Do you love games like Scrabble which are tactile and strategic but perhaps words aren’t your thing or you are looking for a new change? Then please consider Qwirkle. This is about colours and shapes. It is quick to pick up, fun to play and comes in travel, standard and jumbo sizes to suit any budget or occasion.

On your turn you will be playing tiles onto the crossword style arrangement to try and get yourself sweet points to tally up. Your tiles will come in different colours; red, orange, green, yellow, blue and purple. Each depicting a different symbol too; square, diamond, circle, star, a cross type shape and a x shape. As you can tell the last two are not the correct technical terms, but there are six colours and six symbols. On your turn you can play as many tiles as you wish or are able to. You must place your tiles into a single row, although to maximise your scoring, you will want this to intersect with more than just one row. Every line that you create or add to on your turn will score you points. You can either match colours or symbols in a line. If you cannot or do not wish to play any tiles you can discard any number of tiles as your turn instead. At the end of your turn, you will draw your hand back up to six.

What you are trying to do is create “qwirkles”. Not least because they score the most points, but if you create one you get to say “qwirkle” and that is a fun word to say. A “qwirkle” is a set of either six different colours of the same symbol or six different symbols of the same colour. These are worth a bonus six points on top of their basic scoring.

The game will end once all the tiles have run out, at that point the scores are compared, and the highest score wins. There are a few strategy tips here from me to you to try and grab yourself the top spot, don’t be afraid to save tiles for a later mega turn or a “qwirkle”. Try not to create scoring opportunities for others, and always remember there are three of each tile in the game.

If you like any of the Scrabble, Rummikub or Bananagrams games, then Qwirkle is a seriously good choice for you to try. We have the travel version and it is great for playing anywhere or taking camping.

MANTIS is a really simple card game. But when I say that, I mean it in a really good way! SCORE or STEAL. That’s it!

There’s one deck of cards containing 7 different coloured suits – red, yellow, pink, green, purple, orange, and blue. It’s a veritable rainbow of gorgeousness!

How To Play

The back of each card shows a rainbow icon and a circle with 3 different colours. Note that each coloured suit also helpfully has a unique design and symbol to make MANTIS non colour dependent). The front of the card will be one of the 3 colours shown on the back of that same card.

You each start with 4 cards face up in front of you (grouped together if the colours match).

On your turn, you take the top card off the deck and decide if you are going to try to use it to (a) SCORE cards matching one of the colours also present in your area or (b) STEAL cards matching one of those 3 colours from an opponent.

Then you flip the card.

If you have chosen to score and you have cards that match the colour revealed on the flipped card, it gets added to your matching cards and they are all flipped over to show the rainbow side. These then get placed underneath your area to form your score pile. If you don’t have the matching colour, the card gets added to your area face up as another colour to be SCORED (or STOLEN) later.

If you have chosen to steal and your opponent does have cards that match the colour shown on the flipped card, you take them but don’t score them yet!. If they don’t have any cards to STEAL, they get the flipped card added to their own area (again to be SCORED or STOLEN in due course!).

The first to collect 10 rainbows is the winner!

That’s it! SCORE or STEAL!

Pretty Darn Quick

MANTIS plays super fast. And although there is a big push-your-luck element, it’s luck of the fun, colourful type. And scoring in MANTIS s is a great feeling – a real “Yesss” moment if you have built up a solid collection of a single colour and your rainbow comes through for you. Similarly with stealing other people’s cards. It’s great! And the more players around the table, the more choice you have on the stealing front! The back and forth between players is fast and fun, and in a few minutes it’s time for a rematch. And that helps to soften the blow if any wee gamers are feeling a little put out by their cards being STOLEN!

There are also special rules for two players which work fine too – effectively, when you steal successfully, you get to have another turn, and the winning threshold is 15 rainbows.

Final Thoughts

This game is so pretty. The box (inside and out), the cards, even the mini comic inside by the Oatmeal explaining just the amazing colour receptiveness of the Mantis Shrimp (check for bonus educational content!), is an explosion of colour. Each suit also has its own cutely illustrated Mantis Shrimp type – check out Mr Romantic on the pink ones! – and the inclusion of symbols means that gameplay is not affected by colour sensitivities.

Easy to learn whatever your age, beautiful to behold, and pretty push your lucking action every turn – MANTIS is a fun little filler game that lets you play the rainbow whenever the mood suits!

I love it when games aimed at 4+ enchant big gamers. And we are certainly fans of this little box of technicolour tentacles despite two of us needing a zero adding to that age range! In Tentacolor, we are each trying to photograph a mysterious creature hiding in the ocean depths. The only clue as to its identity is its amazing and colourful tentacles. The game involves drafting cards and matching patterns. Create a tentacle that has 5 cards showing one consecutive colour, you win the game!

Playtime

The main board comprises the body of the creature divided into four large cards. The large card sides you use depends on the number of players (indicated by a little fish symbol), and the body will show one incomplete tentacle per player. 60 small tentacle cards are shuffled to form a deck and you take 1 into your starting hand. There are also 4 tentacle end cards that will finish off your tentacle at the end of the game (and can be used in expert mode – see below for more details!).

Each turn, you pick up a card, place a card on your tentacle, and then give one of your cards to another player. The cards show two colours, and the idea is to match one colour to the previously laid card to build up to a collection of 5.

If you lay a card that shows a shark, one opponent of your choice must remove the card they last laid on their tentacle. If you lay a card showing a school of fish, another player has to discard a card from their hand and draw another from the deck. If you lay a card showing a rare fish, you can immediately place a second card of your choice onto your tentacle.

But, if you break the pattern you have been creating, you have to start building up a new set along the tentacular path!

Terrific Tentacolor

This game is a great choice for little gamers. Aside from the excellent pattern matching mechanism, having to give one of your cards to your opponent is a good exercise in consequence led decision making. You can see what colours they are collecting, and so if the only colours you have in your hand match theirs, you know you’ll be helping them towards victory. But if you have something that doesn’t match that you can hand over, you might just make them start over! Of course you don’t know what is in their hand, or what they might pick up, but trying to block them is sneaky fun!

The addition of sharks, rare species, and schools of fish also introduce a strategic element that will give little (and bigger) gamers pause for thought. For example, laying a shark could disrupt their own pattern, but it would also remove an opponent’s last played card. And that could be very useful indeed! There’s also an expert variant that restricts you to collecting what’s on one of the end tentacle cards which will keep this game challenging. Luck does play a part of course as this is a drafting game. But in a game so light and colourful, the gamble of the draft is all part of the fun.

Final Thoughts

Like all the LOKI Kids games we have played so far in our house, Tentacolor is one that I really enjoy playing as a family. No denying it, the colours are soft and gorgeous. But they also contain specific patterns which makes the game accessible for gamers who do not rely on colour vision to play. This is a high quality, easy to learn, fun to play little game and is a really excellent part of their new small box range!

If you’re looking for a fun, colourful, budget friendly card game for young gamers then I would definitely recommend Tentacolor And if you like this one, Loki Kids have another two new games in their small box range to check out; Happy Families and Farm & Furious!

This blog was written by Favourtiefoe

Editors note: This post was originally published on 21st April 2023. Updated on 6th June 2024 to improve the information available.

Banana Boys And Girls

Do you have a cheeky monkey at home? We definitely do, so when we saw Orchard Toys had a game called Cheeky Monkeys, we had to add it to our collection!

Orchard Toys do a great collection of games for younger players which help reinforce kids’ learning in ways that are engaging, colourful, and fun!

In Cheeky Monkeys players are pushing their luck! It’s a race to collect as many bananas as possible. There’s also a little bit of dexterity thrown in for good measure.

Players spin the spinner. If it lands on a banana they get to place a face down monkey token from the table and hang it on their side of the 3D tree. Each monkey shows 0/1/2/3/6 bananas. That player can choose to stop there or chance their luck with another spin to see if they can collect more bananas on their turn.

If the spinner lands on the Cheeky Monkey, they get to steal a hanging monkey token from another player and place it on their own side of the 3D tree. But only once their turn is over as they can keep spinning to see if they can collect any more juicy fruits. If it lands on the Pool Monkey any monkey tokens collected that turn have to go on the pool board and then the next player takes their turn. Finally, if the spinner lands on the question mark, the player gets to pick up all the monkey tokens from the pool board plus any bananas collected that turn. When all the monkey tokens have been collected from the table, the winner is the player with the most bananas!

Final Thoughts

This is a sweet, fun game of risk v reward. Do your little ones keep spinning in the hope of gathering or stealing more and more bananas? Or do they ascribe to a banana in the tree is worth two in the pool type philosophy? In this environment they can try both ways. Wagering and losing is an even more important lesson than when luck is on side so giving up bananas (and having them stolen) definitely practises good sportsmanship. It also plays fast and comes in a small box with a carry handle for little hands to hold.

The added banana counting is a sneaky math skill as is the dexterity needed to hang the monkey tokens on the tree. And as with most of Orchard Toys games, this is built to last so all the components are made from thick sturdy cardboard. It’s also cutely illustrated and super colourful too which will keep your little monkeys entertained! Our son was captivated by the 3D tree when we play this together. And although he has now topped out past the recommended age range, he still enjoys a game of Cheeky Monkeys. Whether your little ones keep all their monkeys (and yours!) on their side of the tree throughout the game is not guaranteed, however!

This blog was written by Favouritefoe