Disney Frozen Race to the Palace Board Game

Disney Frozen Race to the Palace board game from Ravensburger is aimed at 5yrs plus and can be played by 2-4 players.  Initially it appears a fairly simple game of climbing places to reach the palace, but it has an interesting combination of three dice and the fact that you don’t just move your own player makes it more complex.

Frozen race to the palace xInside the box are three pieces that join together to create the playing board, along with a large card that stands up to be the Arendelle palace and five figure cut outs with stands, four tokens and three dice.

The game is easily assembled and then play can commence.  The characters used in this game are Elsa, Anna, Kristoff and Olaf.  There is also Hans although no one own’s him and the aim of the game is to race him to the castle.  If he gets there first then he wins, but if another character get’s there first then they win.

Frozen race to the palace 2

The game starts by each playing selecting a token, they take a look but don’t reveal which character they are playing.  You then take turn to roll the dice.  You will roll either two colours and a number or one number and two colours.  The colour tells you how many spaces to move and the colour determines which character or characters you move.  If you roll a white you can pick any character of your choice, which is where tactics come into play and you obviously want to choose the character that’s on your token.

Frozen race to the palace 3

There is also a space on the board with friendly trolls that allows you to jump ahead two spaces and a giant snow creature which sends you back one space.   When a character reaches the castle, it is declared the winner and players can then reveal which character’s token they had.

My children both loved this game, particularly 5yr old Mister B who quickly grasped the game rules, which I think was great and he got really excited during gameplay.  I think he was the perfect age for this although he does have a good understanding of things generally.

Frozen race to the palace 4

This is a really fun game that we’ve all enjoyed and has been well thought out.  I thought each game would only last about 5 minutes but we found it lasted a good 15 minutes and all the family joined in.

Disney Frozen Race to the Palace Board Game is a must for any Frozen fan who will love playing with all the familiar characters from the film, it’s also a game we have been playing most days which is great and shows it has long lasting appeal.

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received the product in order to write an honest review.

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Animal Safari by Orchard Toys – Review

Animal Safari is a fun, tactical board game from Orchard Toys suitable for ages 5+.  With Miss M being a huge fan of games and loving her Orchard Toy collection I knew this was sure to be a hit and I was also keen to try a game with a higher starting age to give Miss M the challenges she needs and thrives on.

131-343-animal-safari-packshot.thumb

The game is suitable for 2-4 players who use a stand up jeep playing piece to move from the camp in the centre of the board, around the board hoping to collect some animals before returning to camp.  There are various viewing points across the Animal Safari board that if you land on you can pick up an animal card.

To move around the board are two dice and this is where the game gets interesting.  In place are the number six on each, is a picture of binoculars, and rolling one of these allows you to take an animal card of your choice from another player.  You can also tactically use the amount rolled on the dice to determine where you land on the board by either moving the amount on just one of the dice or the total of both.  By having to total up the two dice also brings in basic mathematical skills which is perfect for young players.  Miss M who is 5 is just learning basic addition in her first year of school and I felt this really benefitted her in practicing without realising it.

I was surprised by the variety of different animal cards – to include monkeys, parrots, flamingos, lions, tigers, zebras, meerkats, giraffes to name just a few.  They are all brightly coloured and fun pictures to look at which helped add value to the game.  Miss M loved looking at them and picking her favourites when she had the opportunity to take some from my pile.

Animal Safari retails at £11.75 which we think is good value for such a durable lasting game that is fun, enjoyed by all and contains hidden educational aspects.

Please watch our short review video of the game in action:

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions. We are not paid for reviews although we do receive the product to try out and enable us to write the review.