For 2014, I am starting up my Family Game Night Link Up once again. It will take place at the beginning of each new month. I will share a game that our family is enjoying, and invite others to link up one of their favorite games, to give us all some new and fresh ideas!
May 2014 be a great year of fun family memories for all of us!
The girls received this game for Christmas from some dear friends of ours. We had never even heard of it before!! It quickly became a family favorite and definitely was one of the Top Ten Favorite Gifts this Christmas.
The game comes in a small canister. There are three levels of play: beginner, intermediate, and expert.
First, remove all the pieces and sort them in order from largest to smallest. 2-4 people can play, and the pieces get divided equally between all players. Extra pieces, if there are any, are placed in a draw pile.
The pieces, as you will see below, consist of one base, and a number of notched rods in various lengths. Each length is identified by a different colored end.
For the beginners level, players compete by 'suspending' their rods on the sculpture of pieces in order from largest to smallest. There is a lot of thinking and planning involved, because pieces must be balanced out or they will drop. Any pieces that fall must be picked up and added to that player's pile. Of course, the first player to run out of rods wins, so you don't want to be picking up extra rods along the way!
In the intermediate level, players roll the die and play the color shown. This can get tricky because if the first piece you must play is the shortest one, it is more difficult to find stable spots for the longer rods. Again, first player who runs out of rods wins.
The expert level can be played like a tournament, where rods are worth points depending on how many notches they have. It can get very challenging and involves multiple rounds.
I love the rule sheet - it includes an option for single players....and encourages them to "ignore the rules listed above, and have fun just building their own metal sculpture"!
This game is quick and easy, and is different every time you play it! We have played almost all variations of it, from 2 player beginners, to more advanced multiple player rounds. This is one of those games that is so fun the kids don't realize it is also educational (can you say physics??)
Here is one of our metal sculptures from a recent game!
The age recommendations on this game are 8+. I think children younger than that would enjoy it as well.
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Please feel free to grab the button and link up your favorite family games here!
Erica
ReplyDeleteLove this idea!
I grabbed your button for my sidebar and plan to link soon...(maybe not till Feb...we'll see) We do play fam games and I look forward to reading others' posts as well!!
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Have a great day!
Hi! I think this post is so fun! My son got this game for his birthday in November and I haven't played it with him yet. I think we will be playing it tonight. I will try to link up sometime this weekend. We have enjoyed several new family games recently. Thanks for sharing and inviting us to come along for the ride.
ReplyDeleteEager to join you as well! I will get to taking pictures- we play games all of the time! Wow, Suspend looks like one my boys would love!
ReplyDelete