Good, imaginative, creative game for our 8 year old (very little violence and lots of fun)
346477
My 8 year old plays this game, and has a lot of fun with it. I am not always a huge fan of gaming, but the imaginative and creative aspect of this game really works for me. It takes a world that has become so popular on apps and computers to the XBOX 360, and my son has really had a lot of fun with it.

I am not a huge fan of the Zombie characters, in it, but the game is not terribly violent, and I would recommend it to friends.
4739455
Good game for young kids.  Kept an 8 year old girl entertained for hours so that says something!!  Simple game to learn and just enough challenge to be exciting to young players.
3413980
I bought this game for my 3.5 year old son and think it's a great game for his age.  Because it was the first time I've played this game myself, I cannot compare it to any older versions of the board game.  However, I found this game to be a great choice for my son for the following reasons:

(1) Simple enough for my 3.5 year old to comprehend after just a brief explanation and our first game.  The objective of the game is to be the first to reach square #100, using a spinner numbered 1 through 6, which advances you on the board.  He is learning his numbers, so seeing each square numbered from 1-100 allows us to count together and learn our numbers while each one of us advances on the board.

(2) A fun way to learn that there are consequences for our actions.  Some of the squares are "rest" spaces, which means that you land on the square and no additional action is taken. Other spaces have chutes (or slides), which sends your player down to a lower numbered square on the board; the children depicted on these squares are behaving badly (eating too many cookies, pulling a cat's tail, etc.) and are sent down the slide as a consequence of their bad behavior.  There are also ladder squares, which depict children behaving well and reward them by allowing the player to climb the ladder and automatically advance several squares on the board. My child finds this part of the game quite entertaining.

(3) It's a game of chance, so my child never feels badly if he's not the winner of the game.  We take turns taking the lead on the board throughout each game and, because the spinner dictates which square we land on, he doesn't blame himself if he doesn't turn out the winner every time. This is also a good lesson for him to learn!

The NEGATIVES - Games just aren't made the way they used to be. The spinner included with this game needs to be assembled and is cheaply made. I have to hold down the base each time my son or I spin the arrow.  Also, the character "players" are constructed of cardboard and slide into a plastic stand.  The characters are too large to fit in the box when assembled, so you have to assemble and disassemble the characters with each game. Note: The first time I assembled the characters, the cardboard face on one of the characters peeled back and I had to tape it to keep it together.  With that said, I'm assuming that they are not going to hold up well with time.
2816797
Some folks say here that this is a game for really young children. We got it for a 7 and 9 yr old, and they've had a good time with it with their friends, for the 2 weeks we've had it so far. What we like most about this game is that it's not only a board game where you role the dice and move your player, with the outcome determined mostly by chance.

This game is interactive. That is, it is a game of pushing monsters, and each player gets to push their (wooden) monster onto the board, with a special "pusher." This does require skill (where to enter the game?) plus strategy (if another monster falls off, how to best prepare to make sure it's not a really big one?). It does take thought, and hand-eye coordination.

Does the game appeal to kids? And does it entertain them for a period of time? Do they want to play again? So far, the answer to these 3 important questions is, yes.

The game itself is nicely made, which you need to count on for something that costs about $33.

We won't tell you all the rules here, but to summarize: you start with 7 monsters on the game board (the arena). Players then roll the monster die, with pictures of monsters on it. Whatever monster comes up is the one they pick from the supply, and must push onto the arena. They have to be careful, because if any monster falls off as a result, all the other players get a monster token. At the end of the game, the player with the most tokens, wins.

There is some assembly required. The wooden pieces need to have their appropriate sticker applied, as does each face on the die. This can be as much fun as the game, in our experience.

Overall, this is a fun, well thought out game, nicely made.

Recommended.
2951108
This is a great game and has an easy learning curve. We didn't even have trouble playing it with a 6 year old. *did have to read a couple cards to him though*
2081172
Our family really enjoys this game. It has a lovely board, interesting theme, and it's pretty easygoing play. You travel through the countryside, experiencing things (viewing landscapes, having encounters, going to temple, buying artifacts), and you stop along the way for the night at an Inn with a meal. Because the player in last place always goes first, you're encouraged to "take it slowly." There are many ways to accrue points, and it takes several plays to figure out the best ones. Sometimes you don't pick the best ones, you pick the ones you like the best, because this game just has that feel of being about the process rather than about the win (points earned). It is a game with a "win" but just playing it also feels like a win. :) Great for families with kids who are different ages (though I wouldn't start younger than 7-8 or so, unless you have a quiet gamer-type kid, as it's not "exciting" play and may be hard to focus younger).
4624714
I wanted to find a toy that would excite our son enough to lure him away from spending so much time on video games, and this does the trick!  He's played with this more than any other toy he received this year, and he loves to show his creations to his friends.

He was especially proud of the a.m. radio that we worked on together.  The more than 300 projects should keep us busy for some time, though several are very similar and require making few changes.

Some of his favorites have been the lie detector, the a.m. radio, a light detector, and a water detector.

The pieces easily snap together and apart, but because there are some exposed transistor parts and light bulb sockets that could be broken off if careless, it is important to caution the user to be careful.

The nature of this toy and its projects easily lends itself towards parent/child participation (one can read the instructions while the other helps locate the needed part, and both can work together to find where it goes on the circuit board).  Still, I'd say it is easy enough for a child from 9 - 12 years old to go it alone with just minimal supervision.

Once the child learns how different circuits work there are many possibilities for creating original projects of their own.

Each part has its place on the storage tray, which helps keep the toy organized and protected from damage.

The manufacturer also offers other kits/manuals that can help expand the 300 project kit to make over 500 or more projects.
691621
I somehow mixed this up with other games I was looking at and purchased it as a birthday gift for my 8-year-old niece. I played it with her and her two older sisters (ages 10 and 11), and she was able to keep up with the rest of us, so I think the age level on the game could be lowered a little, especially if an adult is playing with the kids. There were a couple of cards all of the girls struggled with--in some cases I explained what a word meant, and we were able to play the card; in other cases we just agreed to skip the card and pick a different one. I think we played three rounds of the game (each of us filling three score sheets)--it moved along quickly, and none of us got bored. All four of us are looking forward to playing it again, and the 8-year old said it was the "best game ever."

The 15-second time limit players have to write down their 2 answers goes by pretty quickly; that might be one of the challenges for someone as young as 8.  We just allowed for a little looseness on that timing. In addition to having fun for 30 or 40 minutes, there were small opportunities for a little learning while playing the game. Each player needed to do some simple addition to get her score, and there might have been a couple of words added to some of the girls' vocabularies. There was also a lot of laughter.
1253543
We don't even own this game yet, but we soon will. We have rented it several times. My 5 year old loves it. It did take him a little time to figure out the controls. The tracks are creatively made, they roam through a childs room, as if a kid were to put up the track himself. Seems like a good game, and one of my 5 year olds favorites!
1500505
My daughter received this for her 2nd birthday and loves it. It has its own board game box for storage,  just like her big brother's games! Within just a couple minutes she figured out how to match the colors. We often play this together and it's surprisingly not tedious, it's wonderful for fine motor skills, color matching and language building. We even make "jokes" by placing the worn color chip in a spot.

I would love to fine replacement chips somewhere,  we are already missing one and I know my kids, more will be stolen by the gnomes.
4495916
This is a single player game with levels ranging from beginner to expert. The point of the game is to take a challenge card and lay out the pieces on the game board then use the allotted pieces to create a circuit that lights up. The cards have the challenge on one side and the answer key on the reverse side to check your work (making this a really good problem solving activity for my oldest). My younger son likes to sit with me and work through the challenges together. We added a timer to make it a little more interesting/competitive for my boys who wanted to play this one player game together (the timer is not included- this was something extra we did to change it up). There are Challenge Cards, Path Pieces, Beacons, a Switch, a Blocker, and a Power Supply (please note that the Power Supply does not come with batteries -which is clearly stated on the box... so plan on having 3 AAA batteries on hand - or the game will not work).

Pros:
This is great for problem solving skills.
The pieces are good sturdy pieces that I do not worry about breaking
The markings on the pieces are very clear to see (defining which side is the positive and which is the negative)
The challenge cards  are very easy to read and understand and the solutions on the back of the card make it easy to check your own work.

Cons:
The Path Pieces are a little difficult to remove from the game box. They get stuck and I have to remove the plastic liner and push them out from behind in order for them to pop out - I continue putting them into the game box because it keeps the pieces well organized (so I guess this is both a pro and a con) I just wish they were easier to remove.
Sometimes the pieces do not pop easily (and stay) into the game grid, making it difficult to always accurately check your work. A couple times we played through a challenge thinking that we were right and the pieces didn't light up because they were not in all the way - and would not stay in once pushed down.

All in all I do like this product even though there are a couple things that I would tweak about it (make the game pieces easier to pop out of the game holder and easier to pop into the game grid). It is a fun game that is very different from other games out there. It is definitely good for working on problem solving skills and the different levels of play make it fun for both kids and adults. Disclosure: I received this product for free or at a discount in exchange for a fair and honest review. My thoughts and opinions are in no way influenced by others. I would give it a 5 star rating if the pieces popped  into and stayed in the game grid better. And after playing this game I did go and search out more Think Fun games for my kids.
1776219
This beautiful game is easy to learn, but quite interesting for the whole family to play (unlike many kids games, such as Chutes and Ladders).  My children, from ages 5 to 12, really like it, although it is a skill based game rather than a luck-based game.  In general, my children enjoy skill based games that have SOME element of luck to take the sting out of losing.  But in this strategy game, they tolerate losing quite well - perhaps because it is intrinsically fun to place the blocks?  I have no idea.

Anyway, the game reminds me a little of Connect Four, because you are simultaneously trying to prevent your opponent from being able to place their pieces while positioning yourself to have the most pieces on top when the game ends.  The pieces are all shaped differently, and there are a few simple rules regarding where they can be placed. The game comes with several base pages (which guide the placement of the blocks) so there is a lot of variety in game play.

Highly recommended, particularly for visual/spatial learners and those who enjoy games (particularly strategy games).
3014265
A fun and easy game that requires almost no setup or cleanup time.  My boy really likes it, specially when he wins.  The only down side so far is that the battle reference cards do not fit in the cups(unless you wanted to roll them up, but they are cardboard and would never lay flat after that).  There is a sticker on the cups that show the same thing as the cards, but they only show pirates vs zombies.  The cards let you easily compare the rankings of the units in each of the sets vs the units in your set.  You just place a card of each set side by side.  This came with two pirates cards, two ninja cards, and one aliens card (in case you have army vs aliens and wanna mix it up with pirates and zombies).
  The dice do have stickers on them, but they are recessed into the dice so nothing should rub them off any time soon.  The manual was pretty straight forward.
It says 8+, but my 7 year old had no issues and my 3 year old enjoyed watching and laughing at me each time his brother took out my guys.
4010417
My husband bought this for our five year old.  He is just learning to read, so when we first played the game, we had to read all the cards for him, but he quickly memorized each one and what they do by the pictures and by playing them.  The object and rules are fairly simple:  try to win by being the first to get to 20 points or eliminating all the other players,  its not hard to learn, but can be hard to master because there are many paths to victory and it's as much about strategy as it is about chance.  My son especially likes the variety of power cards one can "purchase" with "energy points" during the game that can cause one to gain extra victory points, or heal faster, or deal extra damage or get extra re-rolls or steal other monster's powers, and a whole host of other factors that make the game different every time you play it..  Some days I am thoroughly trounced by my five year old (and I'm fighting tooth and nail to win).  We haven't played with any of the expansion cards yet, which give specific monsters specific powers, but they look like they will add even more to the game.
376110
I played this game with my 8 and 4 year old grandchildren over Christmas.  The 4 year old liked the game more than the 8 year old, and never tired of it.

You do have to be willing to modify the rules, and "help" the very young players.  Anything over the easiest set of cards is actually pretty challenging. This really is more a game you use to encourage your young children or grandchildren to spend time with you, rather than purely play like Chutes and Ladders, or Parcheesi.  For that purpose, it was great!.

I ended up buying it for myself, because I love the selection of unusual pieces that let you build dozens of simple lego models with nice detail. I am a lego fan with a number of old and new sets.  The pieces in this set added nicely to my collection.
4055293
My 6 year old son played this system and loved it.  We got it for him for Christmas and it was such a big hit.  He always wanted to play video games like Playstation, but we didn't find ones that we felt comfortable with him playing that he could actually play alone.  (For example Up on Playstation2 had lots of reading for him to do.)  The games are age appropriate, no reading required for example and not violent!  The games vary in educational levels-but that's okay with us.  Some are easy enough for our 3 year old to play too, and others are a bit too advanced for our 6 year old (such as it has higher grade level math then his) and I love that he can grow into it.  He doesn't love the motion controller, but al the games have the choice of using it or the joystick and I like that it's wireless.  The price was great as are the prices of games.  We are happy with this purchase.
4568614
My 5-year-old daughter LOVED this game.  It developed her creativity and held her attention long enough to finish it in one sitting.  She still loves the theme song, which she memorized immediately.  My two complaints:  1)  Once you have completed the entire game, you must sign in under a different name in order to play again.  2)  The game has no variations or higher levels to challenge the player as her skill improves.  My daughter finished the game on her first attempt in about 45 minutes, but as she played more and became familiar with where all the items were, it took less and less time to finish a game.  She's starting to become bored with it.

One last thing (and I guess you can count this as complaint #3):  will game developers EVER come up with something for girls that challenges their critical skills and doesn't involve dressup or makeovers?