families, and playing games can teach so many important skills.  

Wordless Wednesday: Games

 

Dice, Decks, and Boards: Tenzi Game and Tenzi Card Deck

I received a FREE copy of this game and game deck 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.

Our family loves dice! One of the items I have had on my wishlist at Timberdoodle is the Tenzi Game (which is part of the second-grade curriculum kit). So, I was very excited when the opportunity to review the game and the card deck became available. It actually arrived just in time for our younger son's birthday so it was like a present for the whole family.

What Exactly is Tenzi?

Tenzi is an award-winning game that is fast-paced and easy to learn. Each game contains forty dice (10 each of four different colors). One set can be used by four people to play the original Tenzi game. How do you play? Players roll all ten of their dice in order to display ten identical numbers. They keep rerolling until all ten of their dice are the same number. Add in the Tenzi Card Deck and you will find 77 Ways to Play Tenzi (including a couple more ideas that are including on the rules that come with the original set of dice).

With so many different ways to play Tenzi, you can easily fill a game night with just two simple purchases: the Tenzi game and the card deck. On the evenings where we played Tenzi, we played at least six or more games and used the cards to shake up the rules. I think one of our kids' favorites was where you had to make a sound like a farmyard animal after each roll (Farmzi). It was very loud in our dining room during that game!

The cards are 3.5 inches by 3.5 inches in size. 

We started with playing the regular Tenzi game and then moved on, trying our hand at different versions based upon the card deck. For example, we played Oddzi & Endzi where we had to roll any combination of only 1's, 3's, and 5's. This is a great way to teach or refresh children's memories of odd and even numbers. We also played Clapzi (one claps after every roll), Sixty-Fourzi (you need to roll six 4's and four 6's), and Fivezi (using only five dice), among others. The first night we even ended our gaming session with one where the last one to get Tenzi cleans up the dice.

The Dice 

The Tenzi dice have pips – not numbers on them – which encourages your child to count. If you have other six-siders you might have dice that have numbers printed on them rather than the pips. This can give an unfair advantage (or at least that is what my family said when I was using extra dice so I could play as the fifth person).

I think the dice are well-made and I didn't feel as if any were loaded – or at least I couldn't tell as I was rolling the dice so many times. The pips were all drawn/painted on clearly so they were easy to read.

What Did We Think?

There is nothing quite like forty (or more) dice rolling at the same time as everyone tries to get their match. For a few moments – at the start of each game – there was silence (which is quite amazing considering there were five of us playing ranging in age from five years to adult).

We loved Tenzi so much that we bought an additional set so all five of us could play at the same time (without raiding our other dice bags). I could easily see this as a game that we take with us to friends' houses for game night. It is easy to transport and simple to explain while still being really fun.


While I love the package for display, I think we will probably buy a dice bag to hold all the dice in so that they don't get lost. Depending on the size of the dice bag, we might even be able to keep the card deck in the bag, too.

I would highly recommend Tenzi and the Tenzi Card Deck! It was easy enough for our five-year-old to understand and play but exciting enough that our teen loved it. There a few cards within the Tenzi Card Deck that we won't be able to use with our youngest (due to dexterity needed or ability to calculate numbers) but – in general – everyone can play this game and have great fun!

Other Timberdoodle Reviews

We have also reviewed other fun and educational products from Timberdoodle including:

• Creating Magic with Djeco Artistic Patch Cosmos - a very neat craft kit 
• Book Club: My Very First Body Book Review - a sturdy book for Preschoolers 
• Building Problem Solving Skills: A Review of Bugzzle - a fun game for one 
• Finding The Fun in Homeschooling: Adding a Puzzle into your Chemistry Course - a great way to review chemistry and spend time together as a family