Games and Puzzles

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A game for everyone, anywhere.  So simple to learn, such fun to play.

One up on Connect 4, this time you have to connect five.

Take turns to lay your tiles on the table.  The first to get five in a row, up, across or diagonally, wins.

Children seem particulary good at this, annoyingly.

2- 4 players

Age suitability: 6 years plus.

A variation of the classic Uno in which you place a Liar's card face down and then say what it is but are you lying or telling the truth?

2.0 x 9.0 x 14.5 cm.

2-6 players

Age suitability: 7 years plus.

Rummikub is a tile game and claims to be the UK's no.1 family stategy game.  The tiles are numbered 1 to 13 in four colours. Each player starts with fourteen tiles and tries to discard them in sets, three or more of the same number but in different colours, or runs, three or more consecutive numbers in the same colour. The first to clear his tiles is the winner.

Rummikub was invented in Romania 70 years ago by Ephraim Hertzano following the Romanian government's decision to ban card games.  It works on a similar principle to a central European card game called Vatikan, played with two packs of cards, with tiles substituting for cards.  Initially Mr Hertzano made every game himself, carefully cutting and painting each tile by hand in his little workshop.  Word spread about the game and it slowly began to be exported.  In 1977, it became one of the best-selling games in America.  In 1980 it won Game of the Year in Germany and other awards in Holland and Poland in subsequent years. It is now exported to more than 50 countries from a high-tech factory in Israel still run by the Hertzano family.

2 - 4 players.

Age suitability: 7 - Adult

Here is an excellent youtube video explaining how to play:

Children can play darts without damaging themselves or the plasterwork with this magnetic darts set.

Two levels of difficulty: on one side is a large conventional target with smaller targets on the rear.

Comes with six darts which you lob gently at the board.

Board measures 65 x 44 cm but rolls up for easy storage.

Age suitability: 4-8 years.

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A matching game - Pick a card and try to choose a tail to match up with your unicorn's head.  If you succeed, you can move your unicorn one square across the rainbow towards that pot of gold.

A game for 2 to 4 players.

Age suitability: 3 - 5 years

A simple matching and memory game.  Each player has a board with 6 dinosaur pictures on.  The picture cards are placed faced downwards on the table.  Players take it in turn to pick a card.  If it matches one of the pictures on their card, they keep it.  If not, the card is returned to the table face downwards and it's the next player's turn.

The winner is the one who completes their dinosaur board first.

2 - 4 players

Age suitability: 3 - 7 years

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Orchard Toys is a Norfolk-based company designing and making their games in-house. They have been going for years and have a reputation for producing good, honest games which are both fun and educational.  All the games are fully tested by teachers and of course by children so they are totally safe and dependable.

Most of the games are aimed at the 3-6 year olds.  To an adult the games will inevitably seem somewhat simplistic but they really know that age group so I never have any hesitation about recommending them.  Obviously children develop at different rates so some children may not be able to follow the instructions at first but that doesn't seem to matter as they enjoy playing with the colourful cards.  As the child develops, it isn't long before they fully appreciate the game and they benefit from the educational aspects whilst enjoying themselves.

A simple matching and memory game.  Each player has a board with 6 dinosaur pictures on.  The picture cards are placed faced downwards on the table.  Players take it in turn to pick a card.  If it matches one of the pictures on their card, they keep it.  If not, the card is returned to the table face downwards and it's the next player's turn.

The winner is the one who completes their dinosaur board first.

2 - 4 players

Age suitability: 3 - 7 years

036

Orchard Toys is a Norfolk-based company designing and making their games in-house. They have been going for years and have a reputation for producing good, honest games which are both fun and educational.  All the games are fully tested by teachers and of course by children so they are totally safe and dependable.

Most of the games are aimed at the 3-6 year olds.  To an adult the games will inevitably seem somewhat simplistic but they really know that age group so I never have any hesitation about recommending them.  Obviously children develop at different rates so some children may not be able to follow the instructions at first but that doesn't seem to matter as they enjoy playing with the colourful cards.  As the child develops, it isn't long before they fully appreciate the game and they benefit from the educational aspects whilst enjoying themselves.

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Colourful wooden board with four wooden counters and a dice.

28 cm across

Age suitability: 3 years +

BJ788

An early matching game for children aged four and above. Roll the two dice and find the corresponding dinosaur.  One dice shows the colour of the dinosaur you're looking for, the other the skin pattern (striped, spotty or plain). 

Teaches pattern recognition, coordination and social development apparently.

Age suitability: 4 years plus.

Box size: 1.2 x 10.0 x 14.5 cm

Family board game in which the characters race their pet dinosaurs in the park. 

Each player controls a child character and their dinosaur.  When they throw the dice, theycan either move their dinosaur meeple or their child meeple forward.  The winner is the player who gets their dinosaur to the park gates first.  However if the dinosaur gets too far ahead of the child and the dice lands on Billy the park keeper, the dinosaur has to move back to its owner. So each player has to decide whether to risk sending their dinosaur far ahead in the hope of getting to the end the fastest or to play safe and move both their child and their dinosaur forward together.

Number of players: 2-4

Game duration: 15 minutes

Age suitability: 5 years plus

Size of Box: 20 x 15 x 5 cm

This is the English language edition.

Traditional wooden Ludo set.

Made from FSC™-certified wood.

28cm across.

2-4 players.

Age suitability: 3 years onwards.

Choose which path to take in your life and see who retires the richest.

Go to college and aim for a higher paid job or start earning straightaway instead, buy a house, take out a loan - what will pay in the end?

2-4 players.

Age suitability: 8 years plus.

Answer six trivia questions in six different subjects to win this classic quiz game. 

2,400 questions in 6 categories: Geography, Entertainment, History, Art and Literature, Science and Nature, and Sports and Leisure.  This game is recommended for players of 16 years and up, so many of these questions would be beyond me.

Contents: includes gameboard, 400 cards, 1 die, 6 wedge holders, and 36 wedges.

2-6 players.

Scrabble is one of those games that has been around for ages.  You either love it or you don't.

We sell it in this, the bonanza version  where you get Classic Scrabble on one side of the board and Scrabble Together on the other.  Every one knows the classic version but Scrabble Together is a cooperative game in which you work together to solve word challenges.  If you can't do it, you use a help card.  You lose when you have used up all the help cards.  You win when you complete twenty challenges.

2 - 4 players

Age suitability: 10 - Adult