Fantastic Fun Family Games from Spinmaster
These games were gifted to us for the purpose of this review. All thoughts are our own.
Family games nights have long been a tradition in our family. Whether we are visiting our parents or simply staying at home. Ross, Grace and I have found it a great way to pass the time and now, since Rex joined the family, we have slightly adjusted the way we play to accommodate him!
Of course, at the age of 3, he isn’t quite able to join in all of the fun family games from Spinmaster BUT we were pleasantly surprised to see how much of a big hit one particular one has been!
Table of Contents
Grouch Couch
Even though it says that it is for age 5 years plus, so long as you play it with adult supervision and do not leave the small pieces around, it is a game which is simple enough for a 3 year old like Rex to pick up.
Grouch Couch comes with a rather grumpy sofa, 16 coins, 15 lost goodies – which we deduced to be sweets, popcorn and drinks!, 1 dice and instructions. The reason for the age recommendation is because the game includes a lot of small parts which could be a choking hazard for very young children. You also need 3 AAA batteries for the couch.
This was a game we hadn’t come across before and it was a huge hit! The concept is really simple. After loading the coins into the little section in the sofa with the lift up lid, the youngest player goes first by rolling the dice. According to the number you roll, you place that many ‘lost’ pieces on the sofa and press the remote control on the arm of the Grouch Couch. The grumpy fellow then decides whether he wants to just raise an eyebrow or go full-grump mode and chomp up the pieces. He also decides whether or not to reward you by flinging out coins!
If you roll the vacuum cleaner, this is your chance to steal from the other players. Roll the vacuum and then roll again to get a number which then relates to how many coins you can take from the player or players of your choice.
When Grouch Couch sounds his victory song, it signifies that the game is over and the winner is the one with the most coins.
This is a great game to get Rex started on. Now to work on his fair play and not being a sore loser skills!
Grouch Couch is available from Amazon, priced £20.
Headbanz
Headbanz has been around a while and was first brought to our attention when we went on holiday to a Seaview holiday park back in 2016. As we were self-catering, we wanted a great family game to play so Headbanz was chosen!
It’s basic concept is that it is a ‘Who Am I?’ game and is quick and easy to set up and play. You receive 6 plastic headbands, 69 picture cards with a variety of different things to be on them, 24 scoring chips, 3 sample question cards, a timer and instructions.
To play, clip together your headband and then you each take one of the picture cards without looking at it. You place this in your headband facing your opponents. Turn over the timer and you have to ask questions within the minute to try and work out what you are. If you guess correctly within the time, you receive a scoring chip which clips onto your headband.
The sample question cards a great idea, especially for younger players to practice with.
Hedbanz is available from Amazon, priced £10.
Beat the Parents
This was not a game I had come across before. As expected, it is a family trivia game where you pit your skills against your kids. In opposing teams, you work against each other in order to win the game! I can see this being a massive hit in our house as Rex gets bigger. In the meantime, it will be a one on one game against Grace!
Beat the Parents is for 2 players or more and is aimed at 6 years old and over. You receive a game board, 110 question cards, 50 challenge cards, 2 counters and the instructions. I was pleased to see that these are printed on the packaging in the box. A great eco-friendly idea as it means less paper – plus, you are unlikely to lose them too!
Each question card contains 6 questions – 3 for parents and 3 for the children. Each team takes it in turns to question the other side. The children go first and they move one space for each correct answer. They have the chance to answer all 3 questions but not so for the grown-ups! If they answer incorrectly then their turn is over!
Also on the board are ‘Challenge’ spaces. Whenever a player lands on these spaces, everyone stops to carry out a specific challenge. These could be a variety of things including making a paper aeroplane, finding books with an 11 letter word in them or just simply making animal noises! Something everyone can get involved with! You can either carry out the challenges one player again one or you can have the whole team join in. The winner moves the number of spaces shown on the Challenge card.
I can see plenty of fun to come in this one!
Beat the Parents is available from Amazon, priced £10.
