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Sleeping Queens

Parents’ Choice Recommended Imagine a place where there’s a queen of all pancakes, a king of cookies and a pack of over-protective dragons? If this sounds like something out of a dream, it actually is! Sleeping Queens was invented by 6-year-old Miranda Evarts, who thought up the game one night when she couldn’t fall asleep. She awoke the next morning and with help from her older sister, Madeleine and her parents, Denise and Max created this wonderfully whimsical world of napping nobles. As you immerse yourself in the Evarts’ fantasyland, you will find a game that helps develop memory, strategy, and elementary arithmetic skills. Just be careful when playing potion cards or you could wind up putting all the players to sleep! Rise and Shine! The Pancake Queen, the Ladybug Queen and ten of their closest friends have fallen under a sleeping spell and it’s your job to wake them up. Use strategy, quick thinking and a little luck to rouse these napping nobles from their royal slumbers. Play a knight to steal a queen or take a chance on a juggling jester. But watch out for wicked potions and dastardly dragons! The player who wakes the most queens wins.

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars A good, quick card game
My daughter got this for her birthday last year, and it has become one of her favorites. We like to play this as a family, and it can be helpful in teaching kids to count by 5’s. There is also some strategy involved in stealing queens, which queens to steal, and why. An enjoyable game overall.

5 Stars Great Game
This game is great! Don’t let the age recommendation fool you. My six and a half year old is learning equations, game strategy and having great fun! She and friends (and our five yr old) are addicted to it. Fun for the whole family. Pleased parents

5 Stars Another hit from Gamewright
We love this game. My 6.5 year old son and I can’t get enough!! I just wished it included higher number cards so that we can use more multiplication. Very creative, fun, challenging and educational.

5 Stars fun for all ages
We’ve had this card game for years and always enjoy playing it. It was easy to learn and individual hands of the game can be played in around 10 min. so it’s great for short attention spans. We just bought the game again to give to a friend (age 12) of my daughter’s who loves playing it when she’s at our house.

3 Stars Cute Card game…but boring after few times
Honestly, this is not a game for adult. Kids will definitely love it, but if you are a grown up…you can not enjoy this game after playing more than 5 times. I personally like the illustration and concept behind the game.But wish it has some more strategy rather than just picking up cards and play for win if you have got action cards at right time. I don’t like the concept of having number cards without much impact on the play, other than deciding how many cards you will pick up. Still I recommend this game for kids. Its immense fun for them and without complex rules they can easily play this game.

Buy/More Info

Kid Toys Puzzles Age Recommendation, Arithmetic Skills, Card Game, Elementary Arithmetic, Enjoyable Game, Evarts, Game One, Game Strategy, Gamewright, Great Don, Great Game, Half Year, Jester, Little Luck, Memory Strategy, Number Cards, Older Sister, Potion, Potions, Whimsical World

SET Game

This award winning card game is for one or more players. It is recommended for ages six and above. The object of the game is to identify “sets” of three cards. Each card is unique in its four features; color – red, green or purple, symbol – diamond, squiggle or oval, shading – solid, striped or open, and number – 1, 2 or 3. A “set” consists of three cards on which each feature is either the same on all of the cards, or different on all of the cards. This game contains complete instructions for play, 81 cards, and a durable plastic carrying case.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars great combination of joy and education
My soon to be 5 year old boy love to play this game. It is a great game to keep him thinking and focused.

5 Stars Wow. What a work-out for the brain!
This game is… both easy and difficult. There are four different categories for each card (shape, color, number, shading) and each category has three options. You have to identify sets that match in ALL four categories – either they have to be ALL the same in a category, or ALL different in a category.

So if they can be all green, all diamonds, but TOTALLY different in shading and number.

The person with the most sets at the end of the game wins, and they have suggestions for variations at their website.

Teaching yourself to recognize the categories is hard, but the rules are simple. I suspect that some people are just naturally going to find this game easier than others – it seems very much to be a “way your brain works” kind of game. That means it’s certain to be a good levelling game because your kids might be better at it than you are – and all kids like to win because they WON and not because of chance or being allowed to win

4 Stars A fun, but competitive game…
The game SET is really a diamond in the rough. With all of today’s video games, talking this & that and animatronic do-dads, Set is a great source of entertainment for all.

General Commentary:

- Ideal for groups of small (1) to medium size (5 or so).

- I normally play in a group of 20 somethings

Benefits:

- Great for mind stimulation.

- Great for younger (learning colors, numbers, shapes, etc) and older kids alike

Caveats:

- With older “kids”, the game can get a bit competitive

- At times, the game gets very close to a game of Hot Hands and it’s a matter of who can get there faster — with apprehension anytime anyone moves a muscle

- Not good for car rides or playing outside in potentially windy areas

Overall:

- The game is wonderful, but can get a bit competitive and a little addictive.

5 Stars Not for everyone, but I love it!
If you’re visually-oriented or good at “spacial reasoning,” this game will likely be loads of fun for you. If your brain is wired such that you get headaches when thinking through those questions like “if this gear turns clockwise and this gear turns counter-clockwise, which way does this gear over here turn?,” then you’ll likely not like this game. There’s an online version or two you can play to see if you’d like it before buying it. Even if you do buy it and don’t like it, chances are that someone in your family or circle of friends will love it. I really do!

5 Stars family fun-SET game
It is a game challenging your brain and quick reaction. Finding the “set” from all the cards is not only testing the brain also testing how fast you can get the cards before your rival gets them. The overall of the game is fun and educable, especially for family. I would recommend this game to other people if they are seeking the similar type of game.

Buy/More Info

Kid Toys Games Brain Game, Card Game, Cards Game, Carrying Case, Diamonds, Durable Plastic, Fun Game, Game Set, Great Game, Great Source, Kind Of Game, Medium Size, Number 1, Play Game, Set Game, Shading, Squiggle, Variations, Video Games, Win 4

Parker Brothers Scrabble Slam Cards

Show off for your friends! Build your vocabulary! Tell your parents its almost like studying!

It’s the Scrabble Slam Card Game! You’re gonna love this fun twist on America’s favorite word game– Scrabble! Impress all your friends with your vast vocabulary and extensive knowledge of the English language! Ages 8 and up. Batteries not required.

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Think Fast!
This is a great card game. You must think fast. My grandaughter loves this game.

2 Stars A reasonable card game but not great.
I have no idea why the Amazon price is so out of line with reality on this product. I bought this game at Target for less than $5.00.

It is fun to play and stimulates your brain somewhat, but not to the extent of the original Scrabble game. You can modify the rules and play it with younger players (we play it with our four year old).

Amazon also lists a bunch of choking hazard warnings with this product. Unless your kid can swallow a playing card there is no choking hazard that I can find.

It is worth $5.00 but not $16.00.

4 Stars Fast and fun with four letter words
My older teen grandchildren and my sisters had fun playing this game. It moves along fast and so did we. Laughing.

4 Stars Fun, super fast game….
not really at all like Scrabble, but a fast, find 4 letter words game. Everyone plays at once, so you have to be quick and loud! This has been sold out at the local Target’s and Walmarts around me, but I ended up finding one for around $5 at the last Target I found. Hopefully the price will come down here at Amazon soon. Picked up this one and Monopoly Deal – and everyone loved Monopoly Deal a lot more. All in all, for a 5 min game, fast and easy, this one was good! For 20 min of thoughtful fun, try Monopoly Deal!

4 Stars Scrabble Slam
We searched all oer town for this product and couldn’t find it anywhere in Modesto, Ca We ordered it online and received it promptly and in great condition (new). It ended up costing us aroun $15 shipping included. When I flew out to Dallas to see my daughter, I found the same product for around $5. Oh well.

Buy/More Info

Kid Toys Games Amazon Price, Batteries, Brain, Card Game, English Language, Extent, Grandaughter, Grandchildren, Hazard Warnings, Monopoly, Parents, Parker Brothers, Playing Card, Scrabble, Scrabble Game, Slam Card, Target, Vocabulary, Walmarts, Word Game Scrabble

Qwirkle

Our tactile wooden block game combines the logic and strategy of Set?with the creative multi-maneuver game play of Scrabble? Easy-to-learn rules mean youll be creating columns and rows of matching colors and shapes in no time! Look for opportunities to score big by placing a tile that touches multiple pieces and matches both shapes and colors; the player with the most points wins. 108 blocks.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Great Game
This is a really fun game for kids and adults. There are ways to simplify it for younger kids, too. Helps kids learn colors, patterns and strategy.

5 Stars Family Fun
Qwirkle

Love this – great for families with kids that are a bit older. Fun fun fun. Good quality game pieces.

In certain light, if you have your pieces stading up facing you, it can be hard to tell red from orange.

5 Stars Scrabble without the annoying words.
This is a great game that can be played on many levels.

My two-year old uses it for matching colors (and shapes – but the shapes are a little unorthodox).

My six year old has the mechanics down and is trying figure out how to make high-point plays.

I can match wits with my mathematician brother-in-law and strategy-crazed father-in-law.

I look forward to playing this game for a long long time.

5 Stars A must-have family game
Qwirkle is a big winner both as a family game and an educational game. If you love kids and/or games it belongs on your must-have list (along with Set, Zigity, Family Fluxx, Blokus, Magnetic Quarto, and Labyrinth: the card game).

PROS:

Fun for all ages and any number of players.

Inclusive, meaning adults and very young kids can have fun playing together (not exactly the same thing as the previous comment!)

Develops different kinds of thinking–logic, strategy, patterns (or left/right brain if you prefer).

An elementary toy which encourages experimentation with new rules and games, as well as tasks like sorting and patterning.

Portable, comes with drawstring bag.

Seems durable–no chipping or peeling paint, despite next comment.

CONS:

Poor build quality. Not all pieces are square or the same size. Many paint defects, some pieces were stuck together.

Poor design and implementation of a great idea. For example there is a four-pointed star and an eight-pointed star. The four-lobed shape is variously called flower, clover, and shamrock. These and other ambiguities could have easily been avoided with a little more thought. Also, red/orange and blue/green are hard to distinguish except in bright light.

Requires a fairly large flat surface to play and tiles are easily bumped (it’s a portable game but definitely not a travel game).

Each tile has one of six shapes drawn in one of six colors, resulting in a 36-tile grid. The game contains three of these sets for a total of 108 tiles. You must place tiles so that each row and column contains only one color or shape. You get bonus points for completing a set of six (a Qwirkle), at which point that line is closed. The lines can have gaps, which makes it much more interesting.

Note: The picture on the Amazon product page does not conform to the instructions that came with our game.

[...]

Apparently even the designers are having too much fun making up rules!

We like to play shorter versions of the game using one or two sets of tiles. (We store a single set in a Ziplock bag within the drawstring bag). Also, our son (6) likes to keep score only by counting Qwirkles, rather than having a point for each tile.

Here then are the rules for “Speed Qwirkle”, which is what we usually play:

Use only one set of tiles.

Two or more players.

Each player draws only 4 tiles.

Tiles can only be placed within a 6×6 square, so you’ll know fairly soon where each one must go.

Tiles must touch on an edge–you can’t put one in its place off by itself.

You have to play something if you can, but you can play fewer than you might.

Score one point for each line you complete (there are only 12).

You never know how it’s going to turn out until the very end!

We also play “Quicker Qwirkle”, with two sets of tiles and five per person. Another rule we use a lot is that you get a double bonus for making a purple Qwirkle, because it’s so much fun to say.

5 Stars Great game for the whole family
I found this game while looking for a birthday present for my daughter. I had never heard of it before, but thought it sounded fun. I was right. My daughter (8) loves to play it and so do we! My husband and I even play it together. Fun game, easy to play but, still challenging. The games pieces are very sturdy. I highly recommend this game to anyone.

Buy/More Info

Kid Toys Games Block Game, Card Game, Colors And Shapes, Educational Game, Family Game, Fun Fun Fun, Fun Game, Game For Kids, Game Pieces, Game Play, Great Game, Long Long Time, Matching Colors, Mathematician, Quality Game, Qwirkle, Right Brain, Scrabble, Shapes And Colors, Young Kids

Five Crowns

Five Crowns is a fast paced ingenious rummy-like card game. Its double deck contains five suits (the stars are new), but it has no aces or twos. This unique deck gives you many more options for arranging your hand into sets and sequences. The challenge is to see them make the right combinations, be the first to go out, then watch the others scramble as they get one last chance to cut their losses. Five Crowns, with its beautiful cards, is easy to learn. It starts with three cards and 3’s are wild. The next hand has four cards and 4’s are wild, and so on. You’ll need luck and skill throughout the game because even in the last hand a worthy opponent can come from behind and win. Remember, “the game isn’t over ’til the Kings go wild!” Five Crowns is for up to 2 to 7 players.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Simple and Great
Very easy to play, everyone from my 8-year-old brother to my grandparents can play without help and no one seems to have much of an advantage based on age. Very fun and easy to play.

5 Stars It aint over until the kings go wild!
I picked this game up after someone discarded it from a care package while I was deployed. A co-worker and I decided to give it a try. We picked it up pretty quick and soon brought others into our daily card game. Once home I introduced my family to it and we’re still playing today. If you like Rummy or Phase 10 there’s no reason you won’t love this game. “It aint over until the kings go wild!” –FIVE STARS!

5 Stars Five Crowns is our favorite card game!
We have been searching for Five Crowns in the stores, and we have been unsuccessful! After finding it on Amazon, I ordered three decks to get free shipping. Now I have a couple of extra decks to give away as gifts!

Barbara Santa Cruz

4 Stars Great fun for all ages
A great game for kids from 8 to 80. Easy to learn and fast paced so it’s not boring. Simple rules but you have to pay attention as the wild card changes with every new deal of the cards.

5 Stars “Five Crowns” card game is great family fun.
The Original Wizard Card Game

We had relatives visit that regularly played this game. They introduced us to it and we really enjoyed it. A fast paced game. At times one has to hold a lot of cards. Holding a lot of cards is difficult for a youngster.

Buy/More Info

Kid Toys Games Aces, Amazon, Card Changes, Card Game, Co Worker, Decks, Double Deck, Five Crowns, Five Stars, Game For Kids, Grandparents, Great Game, Kings Crowns, Last Chance, Luck And Skill, New Deal, Phase 10, Rummy, Wild Card, Worthy Opponent