Games and Puzzles

We have quite a few versions of Top Trumps. It's a fun, easy to learn game where you'll learn some cool facts as you play.

2-6 players

Suitable for ages 6+

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 speedy, Sh..head-like game, card game where you must lose your cards as quick as you can.  If you are last, you get to wear the delightful scratch and sniff sticker.

2-4 players.

Age suitability: 6 years plus.

A quick version of Monopoly that's played with cards alone and with no board/tin, scottie dog/battleship/top hat etc.

The game takes about 15 minutes.  The winner is the person who accumulates three sets of properties in different colours.

2-5 players.

Age suitability: 8 years+

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The fast-dealing property trading games that has probably caused more family rows than any other game.  This is the classic British version set in London, from Old Kent Road to Mayfair.

Move round the board buying and selling properties, building houses and hotels whilst trying to avoid bankruptcy.  Sometimes it's cheaper just to go to Jail.

2-6 players

Age suitability: 8+

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This is a game for 3-7 year olds designed to encourage matching and memory.  It is Orchard's best selling game and has sold over a million copies, not bad for a little company.

Each player takes a shopping list and a shopping trolley.The cards are spread face downwards on the table. The first player player chooses a card, turns it over and, if it matches an item on his shopping list, puts it in his trolley. If it doesn't match, he shows it to the other players and then returns it to the table face downwards. The next player then makes his choice.  The winner is the person who fills their trolley first.

2-4 players

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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 still enjoying themselves.

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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.

Now with wooden tiles and racks.

2 - 4 players

Age suitability: 10 - Adult

A jungle themed, travel size version of the popular classic.

2 - 4 players

Suitable for children ages 4 - 7

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 pack of playing cards made of recycled plastic so they are waterproof, tear-proof and easier to shuffle.

Comes in a handy plastic travel case.

Claims to be the ultimate wood game - not sure if Scrabble would agree.

You have to race your opponents to make a word grid and be the first to use up all the letters.

1-7 players

7+ years  age suitability

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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:

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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.

Sleeping Queens is a card game in which the first player to wake up four of the 12 queens is the winner.  So you lay out the 12 queens face down (sleeping) on the table and deal five cards to each player. The stack of remaining cards is placed (face down) in the centre of the table.  When it's your turn, you must play one of your cards.

Playing a king means that you get to wake up a queen; a knight enables you to steal one of your opponents' queens unless they hold a dragon card which counteracts a knight; a sleeping potion card is used to send an opponent's queen back to sleep unless they can negate that with a magic wand card; jokers allow you to pick up another card from the pile number cards can be discarded singly or in multiples. At the end of your turn you pick up fresh cards so that you always have five cards in your card and of course you hope to pick the useful cards that will enable you to win more queens.  Sounds complicated but it's not really.  Each game takes about 20 minutes.

2 - 5 players

Age suitability: 8+  (although the game was invented by a six year old and many children below 8 will be able to enjoy the game)

 

 

Colourful wooden board with four wooden counters and a dice.

28 cm across

Age suitability: 3 years +

BJ788

A pairing game where you try to match the head and the tail of your dogs.

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.

Throw the dice and see how many scarves you can put on your giraffes.

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 still having fun.

A fun matching and counting game.

Give each player an empty bath board to fill up. Place the dinosaur cards in the middle of the table dirty side up. Spin both spinners which will tell you the type and colour of dinosaur you need to look for.  When you find it, place it in your bath, clean side up.  If it is already in someone else's bath, it jumps onto yours. Once everybody's bath board is full, you count the soap bubbles on your dinosaurs to decide the winner.

2 - 4 players

Age suitability: 3 +

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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.

Fish-themed counting game for 2-4 players aged 3 and over.

Spin the spinner, pick up a card and see how many fish you can add to your 'jar' where you store the fish you've caught. If, however, you pick up a shark, it will eat all your fish and you will have to start again.  The winner is the one with most fish in their jar at the end.