Tactic Games Faqir board game review

Thanks, once again, to the lovely people at Blog-Match (if you're a blogger wanting to do reviews and still haven't signed up, what are you waiting for ?!), we were matched up with Tactic Games, who sent us through two board games to try out, the first of which is called Faqir. Now, that's a bit of an unfortunate name because Juliette, who is just starting out on the great adventure of learning to read, carefully studied the box and said innocently : "Can we play Fuqir ?" ! You know those moments when you know you really shouldn't laugh because it will lead to lots of awkward "what's funny Mummy ?" questions but you just can't help it ? Well, I think the game has been rebaptised forever here at The Madhouse, at least once the kids are in bed !

But enough about the name and on to the game. As I explained to Juliette and Sophie (to make sure she remembered the word - the real one ! - next time), the game takes its name from the Indian fakirs who lie on a bed of nails. The girls remember seeing somebody do this while we were on holiday in Turkey so they got all excited at this point and started remembering our holiday !

While they reminisced about swimming in the pool and boogying at the mini disco, I got out all the playing pieces - the game board, 28 coloured plastic cones designed to represent nails, 24 Faqir cards, 4 Faqir dressing rooms, a fabric pouch (for keeping the cards in) and rules. The aim of the game is to manage to make a specific pattern with the cones so that they match the holes on your Fakir card - the girls loved seeing the pictures of him contorting his body into strange positions to avoid the nails and said it was like the Hole in the Wall gameshow on TV !

The first player to make their pattern wins ... but to make things more complicated (and throw a few good-natured (ish!) family arguments into the mix), players can block other players' patterns because your opponents' cards are partially visible at the top of the changing rooms. While this is great for spicing things up for older players, it does tend to create a bit of friction between younger players !

The suggested age range is 7+ and, as it needs some tactical thinking and the ability to not throw a tantrum when somebody else blocks you, I think that's quite accurate. Adults and teens will enjoy playing too though so it's a great family game.

star rating : 4/5

RRP : £18.28

for more information on Tactic games : http://www.tactic.net/

 stockist details : http://www.carouseltoyshop.co.uk/

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