Dobble Kids - Family Game Review

Last week we were away on our family holidays in a self-catering cottage in the Lake District with the girls and my parents.  As is traditional on our family holidays, we took a few new family games to play together in the evenings and Dobble Kids came out as one of our favourites.

Dobble and Dobble Kids are fast, fun and easy to play games which are perfect for taking with you on your travels. We took Dobble Kids which is suitable for children from 4 upwards but we did manage to play it (of a fashion) with Holly as well.  The game comes in a metal tin which protects the cards when you're travelling and is compact and easy to put into your suitcase.

Dobble Kids comes with recommendations of 5 different ways to play with the brightly-coloured animal-themed cards.  We chose to play the two most simple games with Lara and Holly as we thought it would be easiest for them to understand.  Every card shares one picture with any other card, the aim of the most simple games is to get rid of all of your cards as quickly as possible by shouting out the name of the animal that matches the central car.  Adults can play with more cards and younger children with less cards to give everyone a similar chance of success.

Each card in the pack is unique; they feature a selection of animal characters of different sizes which makes it hard to pick out the matching animal on each card - this all adds to the fun.

We loved this game because it didn't require Holly and Lara to be able to read - this opens it up to everyone.  Holly took to it instantly and started to make up her own rules (which is absolutely totally fine with me!).  Holly, who is younger than the recommended age for Dobble Kids, did struggle a bit with the speed element of Dobble Kids so prefers to simply take it in turns to try and find the matching animal from one of your cards with the central animal card.

Lara became very competitive when playing Dobble Kids and I think she is ready to try some of the harder game ideas.

Dobble also comes as a family-friendly version suitable for children from 6 years upwards, featuring different images on the cards.  I think its a wonderful game based on such a simple concept that makes it timeless; a game that you can come back to time and again.  It costs around £12.99.

Shuffle Card Games - Perfect for Holidays!

This summer we have been on one short UK break already and we are planning another one very shortly. When we go on our holidays I really like to have as little screen time as possible - a break from the TV for the girls and from the computer for the grown ups. The plan normally is to spend as much of the day outside in the fresh air as possible but when we are at home in our holiday cottage we like to take games to play together as a family. Card games such as the exciting new Shuffle games are perfect for taking on holidays or for use when you are travelling.

The new Shuffle card game range by Cartamundi features card games with lots of different Hasbro names such as Boggle, Monopoloy, Guess Who, Monopoly, Nerf, Transformers and Littlest Pet Shop. For our review we chose the My Little Pony Shuffle cards for Lara and the Play-Doh Shuffle cards for Holly.

The cards each come in a travel case which snaps shut.  Each game is different and each game is accompanied by its own app available on both iOS and Android.

Lara's My Little Pony game has proven extremely popular and she has played it with us, alone (playing at least 4 people at a time!) and with friends.  The aim of the game is to match coloured jewels for your pony.  The more jewels you manage to form with your cards, the more points you get.  And if your jewel cards feature Princess Celestia you get bonus points.  Adding up the scores is a little tricky but the instructions give you tips.  Lara likes the fact that the cards are square - it makes the game stand out.

The app helps you play a similar game.  The app provides music and interaction to help you set up a series of timed sessions in which to match jewels.  At the end of the time, the app helps each pony (player) tot up their score.  Lara enjoys the music... I find it a bit manic and pressurised!

We ALL love the Play Doh card game.  The aim of the game it to create innovative stories using the pictures on the cards that you have but realy you can play however you fancy playing!  I really love hearing tiny Holly coming up with reasons why her card can be played - simply the joy of recognising what the picture is can sometimes bring a smile to her face.  For slightly older children like Lara, the art of storytelling is a really valuable on and she doesn't half come up with some weird and wonderful tales with her play doh cards!

The App adds a totally different take to things and is very interactive - the app features play-doh pots who prompt you to start a story and you each have to complete the story out with cards of your own.  Occasionally you have to shake the tablet and the Play-doh character asks for a specific card or type of card and if you have that card it asks you to do something like tweet, or brrrrrm!

Both games are great fun and I like the fact that you can play with or without the tablet by your side so they are brilliant games to take with us on holiday for our screen-free time.