Card games – Ninja Truck Reviews

I knew there would be lots of games to see and play at Origins, but once we were there and saw everything, it was mind blowing! We went down on Friday and again on Sunday so that I could meet with some of publishers. We were able to try out a few games on Friday: Songbirds by Daily Magic Games and Everybody Loves a Parade by Calliope games. We also brought home a bunch of games to try out and review. Those will be coming in the future.

Songbirds was a lot of fun. The job is to end up with the card of the color of bird that is making the most noise. Clear as mud, right? Once we started playing the game, it totally made sense. The game is played in a 5 x 5 grid, with the “loudest” bird in each row or column winning points. (Adding points on cards of the same color in same row/column determine the “loudest” bird.) At the end of the game, each player is left with one card in their hand. If that card matches the loudest bird, they win.

The loudest/winning bird was the one with the highest amount of points.

The game was pretty fast and does require some strategy, but T had no problems with it at all. He caught on almost right away. We ended up having the losing bird colors, it it was still a lot of fun. I liked that there was strategic thinking and math involved. He wasn’t thinking that he had to add too numbers together and get a total. He was just trying to get the points. I love games that can get math involved without him knowing. He learns the concepts of math easier and I don’t listen to him complain.

I have many other games to talk about, my mind is just spinning! I am still trying to wrap my head around all of the amazing things we saw over the weekend. I’m pretty sure anyone could find a game topic there that they’d enjoy. I will be posting more in the days to come, stay tuned!

The weather around here has been absolutely crazy. We seem to be experiencing all of the seasons in a week. It makes planning outdoor school lessons difficult. I don’t mind too much though, because then it means there is more time to be inside and play games! We have been playing some games we have made up ourselves as well as some new games that aren’t that well known…yet. I will be posting about the games in future posts. For today, I’m going to focus on a game that we play using a regular deck of cards.

The game we’ve played the most of lately is actually a solitaire game, but Truck doesn’t like to play alone, so we adjust. The cards are dealt out in the shape of a circle, resembling a clock. There are the 12 around the edges, and then the 13th pile goes in the center; each pile ends up with 4 cards. To start the game, you turn over the top card in the center and place it in its respective place on the “clock”-Jacks are 11, Queens are 12, and the Kings go in the middle. The goal is to place all of the cards in their proper clock rotation before uncovering all of the kings. When T and I play, we usually divide the “clock” in half and when we get a card that goes on the other half, we hand it over. It’s a fun game that helps reinforce basic counting and number recognition.

We have also made up our own game with the same deck of cards, but until we play it the same way twice, I don’t want to share. Truck likes to change the rules as he sees fit.

Once the weather is a little more cooperative (and I think we’re getting close,) I’m hoping to get some of the games out and play outside. What have you been playing?

Category: Card games

So many games!!

Simple but fun