When I was offered the game "Play That Tune" to review, the name reminded me of a game I had as a kid in the eighties called Name That Tune (which, I seem to remember, was a TV gameshow too). That game was like a kind of musical version of Simon, the grandaddy of electronic games ! Remember that ?!
Well, when Play That Tune arrived, the kids, not to mention me, were all excited to see that it contains a big piano mat. Remember the scene in the Tom Hanks film Big when he plays Chopsticks by jumping around on a big keyboard on the floor ? Admittedly this one isn't quite so big but it's still great fun.
The box also contains a pack of game cards with the tunes that you need to guess. I wasn't sure how we'd manage to play with young kids who wouldn't recognise or know any of the songs, but it's well thought out. The card gives you the name of the song and a series of numbers that represent the notes that need to be played. No musical skill or song knowledge required - anybody can play the tunes just by following the numbers. They've also thought about the different ages/generations of the players and have incorporated quite a large number of songs that even the youngest kids will recognise, such as nursery rhymes and happy birthday.
Well, when Play That Tune arrived, the kids, not to mention me, were all excited to see that it contains a big piano mat. Remember the scene in the Tom Hanks film Big when he plays Chopsticks by jumping around on a big keyboard on the floor ? Admittedly this one isn't quite so big but it's still great fun.
The box also contains a pack of game cards with the tunes that you need to guess. I wasn't sure how we'd manage to play with young kids who wouldn't recognise or know any of the songs, but it's well thought out. The card gives you the name of the song and a series of numbers that represent the notes that need to be played. No musical skill or song knowledge required - anybody can play the tunes just by following the numbers. They've also thought about the different ages/generations of the players and have incorporated quite a large number of songs that even the youngest kids will recognise, such as nursery rhymes and happy birthday.
But to be honest, you don't really need to bother with the timer and points and scoring (unless you really want to or if you're playing amongst adults and older kids) because what the kids will love is jumping about on the mat to make music.
20-month-old Pierre also had fun crawling on it and sliding about on his bum ! Now that's what I call a musical genius ! And certainly great fun for everyone.
star rating : 4.5/5
RRP : £18.95
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That scene in Big was ace - always wanted a giant keyboard as a kid!
ReplyDeleteI have never seen these before, lovely to see lil man having fun on it aswel.
ReplyDeleteLoving the design of the giant keyboard. I was never any good at that stuff or the dance matts haha.
My 10 year old son received this for his 10th birthday last January. He played with it (following the cards and making up his own tunes) for the first month constantly. Since then he pulls it once every couple of weeks and plays around with it. Our cat likes it too. She will purposely walk on, and jump down on to it. If no sound comes out, she will walk back and forth over it until it does...yes, our cat is nuts. I highly recommend this game.
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