We love pyjamas and we love games. And when our son was 4 years old, he fell in love with a llama when we went on a trip to the zoo. So when we saw Llamas in Pyjamas from Orchard Toys it was an instant buy from us.

Orchard Toys make a great collection of games for younger players which help reinforce kids’ learning in ways that are engaging, colourful, and fun. Llamas in Pyjamas is another fine example from their “mini-game” series, and here the focus is on very simple pattern matching and set collection.

Ready, Set, Race

Essentially this game is a race to complete as many llamas in matching tops and bottoms as possible before the time runs out. On your turn, you flip a card and if it shows llama trousers, you can keep it. If it shows a pyjama top that matches one of your llama bottoms, you can also keep it and complete your llama. But if it’s a top that doesn’t match any of your bottoms, you must discard it and the next player can choose whether to collect it or draw from the deck. The time limit is set by a 4-tile tableau depicting a colourful bedtime scene. A tile gets added to the sleepy scene every time a “llama-clock” card is turned over, and, when the scene is completed, the game is over. Note though, that if a player turns over a llama-clock card and they have a completed llama in their collection, the top half and the llama-clock card get discarded!

Final Thoughts

Llamas in Pyjamas is a fun game which is the perfect size to take out and about. It’s also budget friendly so works well as a rainy-day treat or even a stocking filler at Christmas! We used to play just before jammie time, and a win always got our son into his pjyamas with a super big smile on his face!

The colours are vibrant and the end game trigger of building the bedtime tableau is a lovely tie-in to the jammie based theme. I also love the llama faces – they always make me smile! We played this game so much with our son when he was little and it lasted the distance so it got a big thumbs up for durability from us!

As a parent and a gamer, I love it when my two worlds collide. And there are a whole host of mini games in this series that our son loved when he was younger.

Orchard Toys are a great option for kids’ games that reinforce and help to support development including social, observational, matching, and memory skills. And what can be better than playing a game knowing that it is enriching their minds as well as making them smile? It doesn’t get much better than that!

Editors note: This post was originally published on April 21st 2023. Updated on 9th May 2024 to improve the information available.