Ravensburger Bugs in the Kitchen Board Game for Kids Age 6 Years and Up - Catch the Hexbug Nano! & Enchanted Forest Classic Family Board Game for Kids Age 4 Years and Up - Magical Treasure Hunt

Great fun. Easy for younger people but entertains for granny too. Seems sturdy

My wife didn’t see the attraction when I suggested to buy this game as a Christmas gift for our children aged 6 and 9. I should say that she has a mortal fear of any create with more than 4 legs. Despite her aversion I pushed through and as a gift it was a tremendous success not only with the children, but even with my wife and the in-laws. Playing the game causes a huge amount of excitement, at least in our family with hyper-energetic children, comparable to a less animal-friendly beetle race. In fact the enthusiasm and loud shouts of bug-encouragement and excitement gets a bit too much in our small space household in particular given that the game is very frequently played for the moment. I must say I quite like the game play as its combines fast paced action and thinking, after all the bug moves at a reasonable pace and the person whose turn it is will have to act quickly. At the same time I’ve notice that the children start to develop some forward thinking strategies after having played it a few times, where they try to create paths before unleashing the bug from its starting position. So there is a little educational value to it as well.There are many variants and clones of this game already. But we decided to go with the trusted German Ravensburger brand from which we already have a series of board games that have sustained decades of kid’s play. This Bugs in the Kitchen game is no different; it’s very attractively presented in a sturdy, colourful cardboard box. The cardboard of the box and the parts is robust and resilient printed with deep colours. You will pay up for this ‘official’ version, but I must say I’m glad we did given the very frequent play sessions.Next to the cardboard tokens, trap doors and die, also included are 24 plastic cutlery parts that act as moveable maze panels. these need to be but in place, which consumes a little bit of time. The main part however is the Hexbug, that comes in a 'laboratory' container. I must admit that I was a bit underwhelmed by the bug. I expected a piece of highly sophisticated micro technology that would move around, driven by some level of AI. Well, it’s just a vibrating piece of plastic that after turning it on randomly moves around through its vibrations – if it moves at all, sometimes it just finds itself stuck in a corner for a long while. Anyway, this doesn’t really restrict the joy of playing the game. And the children certainly don’t complain.The set up and understanding of the game is pretty straightforward. It will take you less than 2 minutes to read the instructions and to get ready to play. Children will just have to watch or participate once to understand. The rounds of the game can be fairly quick so it quite suitable as well for the youngest players with a limited attention span. The age advice is from 6-years. But I’ve seen much younger cousins playing this with quite some skill. An official game, where one player collects 5 bug tokens can take from 15 to 30 minutes. But you can also just play a single round or agree that the one winning 3 tokens wins.Conclusion; if you are looking for an attractive game that can be played in a limited amount of time; buy this. I would recommend it highly. Perhaps some ear plugs should be advised as well for those not playing.

We borrowed one of these games with a bug that needed a new battery. This will be super speedy by comparison.

Great item excellent quality exactly what I was expecting really good quality and quick delivery.

Got this for my daughter who loves HexBugs, in fact she has 16 of them. You will need to assemble the game first by inserting the plastic connectors in the base (adult is best as they are stiff), popping out the holes on the cardboard base, placing the base over the wholes, clipping down the plastic knifes, forks and spoons. These go in a certain order so look at the instructions - we just put them don first and had to take them up again and start again. You will also need to pop out the cardboard trap bases, walls and counters.Playing is straight forward, just place the hexbug in the middle of the board, turn it on and take it in turns to roll a dice. If it comes up a spoon, open a spoon gate by turning it 90 degrees. If it is a knife, turn the knife, a fork turn the fork and a question mark turn anything. The aim is to get the hexbug to fall in your trap in one of the corners. Sounds easy, but the little bug can bump into the closed gates and turn around easily. You have to try to think one step ahead to try to open a gate so that he will go to your trap. Best to stick a time limit of say 5 seconds per move, otherwise you start watching where it goes for several seconds before deciding which gate to open. When the bug falls in your trap, you have a counter. Then reset the maze and repeat. The first to 5 counters wins.I did find that the bug did sometimes fall over and turn upside down, sometimes it righted itself but mostly we had to turn it over ourselves. My daughter loves it, it is easy to pick up and if you already have hexbugs, you can use one of those instead to make a change.Overall a good game if you can pick it up around the £15 mark, a bit steep for £35.

Finally a game we all have fun with. Definitely recommend. Sons are 6

Great game , bought the original game ages before it was opened only to find a bit missing , Amazon customer provided a replacement quickly so now we can enjoy this really good game

I bought this as a family game after my daughter played this at a friend’s house for hours!It takes a while (about 15 minutes) to set up for the first time as it is quite fiddly. I would recommend help from an adult. Pegs need to be located, pushed and then clipped in place in quite a precise way. Each peg is a piece of cutlery, which acts as a wall. The die dictates which cutlery type you twist (knife, fork, spoon or any). The instructions provide a choice of patterns to arrange the cutlery/walls. Each starting pattern has a trap in the middle where you place the bug. The Nano-bug comes in a test tube shaped container. It moves remarkably like a roach! No batteries are required. Slide the bug’s “on” switch and away you go.This is a game for 2-4 players. The really good thing about it is that is is very easy to play. The instructions are simple and you don’t need to keep checking the rules. The aim is to turn the cutlery/walls to direct the bug into your corner. You are rewarded with a token. The winner has the largest collection of tokens.This is a fast paced game. Once constructed from new it can be opened and played quickly, without setting up time. The rules are so simple and it doesn’t really require any skill as there is quite a lot of luck involved. This is a great game for all ages to play. Unsupervised, I would recommend this for ages 6+, but much younger children would be able to play this with family. The only down side is the noise - a loud rattle!Fantastic, manic fun! I would recommend this game.