I watched as my six year old contemplated her turn. Should she move to gather resources? Power up her player actions? Or, the always tempting, engage an opponent in a pie fight? With two trophies left to earn, she had a lot of options to consider.

I however was sitting there with three apples, just one shy of delivering them to the Castle and earning myself a trophy. But I was within her reach. I watched as she selected her move action. Grabbed her miniature and moved it into my space, eyes hungry for apples.

“Mom, I challenge you to a pie fight!”

What kind of game is this?

Based off the wildly popular Scythe, also published by Stonemaier Games, My Little Scythe is a family-friendly, competitive game, designed by Hobby Chou along with his daughter Vienna Chou, where players control two animal Seekers (miniatures) and set out on an epic adventure in the Kingdom of Pomme to compete in the Harvest Tournament. 

To win, players must earn four trophies from 8 possible categories. On their turn, each player will choose whether to move their miniatures, seek resources, or use their resources to make pies, gain magic cards, or upgrade their player actions.

Along the way, as players use their actions, they will be able to increase their friendship and pies, complete quests, deliver goods to Castle Everfree, and, if daring enough, engage in a pie fight or two. All in an effort to be the first to earn 4 trophies to trigger the end of the game and, hopefully, the win. 

If this sounds like a lot thats because it is. 
(But don’t worry)

Holy cow this game has it all! The mechanisms present here are amazing and numerous. 

There’s area control. Players each control two animal miniatures and it’s their task to not only gain resources from the various areas of the board to earn trophies for themselves, but to stop opponents from getting them as well. 

It’s also a pick up and deliver game. Once you get your resources you have to decide what to do with them. You can choose to turn them into pies or learn magic using the make action. Or you can collect four of a kind to deliver them to the castle. 

Oh, and lets not forget about the strategic dice rolling mechanic! Yup, thats right, there’s dice in this game too! Players can choose to seek resources on their turn by selecting the seek action and rolling dice to place resources. This is a great way for players to either place resources they need near themselves, or, give resources to other players in an effort to raise their friendship level. 

This all plays out on a (massive) grid based board that everyone will have to navigate around. There are six different sections where resources and quests can be placed and players will need to move throughout the board to gain these or initiate pie fights. There are helpful portals available so you can cover large distances quickly, but it’ll still take time and you’ll need to manage your movement actions wisely to do it without wasting too many turns. 

Who is this for?

With all this packed inside, it may sound like a game geared for older, more experienced players. However, My Little Scythe is designed to be a family-friendly game marketed towards the younger gaming audience. 

Yes, there is a lot to unpack and learn, but while it may seem overwhelming at first, the rules are extremely well written and the turns actually quite simple. My Little Scythe is a great game to get to enjoy as a whole family and one everyone will have fun playing together. 

In the box

At first glance of the price tag, you may not be thinking this is a kids game. Sure, the box looks like a still from a new children’s cartoon promo, but it’s $50 and thats a pretty uncommon price when it comes to children’s games. And yes, it is a bit expensive, but let me tell you, it is so rare to open a box and be greeted with the 100% high quality, beautiful components that you see when opening My Little Scythe. 

The attention they put into every detail really shows.

The rule booklet is well designed, easy to read and helpful in answering any questions you might have during play. There’s also an achievement sheet which is such a fun little addition. And they’ve also included a helpful painting guide if you are interested in painting the miniatures.

You get 14 miniatures that are each adorable and well designed. These are not flimsy plastic toys; they’re legit. 

There is also a great selection of custom components: 5 dice, 24, apples, and 24 gems that are all beautiful and inviting to touch and pick up. 

The board itself is huge and completely gorgeous with bright, colorful, cheerful artwork. No lie,  I’d frame this board and put it in my kids’ room.  

Along with the mats, tokens, tiles, and cards, My Little Scythe also comes with a 3 piece custom insert made by Game Trayz to keep everything in place and organized. This not only makes it easy to store, but also easy to set up for play and put away when finished. Having these custom inserts really ups the bar and makes me feel spoiled. Some of my favorite heavier games don’t come with custom inserts!

The inserts also include some empty slots for any expansions Stonemaier Games may come out with in the future. This is such a nice touch because if you choose to get an expansion, you won’t have to haul around two boxes. Everything should be able to fit nicely inside the original box. Perfect!

When it is all set out on the table My Little Scythe looks so impressive. Our daughter’s eyes completely lit up because, despite the artwork, due to its sheer size this doesn’t look like a kids game. It was like we invited her to the big kids table where she could have as much ice cream as she wanted. 

What do we think of the game? 

Plain and simple: this game is amazing. In the world of kids games this is one of the best you will ever find. 

Somehow they managed to make a game that had complex mechanics that is simple and easy for kids to learn. This may be the best game to introduce your children to those “next level” games. To my knowledge, there is nothing else like this on the market that easily allows kids to learn these complex mechanics in a game that is designed for them that comes in such a high quality package. 

My Little Scythe is fun for adults too. Believe me, I’ve sat through my fair share of rough kids games. There are some games that my kids enjoy that I just loath to play. But with My Little Scythe, that is not the case. This is just as charming and enjoyable for me to play with our daughter as it is for her. There is plenty of “game” packed in here to keep us entertained and as parents.

I also love the family friendly theme of gaining friendship points through sharing. And rather than attacking opponents and losing life points, you engage in pie fights where you’ll lose friendship if you start the fight. I mean, how adorable is that?! Having the game focused more on friendship rather than conquering and destroying is a big win. Plus the theme itself makes sense. If you are nice to your friends and share, then you’ll gain more friendship points which can earn you a trophy. But if you start fights with your friends, your friendship points will go down because, well, that’s not very nice, is it? 

As stated above, there are 8 different categories from which players will try to to earn 4 trophies from. 8 Friendship points, Power Ups, Spells, Quests, Apple Delivery, Magic Gem Delivery, Pie Fight Victory, and having 8 Pies. All that to say there are a lot of different ways to win this game. 

I love a game with multiple paths to victory. Often in games for children the game itself will be cooperative. I don’t have a problem with that, we like a lot of co-op games, but I really enjoy that kids have to figure out how to win for themselves in My Little Scythe.

Maybe they’ll want to do it by sharing and being a good friend, but they can’t just win by doing that alone. Needing to look at all of the options available and make decisions on what will be best for them helps them become better gamers and strategists. Because of the friendly nature of the game itself, it never gets too cut throat, even though it can be difficult. And when it does get difficult, we like to talk through the options together if our daughter gets stuck. She makes the ultimate decision and we don’t push her towards any one thing or another, but openly strategizing out loud can be helpful with this game, especially during the first few plays as everyone learns how best to manage it all. 

Is this too hard for kids?

One of the things I was most concerned about when we looked at getting this was that it would be too much to handle. And I’ll be honest, even though it is the most adorable game I have ever seen in my life and makes me wish there was a children’s picture book series featuring all these friendly little critters (please tell me that’s in the works, Stonemaier Games!) The game itself starts to feel a tad intimidating when you lay it all out. There’s a lot going on here. The best part though is that the rules are very easy to interpret, the actions and consequences all make sense, and each turn is fairly simple: select an action, execute your action, resolve any consequences. 

Because there is so much to manage, this game is best suited for kids starting at about age 8. I think kids as young as 6 who have some gaming experience under their belt should be able to grasp it as well. Our daughter is nearly 7 and caught on fairly quickly. But this is far beyond what our 4 and-a-half year old son can handle, though he does love to “play” while sitting on our laps.

There’s also the matter of attention span. My Little Scythe takes about 30-45 minutes to play. This may be a bit much for younger children but shouldn’t be too difficult for those 8 and up. The first game or two will take about 45 minutes or maybe more depending on how long it takes to teach the rules and grasp the concepts. The majority of our games have run in the 30 minute time frame. We’ve even had a few games run under the 30 minutes as players have gotten out ahead early and it can be hard to prevent people from winning if you’re too far behind. 

Final Thoughts

My Little Scythe completely raises the bar as for what you should expect in a children’s game. It is a complete joy to play.

From the components, to the mechanics, to the feel of the game play itself, this is, hands down, one of the best games on the market. There is nothing like it and it is worth every penny. 

Through playing this game, your kids will not only have fun, but they will undoubtably become better gamers. Because there is such a wide variety of more complex mechanics that are introduced in My Little Scythe, your kids will be better prepared to handle those mechanics when they encounter them in non-kid games in the future. 

Even if you aren’t looking for a game to prepare your kids for more heavier gaming, My Little Scythe is still a fantastic purchase. While it is a strategy game where players will have to use their turns wisely to secure a win, the game is easy enough that older kids ages 8 and up can play it on their own with minimal help from adults. Through its fun, cute theme it teaches the importance of friendship and places value on sharing important resources with others. It makes combat light hearted while engaging math and critical thinking skills. And, most importantly, its a game the whole family will have fun playing and enjoy together.

We cannot recommend My Little Scythe highly enough! 

Game Stats: 
My Little Scythe
Price: $50.00 Ages 8+ 
Published: 2017
Publisher: Stonemaier Games
Designer: Hoby Chou, Vienna Chou 
Aritsts: Noah Adelman, Katie Khau

* This post contains affiliate links at no cost to you. To read my full disclosure policy click here.*