Have you ever wondered if a game was all it was cracked up to be? Especially a game with a gimmicky mechanic? 

We’ve all been there. A new game comes out that looks fun and different and we are instantly intrigued and curious. Sometimes it’s putting a fun twist on an old classic. Sometimes it’s just straight up different and we are squinting our eyes at it wondering, “Is that really as fun as it looks? Will it work for my kids?”

Let me tell you, we’ve had our fair share of buyers remorse when it comes to board games but also a fair amount of pleasant surprises. So in spirit of it being almost Halloween, we thought we’d run through some of our children’s and family games that have either tricked us or treated us with their gimmicks!

Now what exactly constitutes a trick for us? A trick would be a game that has a flashy toy factor or a gimmicky mechanic but lacks the game play or quality to make it a game worth keeping in your collection for years to come.

A treat is a game that surprises you with awesome components combined with great gameplay and is a game that you actually enjoy playing and aren’t just playing because your kids want to.

Sorry Sliders – World Grand Prix Race Game
(Disney Pixar Cars Edition)

Trick!

This game is one of my son’s favorites. However, it is the bane of my existence and I have taken to hiding it so that he doesn’t think to ask to play it. (This only works 15% of the time.) 

Why would a game my son loves be on the trick list? Well, this comes strictly down to the quality of the components. 

What is should to be a fun little dexterity racing game is anything but. The tracks are made out of cheap cardboard that is supposed to be inserted into the plastic joints of the other track pieces so that it can make a circular racing track. What happens however is the cardboard has to be jammed into the plastic, (getting smushed in the process,) where it is then barely held in place. The slightest, and I mean slightest jostle of the track and the whole thing comes undone. 

Cue crying and parental frustration.

We have the original Sorry! Sliders game and this is not an issue at all. I think this could be because the board is much smaller in footprint, but also because there are little plastic feet that help hook it all together. 

This game is one that further reinforces my sometimes ridiculous aversion to licensed board games. They slapped the Disney logo on it and added some eyes to the player pegs and didn’t think you’d notice that it was the saddest, cheapest costume to ring your door bell for candy. And since my son loves it, this one keeps ringing my door bell again and again digging through the bowl for all my patience, leaving me nothing but sweet tarts.

IceCool

Treat!

Dexterity games can be hit or miss. IceCool is a clean sweep hit. Take the full sized candy bar, kid, you’ve earned it.

There is a lot to enjoy about the game component wise. We love the box in a box concept for setting up the game. This keeps it’s shelf footprint small but still allows the game to have impressive table presence for kids and adults alike. The penguins are cute and the kids love picking them up and looking at them. Using the fish to not only hold the game board together but also keep score was a smart touch that I really appreciate. 

The game itself doesn’t disappoint. As far as dexterity games goes, this is one of our favorites and has been a hit with our kids for the last couple years who continue to destroy me in this game to their endless enjoyment. However, it’s not just for kids, we’ve pulled this one out to the delight of many adults who have gotten way into it. The fact that there are legit IceCool Championships just tickles me to no end.

This one is a staple in our travel bag over the holidays and we know it’ll be on our shelf for years to come.

Click Clack Lumberjack

Trick!

Swing and a miss!

This is another one our kids, mainly our boys, love – and why wouldn’t they? They watch us spend 5 minutes carefully placing all of the bark in the tree pieces, stacking them with tender care so as not to undo our hard work, then we hand them an ax, our boys shaking with the delightful anticipation of not only being handed a weapon, but the joy of what’s to come, then we watch as they slam the ax into the side of the tree with the careful finesse of a raging bull – interest in the rules of the game fly out the door faster than the tree pieces hit the floor. 

Now, before you think that maybe our kids are too little, know that we have tried to play this game just us parents and the amount of work involved in setting up the tree compared to the amount of play time you get out of the game just doesn’t cut it for us. The tree is incredibly easy to knock over, and you usually get about two or three hits before the whole thing crashes. 

Just….don’t. Learn from our mistakes and avoid this game. It’s not worth it.

Super Rhino!

Treat!

A tower building, rather than destroying, dexterity game we can get behind though is Super Rhino by Haba!

I really didn’t think this game would be fun before we got it but it has been a pleasant surprise and a complete hit every time it makes it to the table.

Kids and adults alike have fun playing this one and its great to use for kids to practice more gentle and careful movements with their hand-eye coordination as they help the fearless Rhino scale the skyscraper looking for bad guys. 

The components are great. I was mostly worried about the cards not being able to hold up to multiple plays but I don’t know why I ever doubted Haba; their components are always top notch and Super Rhino is no different. Welcome to the shelf forever!

I will also award 100 victory points to anyone who dresses up as Super Rhino for Halloween and posts their picture below!

Tricky Trunks

(or should I say Trick-y Trunks?)

Okay, in all honesty, I’m on the fence about this one. Or rather, I’m not, but its my first real disappointment from a Blue Orange game and I don’t want to say anything negative. But, in the spirit of intellectual honesty, I must tell you that I’m not a big fan of this one.

We had hoped that this would be a fun twist on Hungry Hungry Hippos. Everything seems to be there: the game looks cute, the components are quality, the box is sturdy, and the added game element is there too. Buuuuuuut…it just doesn’t work for us. The game always devolves into our kids maniacally hitting their elephants into the marbles, order be darned, as they try to fill up the elephants trunk faster than their siblings. The children are smiling and laughing but the marbles are flying, chaos abounds, and I’m caught trying to keep calm as I attempt to restore some semblance of order. 

The age vs actual interest in this game also seems to be off. It says for ages 5 and up on the box, but our kids who are old enough to play it don’t really care to and the kids that are young enough to want to aren’t old enough to understand the rules.

We keep this game on our shelf only because of how much fun our little kids seem to have while playing it (I mean seriously, look at Harry’s face, so what if the elephant is upside down?) I don’t really care that they aren’t playing the game. House rules: get as many marbles as you can and please, please, please don’t eat them!

If you are looking for a dexterity game that works better than this one and still has your kids practicing their visual perception, fine motor skills, focus and processing then I would definitely recommend….

Dr. Eureka!

Treat!

Now this Blue Orange game is great! From its components to its mechanics to its theme – everything just works.

Kids are naturally kept from getting too crazy with the test tubes and balls because they need to use simple, small touches to achieve their desired outcome. The challenge cards are great for helping them work on their visual processing and needing to not just see what the end result should look like but how they need to manipulate the balls in the test tubes in order to get them in the right location is an education win!

It also scales beautifully down for younger scientists. We let all of our kids play this game (with adult supervision of course.) The toddlers are allowed to take the marbles out of the tubes and use their pincher grasp to put them back in. If they want they can have a challenge card and we encourage them to work on matching the marbles correctly, if not then they just enjoy transferring them from one tube to the other.

Our preschooler follows the challenge cards but is allowed to put test tubes down so he can focus on using light touches with the tube he is transferring balls from, using both hands if needed. 

Our grade schooler follows the rules as listed. We love to join in on 

this one and race her. We are quite competitive and have been known to accidentally hijack the kids’ game for ourselves as we race each other in intense competition like the adults we are.  

Pro Tip: We recommend that everyone be given a tray before playing so that if any balls go astray they don’t roll off the table. 

Anyone who shows up dressed as a Dr. Eureka to our door this Halloween will be allowed to take the whole bowl of candy…if they can best us in some experiments first!

What about you? 

Did any of your favorite games make it on our Trick list? 

What gimmick game have you found to be a treat? Let us know in the comments!

To read our second post in this series, click HERE!

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