Price Range: $10
Age Range: 6+
No. of Players: 2-4
Time to Learn: 5 minutes
Time to Setup: 5 minutes
Reading Skills Needed: NO
Playtime: 10-15 minutes
Game Rating: This nicely packaged and designed Ravensburger “game in a box” is a nice little addition to one’s game collection, and could easily be played on the go due to its small footprint. Players roll the dice to decide how many water pieces they will be forced to add to the raging river. If your pieces push treasure over the falls, the player BEFORE you gets those treasure chests, not you! Hopefully other players return the favor and you are able to get a few treasure chests yourself. I liked how easy it was to set up and learn to play this game, and the fact that it all fits into one small box. I can see how the number of small pieces might be a deterrent to using this as a restaurant “game on the go” but in general it’s a nice little game. Best of all, it’s quick to learn, set up, and play, so it’s great for kids with a short attention span!
Game Review:

Price Range: $15
Age Range: 8+
No. of Players: 2
Time to Learn: 5 minutes
Time to Setup: 5 minutes
Reading Skills Needed: NO
Playtime: varies
Game Rating:*****
Game Review: An enjoyable, challenging, and yet simple game. Choose one of the 40 challenge cards, set the vehicles onto the gameboard as shown, and then attempt to slide the pieces (you can’t pick them up!) to create a clear path for you to extricate your little red car from the traffic jam! It’s harder than it sounds! Thankfully the cards come in a variety of difficulty levels, so there is something for everyone here. You can challenge a friend or family member, or just play solo, making this game even more versatile. Or time yourself — how fast can you find a solution? Maybe another family member can beat your best time, or maybe not! This game can help with mathematical and spatial abilities, and is apparently even used in some elementary school classrooms. It’s also a sturdy, well-made game; the cards store conveniently in a drawer beneath the sturdy plastic base, and a drawstring bag is included to hold the plastic vehicles. Highly recommended, and also good as a “To-Go” game.

Price Range: $15
Age Range: 8+
No. of Players: 2-4
Time to Learn: 10 minutes
Time to Setup: 5 minutes
Reading Skills Needed: NO
Playtime: 15-20 minutes
Game Rating: *****
Game Review: You know, I just realized that this is a very difficult game to describe. If you have ever played multiple-player hands of solitaire, you have some idea of how this card game works. Basically your goal is to “go out” before the other players by having played all of the cards in your Blitz Pile. To do this, you stack cards on your own three Post Piles, as well as on the communal Dutch piles in the center of the table. When one player wins a round, the scoring begins — you get credit for cards you placed in the Dutch piles, but are assessed penalty points for any cards left in your Blitz Pile. The first player to get 75 points wins the game. Well believe it or not, this is one of the most addictive card games we have ever played! It’s fast-paced and can be alternately exhilarating, or frustrating! Even children can be taught this game, and my two kids have both played it with great enjoyment. The only negative here is that there is only one official version of the Dutch card game, and the cards themselves are rather flimsy and difficult to shuffle. If you play as voraciously as some, you will find yourself actually wearing out the card deck! But other than that, this is a wonderful card game that quickly becomes addictive. Soon everyone will be shouting, “Just one more hand of Dutch Blitz”!!!

Price Range: $10
Age Range: 7+
No. of Players: 2-4
Time to Learn: 5 minutes
Time to Setup: 5 minutes
Reading Skills Needed: NO
Playtime: 15-20 minutes
Game Rating: ****
Game Review: Cute, simple game that Spongebob fans of all ages will enjoy. There are six Spongebob “dice” which are actually Spongebob figurines. You roll them and match them into pairs — Spongebob may be “sidesies right” or “sidesies left”, or perhaps “sniff the kept right” or “sniff the kelp right”. Or is he “noses north” or “noses south”? For each pair, you get to move your jellyfish mover one space on the bubble board. It’s a simple, compact game that would work well both at home, or on-the-go. The “dice” aren’t going to go far, so you could play at a restaurant table while waiting for your dinner, or whatever, and it all fits in a neat iron tin. This game will even work with younger children provided there is someone older there to interpret the way the dice have landed. A good one for Spongebob and dice game fans!