Games and Puzzles

Single person brain teaser game for children age 7 and upwards.

Choose one of the eighty challenges.  They start easy but get harder and harder as you work through the book.

You'll be told the outcome of the battle between the two pirate ships and the 4 navy ships, which side ends up being sunk and which victorious.  Place the two rock pieces where indicated on the board and then work out where to place all the ships.  Each ship has canons on both sides, so if you place them side by side, both ships sink.  If you place them side on, just one will sink.

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Cat Crimes is a single player brain game in which you have to identify which of the six cats committed the crime. So choose a challenge card, put the crime token on the board and then using the clues on the card work out where each of the cats were sitting.  The one sitting opposite the token is the culprit.

Age suitability: 8 years+

Race up and down the board collecting dinosaur eggs but if you land on a dinosaur print and the dinosaur is awake, you have to go back to the start.  If he's asleep, relax, you get to keep the eggs.

A game for 2-4 players.

Age suitability: 4+ years

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.

Rat-a-Tat-Cat is a quick and fun card game that should not trouble most people intellectually even though it has been endorsed by Mensa. A good memory helps though.

The aim is to assemble a hand of four cards that, when revealed, add up to the lowest possible number.  Cat cards are low number cards and so are good whereas rat cards have high numbers and should be discarded.  The problem is that you are only allowed to look at two of your cards and then only at the start of each game.

At each turn, you have a choice.  You can take the discard card and swap it with one of your cards.  Of course you know at the start the value of two of your cards but not of the other two cards, so it's a risk that you might be discarding a low value card.  You can take the unknown card off the top of the park and, having seen it, decide whether to keep it or put it back in the discard pile face up. Alternatively you may draw a 'power card' which could enable you to have a peek at one of your cards or swap one of yours, sight unseen, with one of your opponents.

When someone thinks they have assembled a winning hand, they call out rat-a-tat-cat and everybody has to add up the value of their cards to determine who has won that round.

Tha game takes about 20 minutes.

2-6 players

Age suitability: 6 +

Visually very appealing (we keep it open on our shop counter), Sleeping Beauty is a great brain game for 3 to 7 year olds.  There is a booklet with 60 challenges.  The first half are designed for the younger children who have to find a path through the maze to and from the Castle.  In the second half, for 5+ year olds, a dragon has to be placed on the board to stop the knight getting to the Castle.

Please see the video to see how to do it:

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Single person brain teaser for anyone aged between 7 and 99.

Described as the ultimate solitaire; place the four magnetic base plates together to form your playing board and then try to position the twelve coloured pieces.  It's not always too easy.  There is a booklet with 60 challenges to get you going but any number of different challeges are possible.  Good luck.

Please have a look at the video for more details.

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