Ever since my kids were young, I knew I wanted to have a game closet, filled with all sorts of games! Every Christmas we add to our growing selection of games which include both fun & energetic games as well as educational & strategy thinking games. We recently had the opportunity to review 2 games from the company
USAopoly. The games are
Wonky: The Crazy Cube Card Game and
Tapple: Fast Word Fun for Everyone.
USAopoly is licensed under Hasbro and has been producing board games and puzzles for over 20 years. Their goal is to bring friends and family together through their games to create memories.
As soon as our games arrived, my kids wanted to dive right into them. We opened Tapple first. This game is an exciting, quick moving word game to play with 2 or more players, ages 8 and above. After a quick glance at the directions, we realized this was a super easy game to play. We needed to put 2 AA batteries in the back for the timer and mix up the stack of cards that came with it. The cards have 2 sides to them with each side having 2 categories. The red side of the cards has more challenging topics while the blue side has easier topics.
Everyone sits in a circle or around a table. The player that goes first chooses a card then decides which topic they want. Some of the topics include words such as: "In this room" (where you'd name things you see in the room), "Candy" (name different kinds of candy or maybe even candy companies). "Leaders & Politicians" and "Computer Terms" are some of the more difficult topics.
To start, the first player hits the big red button in the middle of the board which starts the 10 second timer. The goal is for each player is to push down an available letter button, naming a word that starts with that letter that is relevant to the category on the card. Once the word is said the player then hits the red button that restarts the timer for the next player. Each player keeps going around doing the same thing. If a player doesn't name a word before the timer goes off, they are out that round. You keep playing until there is only 1 person left who then wins that round and collects the card. Once a player has collected 3 cards, the game is over and they are the winner.
We loved how fast paced this game was and how creative yet quick thinking you had to come up with a word. The less letters that remained, the harder it became to think of a word. I am impressed with the card storing feature on this game. On the underside of the plastic game board is a compartment that the cards fit in perfectly to store. No worries about cards getting bent or lost!
Wonky is a completely opposite game in that it is a slower paced, strategy game that uses fine motor skills. There are 9 blocks in 3 different sizes and colors that come in a nice storing pouch. There is also a deck of cards that accompany the blocks. This game is played with 2 or more players, ages 8 and up.
To start, the blocks are laid in the middle of the table and each player receives 7 cards with the remaining stack of cards turned upside down in the center of the table. Each card has directions of what color and size cube to add to form a stack of cubes. What makes this game "Wonky" is that each cube has curvy sides to it so it takes some strategizing and careful placement to put one cube on top of another without making the tower fall. There are also some "fun" cards placed in the mix such as skipping a turn or reversing the order of players. If the tower falls over while you place a cube, you have to pick up 3 extra cards. To win, you need to be the first person to get rid of all the cards in your hand.
Both of these games were not only a huge hit in our family but also with the kids friends as well. During this review, we took the games camping with us as well as to our co-op where the kids got to play with their friends. Everyone gave both games rave reviews and will be ones we will continue to play!