A Box Full of Family Games

Zoch Verlag’s latest batch of review games arrive

Shortly before we went on holiday a large box arrived from our friends at Zoch, the contents included four of their 2012 game releases:

• Flossen hoch! (a memory game involving penguins eating fish);
• Geistesblitz 2.0 Given the popularity of this reaction game it is perhaps unsurprising to see Zoch issue a second version that can be combined (for extra pain) with the original.  Personally I really struggled with the original but my wife loved it and our review is here;
• Alles Kanone! (is a reworking, with pirates – always a good thing in my view – of their award winning memory card game Alles Tomate) ;
• Streifen Toni (in English this translates to Strippy Tony and is an extension of the award winning concepts delivered last year in Da ist der Wurm drin where very colourful worms race each other).

In addition the box contained some games from 2011 and earlier including:

• Da ist der Wurm drin – worm racing with a very colourful board and winner of the …..
• Zozzle – Four childrens' versions of this memory puzzle game.
• Heckmeck Barbecue – A colourful board version of this ever popular Knizia game, also known under the Rio Grande licensing as Pickimino.
• Alles Tomate! – As mentioned earlier this is an award winning children’s memory game.
• Pig 10 – Another award winning card game this time with a maths theme.
• Tobago – A family / gateway game where the players are treasure hunters trying to find clues to locate the treasure. Popular with my wife already and one which introduces a degree of deductive reasoning.
• Ramba Samba – Another worm game and this time one clearly targeted at the very young with big wooden pieces.
• Niagara – A Spiel des Jahres winner from 2005 with an unusual board made out of the box lids where players pilot canoes near the waterfall trying to find gems.

So a wide variety and lots to play. The initial impression of vibrant enticing imagery had both myself and perhaps more surprisingly my wife enthusiastically ripping the cellophane of the boxes as we sought to explore the boxes and their contents.

Having had a weeks holiday with friends and family I can say that of those that we played Flossen hoch, and Da ist der Wurm drin got a big thumbs up from our 8 year old friends, whilst Zozzle not only worked with them but also some slightly older (10, 15 and 19) ones. When night fell Tobago came out for an enjoyable game and whilst we are yet to play Niagrara the components and artwork have my wife enthusiastic at the thought of playing a new game – something she does often but not always with enthusiasm!

Reviews of what appear to be some absolutely wonderful children's and family games will follow over the coming weeks and I guess months.