*** Don't miss my giveaway where you can win two Articulate! Fotr Kids games! ***
With the weather getting distinctly colder, our geocaching adventures have been put on the backburner recently and we've been enjoying some good old-fashioned PJ days, watching DVDs and playing board games together. Drumond Park sent us through Articulate! For Kids, described as "the fast-talking description game", to try out and it's been the source of much amusement.
I must have been living under a rock because I wasn't familiar with the game, but it's the kids' version of the original Articulate! game which is still in the top 10 of UK adult board games after more than 20 years. The kids' game has been completely updated and refreshed for Christmas 2014 and it's ideal for playing with the family on Boxing Day because it can be played by a group of children by themselves (or with grown-ups), or alongside Articulate! for hours of multi-generational family fun.
Both games follow the same simple format... How quickly can you define a word (from the categories Object, Nature, Person, Action, World and Random) without actually saying it? In each round, the teams divide their members into ‘Describers’ and ‘Guessers’. The timer is started, and the Describers take it in turns to describe their way through as many question card entries, from the different categories, as possible to their team members – the Guessers - within a 30-second time limit.
Each team moves its counters around the board, based on the number of words correctly identified and the object of the game is to reach the FINISH segment before the opposing team. There are clear Description Rules included in the Instructions. For example, Describers mustn’t give hints such as ‘begins with’ and ‘sounds like. As with all good games, the rules can be modified depending on the age and skill of players though, so Pierre is given a lot more leeway than his big sisters, to even things up. The game targets children aged 6-12 so players do need to be able to read - it would have been nice to include some (or all) cards with illustrations next to the words so that very young players who can't yet read could join in the fun more easily.
It's a really fun game to play with no boring waiting around for other players to take their turn because everyone is involved, listening and laughing as the Describers try their hardest to describe words, getting more and more frustrated as the Guessers fail to get words which seem painfully obvious to them ! Pierre totally cracks us up with some of his descriptions. Would you guess that "it's a noisy thing next to the computer but ours never works" is a printer ?!
It's a great game that is both fun and educational, helping kids to practice their oral skills, thinking up clear descriptions and synonyms. I'm thinking of taking it in to school to use with my pupils at the end of term too, as I think it could be a great way of getting them to come up with new vocabulary. Above all, it's great fun though.
star rating : 5/5
RRP : £19.99
for more information : www.drumondpark.com
Disclosure : We received the product in order to write an honest review.
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This would be a fab Christmas day/Boxing day game for the kids. Thanks for the review.
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