Word Has It – Fun from University Games

Word Has It is a fun game that’s suitable for all the family. It is easy to pick up, and a bit like Dobble, one that you’re fairly evenly matched.

Word Has It is good fun – it is easy to follow and has been one of those games we’ve really enjoyed playing, and that H immediately plays with her friends.

Word Has It in action

It has simple rules. There’s a wheel in the middle of the board, spin it to see which letter you need. Then choose a card. Press the button in the middle and you have 40 seconds to select individual word tiles and make a word beginning with the letter, based on the theme on the card.

Word Has It starter button

Now, you would think being an adult vs a child may be an unfair match, however, once the music gets going it’s a distraction. Imagine playing Countdown at home where it all seems lots easier vs playing it in the studio where I’m sure the music would make me even more nervous. Word Has It is like that. You need to focus on what you’re spelling as well as finding the letters. Then you have to build your word and the music tempo keeps building to add to your nerves.

It’s great fun. Even if H takes to putting up silly words from time to time!  The main thing is that if you keep things simple it’s a really fun game. It has been good for seeing how H thinks as well. Options on the cards include ‘made from metal’ or ‘found in a garage’. As an adult I’d think differently to my daughter which has resulted in some clever answers.

Word Has It letters and categories

Word Has It is for up to four players, and is recommended from age 7 upwards. I love that H has played it with her schoolfriends after school;  they’ve sat playing for at least half an hour too. Highly recommended!

For more information head here.

Scotland Yard – National Unplugging Day

On the 25th June it’s National Unplugging Day – a day when you avoid your tablets and spend some quality family time together. Maybe playing a board game or two? We received Scotland Yard from Ravensburger games, a board game which has been around for a while now. Read on to find out more!

scotland yard from ravensburger

Scotland Yard is a board game which has a few ways to play. It’s definitely a lot more fun when there are more than two of you playing, though I’d recommend doing the easier version first to get the hang of what to do.

For review purposes, assume there are three of us playing. One person is Mister X. The other players are detectives. The purpose of the game is to move around stops in London to track down Mister X. That’s a really simple way to explain it, as there are different ways to move around London.

Mister X wears a visor – after all, he doesn’t want the other players to know where he is.

Scotland Yard Mister X

You have a taxi which covers every stop, a bus which covers quite a lot of stops and finally when playing the difficult version of the game, you have the underground which moves you around the board faster.

scotland yard board game

The easy version of Scotland Yard has the counters on the board at all times, except for Mister X when he’s doing invisible moves. All of Mister X’s moves are tracked on this handy board. When you’re Mister X it’s handy as I kept forgetting where I was.

When you’re doing the difficult version of the game, Mister X only appears on the board three times. This is where the strategic play comes into it – Scotland Yard is quite clever. If you know where Mister X passed through, you also know the way he has travelled. So there’s a good chance you will be able to work out where he could be – each form of travel covers up the move on the board like so.

The detectives take a card from the blue pile to find their starting spot – then it’s about tracking down Mister X with limited clues.

Scotland Yard gameplay

When you’re playing the difficult version of the game you can control two other counters which are the police. You discuss with the other player who isn’t Mister X where those counters go.

The other part of the game are the travel tickets. There are a set number per game to use – lots of taxi ones, a few for the bus and even less for the underground. So you’re having to use them wisely as the object of the game is to land where Mister X is.

Scotland Yard Mister X marker board

We enjoyed playing it – at first I thought the game seemed like Cluedo, but if you think that you’re wrong. Scotland Yard is a game that could go really quickly or could take a really long time. There are ways to escape the detectives and police, but you need to think carefully. It’s really good fun!

Scotland Yard is suitable for age 8+ and for up to six players. For more information head here!

The 25th June is National Unplugging Day, when families are encouraged to Go Gadget Free – we’re going to give it a go!

We received Scotland Yard for the purpose of review. All opinions are our own.

Dobble – a Great Fun Family Game

Have you heard of Dobble? We had, and it intrigued me. A card game which was suitable for all, pretty easy to learn how to play, and is down to observational skills. It has been on our wishlist for a while now, and we were lucky to be sent it by Esdevium Games right before Christmas.
dobble

Dobble is a really straightforward game. In fact, it’s so straightforward we were playing it within two minutes of opening the tin. The rules are really simple – there are 55 cards. They have eight pictures on them. You turn two cards over at a time, and spot the matching picture.

dobble cards

That might sound easy, but it isn’t – often the pictures are different sizes. Sometimes we’ll play and I’ll spot loads in a row, but then H will spot as many too – it’s a very random but good game.

This is the bit where maths come into it. There are over 50 symbols, there are 55 cards and only one will match per card. No two cards are identical either. With 8 symbols on each card, I’m still trying to get my head around how they manage to do it. It’s really simple and really clever.

dobble tin

H loves Dobble – she played it over Christmas with her cousins, her Nana, her Aunt, her Uncle and of course Shaun and I – and everyone enjoyed it. It’s the simplicity – and that everyone is on the same level.

You can expand on the simple game, and have tournaments. The Dobble instructions have points per image too. We haven’t gone there yet as we’re still having too much fun with the basic game!

playing Dobble

There are also other mini games you can play which again we haven’t got to but will. There are five games in total.

I love that it’s a simple, straightforward game that up to 8 people can play. It doesn’t take long to master – it’s like an easier version of snap – you just need to spot the symbols and there will be a match every time. There’s a simplified version for younger children, Dobble Kids.

You can buy Dobble now – it’s available through all good retailers and costs £10.49. Amazon have it here (affiliate link) The link on Esvedium Games is here.

We were sent Dobble to review, it gets a big thumbs up from us and is the kind of game we’ll be buying people for presents this year – it’s a lot of fun!