Toyology Review: NERF Zombie Strike Crossfire Bow

NERF. Zombie. Crossbow. There is no part of that description that is not AWESOME. You should go buy this now, you hear me?!

Okay, review done.

What? You want more? Fine...

Toyology Review: BoomCo Twisted Spinner

BoomCo is the new toy gun range from Mattel. What differentiates BoomCo from the others out there are the darts. The BoomCo 'smart dart sticks' aren't sticky (the tips are kind of rubbery), yet they stick to certain surfaces (i.e. the supplied targets) and pretty much nothing else.  Believe me, I've gone round attempting to stick these things to absolutely every surface I can find yet the darts will only stick to the targets.

Toyology Review: Furby

 My sister had a Furby, back in the day. I found it to be the second most annoying thing I had ever encountered. My sister, obviously, being the first. I didn't really understand the appeal. Why were they so popular? Why were people so interested in spending (wasting?) their time looking after a lump of plastic and electronics as though it were real? I mean, it's not like it's Data.

And now, like the bad penny, they're back. Yay.

(It doesn't really come across in written form, but that 'yay' was sarcastic)

Furby's have advanced quite a lot since they last put in an appearance. I'd say they'd evolved, but I don't want to fall into the 'thinking they're alive' category. They certainly do a lot more now and they include a whole bunch of extra gizmos - including an app (sorry, Android users, its just for Apple peeps at the moment).

The eyes, once lumps of plastic with eyelids which simply opened and closed, are now little LCD screens and thus are capable of displaying a variety of expressions. This makes a huge difference to feeling as though what you're doing is actually making a difference to this...thing. Furby responds to noises and takes a liking to particular sorts of music. It's hard to demonstrate in the video - unless I filmed the little guy over several weeks - but its personality changes depending on how you play with it. Frequent tail-pulling isn't going to result in a pleasant Furby, for example.

However, despite all this there are still a lot of limitations. The interaction isn't as immediate as might be desired. Pat its head and it doesn't immediately start cooing, so by the time it does whoever's playing with it will have started turning it upside down instead. And there's still only so much you can do with it. Playing times are only going to be a few minutes at a time, although potentially lots of few minutes at a time. Initially my children were very excited and there was a lot of 'look what he's doing now!', but this faded after a few days. Now they only seem to remember about it when it's been knocked over, wakes up and starts talking. Otherwise it sits in silence, ignored for the most part.

I suspect most adults who think Furbies will be annoying, will tend to find them annoying. Those who think they'll be cute and fun will find them fun. Your opinion is unlikely to change once you have Furby in hand. Saying that, I wanted to hate this thing. As it turned out, I kinda like it. I definitely don't like it enough to pay full price, but the brief time I spent with it was entertaining. However, from what I've observed of them playing with it, I don't think my children will play with it over long enough a period to justify the cost, but it is a fun novelty.

Toyology Review: Spin Mania

Ah, Drumond Park. Home of the simple yet fun games. I was slightly disappointed with the last one I played, however I'm very happy to report that Spin Mania is a return to form.

One player takes the three stands and places them around the room. The other player tries to get spinning disks on the stands as quickly as possible. The time is recorded and the players switch over. Easy peasy lemon squeasy.

It's not long before children start getting clever with the placement of the stands and House Rules come into play to ensure it's physically possibly to get disks onto them (no hiding them in another room, down jumpers, in the fridge...). You also have to watch that small children aren't knocking your disks off behind your back when you're going to get the next one.

The box has an age recommendation of 6+ however after a couple of practice goes my 4 year old was more than capable of playing. It's possible to play with any number of people (although there are only 4 markers for the timer) so a perfect family game for over Christmas. It does require moving/bending (depending on where the stands have been put) so might not be best for any elderly relatives.

But really the only downside to his game is the size of the box. It's no exaggeration to say the box could be a third of the size, if not a quarter. It's completely ridiculous being the size it is and makes storing it really, really annoying. Either I end up storing a load of air, or I have to hunt round and find something smaller to put it in.

Toyology Review: Lalaloopsy Littles Sew Cute Patient

I'd never heard of Lalaloopsy until I began to do a little research and found out that it's quite a big brand of 'rag' dolls. Wikipedia tells me that there are over 50 different characters, of different sizes, with more added all the time. I like the look of them, even though (or maybe because) I watched Coraline and was completely freaked out by things with button eyes. Maybe it's only when people have button eyes that the Fear sets in.

We were sent on of the 'Littles' which are siblings of the larger dolls. Our Patient, despite her eyes, is very cute and though not designed for '4+' my 2 year old daughter loves carrying her patient around.

Patient comes with a variety of accessories - few of which are suitable for my 2 year old. There's a bear which you can 'repair' (or kill) by attaching (or pulling off) his arms, legs and eyes. These parts are tiny and despite me doing my best to keep track of them in case I needed extra photos for the review, we've pretty much lost every piece. The eyes, especially, don't hold in too well and being black their days were numbered as soon as bear came out of the box.

Patient herself comes with a stethoscope which makes a variety of bizarre noises. A cast for her leg which even the most determined dad had trouble getting off and a slipper which was a lot easier. There's a feeding bottle, plus a bottle and cloth which you're supposed to dampen with warm water and then using the power of Heat, make her injuries vanish. This didn't work particularly well. There are a number of 'tips' in the instructions as to how to get this to work better, but we had trouble keeping the cloth warm enough for long enough to get this to work. I drowned the cloth in hot water, but by the time I reached the doll it was too cool. Drowning the doll herself worked a lot better, but isn't really that practical.

I do wonder what age this is aimed at. The tiny bear accessories and cast problems would seem to indicate an older child, but the look would seem, to me, to be targeting younger children.

My 2 year old loves this doll, however with the accessory problems I'd think twice before buying this at full price.

Toyology Review: Trackmaster Daring Drop Blue Mountain Quarry

This is a train track based on the Blue Mountain Thomas & Friends DVD.  Thomas is battery powered and drives round the track - either the inner one, or the outer one which features a 'daring' drop.

And that's it.

It took us quite a while to put this together. Dad reading the instructions and calling out for parts which the children then hunted through the pile of pieces to find. Finally we had it all set up, with it covering a bit chunk of our living room. We set Thomas going and he went round the outer track. We all made 'oooo!' noises as he hit the drop. The points were changed and Thomas went round the less exciting inner track. Then Thomas went round again. And again. And again. And...

Within a minute we'd done everything that can be done with the set. It's a set layout so you can't change the pieces to have a different track - I can't even see a place where you could add in more track pieces if you bought them. You simply sit and watch and occasionally change the points. We spent a few minutes placing toys on the track to be run over, but that didn't really work.

Considering the amount of time it took to set up, we'd expected a bit more. "Dad, do I have to keep playing with that? You just watch that," said my 4 year old who, as it happened, was the child who was so excited to get the track out in the first place.

I know, on the face of it, the Hot Wheels track we reviewed does pretty much the same thing - the cars simply go round and round - but that adds an exciting danger element with jumps (possibly not possible with a train) and crashing (more likely in the early Thomas episodes). Plus, being stuck on the wall, it doesn't require extensive set-up time every time you want to play with it.

On the plus side, the Daring Drop box is packed with bits of plastic - so much so that it's a puzzle getting it all back in the box again once you've finished playing with it. I suppose it does everything you'd expect it to do from looking at the box. The disappointment shouldn't really have occurred since it's obvious any enjoyment from the toy can only come from watching Thomas go round and round and round and round and...

Toyology Review: Snazaroo Face Painting Kit - Girl

I was never a fan of face paints when I was small. My children weren't either, until one day when a then-3 year old came home from nursery as Spider-Man. And now they can't get enough of the stuff.

Snazaroo are (probably) the leading brand in stuff to cover your face with. We were sent the 'girl' box, but only the grown ups knew this from the box. The children simply saw paint.

You can't see exactly what the colours are through the box, but they are listed on the top - white, black, pale yellow, pink, pale green, silver (metallic!), blue (sparkly!) and lilac (sparkly!). Although, due to child-involvement, our set now consists of one slightly murky colour, which is what happens when you mix them all up. There is a definite fairy/princess-slat to the colours which is worth keeping in mind as doing animals, for example, may prove difficult with this particular set.

For reasons known only to him, 4yo barged into our bedroom at 7am one morning and demanded to be painted as a leaf. We were extremely thankful that a) there was a green paint and b) he'd waited until 7 until barging in. The next day - the day in the video - he again wanted a leaf (I cannot explain the fascination) along with a parachute and a pirate ship. Apparently leaves are all the rage as he sister wanted one too.

Neither of them were particularly bothered about what design Mum had, just as long as it involved plastering her with as much paint as possible.

The amazing thing for me with these was despite being bold colours, it was incredibly easy to remove - quick wipe and it was all gone.

In summary, Snazaroo make good face paints. If you want good face paints then buy Snazaroo ones. Just remember to check the colours in the pack if you have a particular face-design in mind.

Toyology Review: Paint with Water

Melissa & Doug is a brand I'd never head of before starting doing Toyology reviews, but I've come to learn that they produce a lot of high quality products. This Paint with Water set is no exception. There's a strip of dry paint at the top of each picture which, when moistened, can be used to colour the image. Simple as. The paper is a good thickness and takes a lot of water without falling to bits.

The only real downside is that, being watercolour, the final picture will never be especially brightly coloured.

The set would be a good stocking filler and very good for taking to entertain children while visiting relatives over the holidays since the only 'extra' needed is a pot of water (which tends to be available in the houses of most relatives) and mess is (mostly) minimal.

Toyology Review: Bakugan Mechtavious Destroyer

I really like Bakugan. Whereas electronic toys get all the press for being clever and inventive, I am much more impressed by the engineering that went into getting a bunch of little spheres to spring out into a huge variety of creatures via a magnet/metal card.

Mechtavious Destroyer, the internet tells me, is one of the main villains from the cartoon. He consists of 4 little biomechanical guys and is definitely not a sphere. The design is a bit...weird. I'm not exactly sure what the guys are supposed to be. Obviously there are restrictions on how things will look when it has to hold into a ball, but these guys don't fold up so the designers could make them look however they liked. And of all the limitless designs they could have chosen, they went with Weird.

Articulation is limited and you can't pose these guys very well. Each of the little chaps retains the 'place a bit of metal on a certain place and something pops out' element from the Bakugan spheres, however what springs out isn't especially clever, which made me a bit sad.

Stand the little 'uns on top of each other and they form Mechtavious Destroyer. The instructions aren't the easiest of things to follow and it's far, far easier to just look at the picture on the box to see how they're supposed to combine. Basically, they stand on top of each other. The faces of the little guys are still visible, MD retains all the little legs of the individual robots, and there's nothing that really meshes the four together into one large creature.

If you asked my boys about Bakugan they wouldn't have a clue what you were talking about. Mention 'Transformer Balls' instead and they'd be covering the radiator in the things from their toy box to show you how they worked. It was only when they saw the metal card in the box that they realised that MD was from 'Transformer Balls', but since MD doesn't really transform they had little interest in it.

If your child watches the cartoon or plays the card game then I'm sure MD will go down well, but as a toy on its own MD isn't that great and doesn't fit particularly well with the spheres/pyramids/cubes etc that have already been released.

Toyology Review: Tatty Teddy Baking Set

When my mum first saw this she thought it was a cuddly teddy. It was a split second after she prodded it and it's head fell off that she realised that it wasn't, but it does show how good Tatty looks. No, Tatty isn't cuddly, he's a teddy inside which is hiding a number of cookery-related tools.

In a slightly gruesome way, when you think about it, Tatty's head comes apart to become two bowls (one of which is laughingly referred to as 'large' on the box). The hat becomes a sieve (or, for some 2 year olds, remains a hat). One hand holds a rolling pin and the other fails to hold a spoon (the recess isn't deep enough and the spoons tend to simply fall out). Being rotocast, the interior of Tatty is hollow and is where can be found numerous spoons etc can be found.

It all looks very good, but there's not really that much to it - especially for the price. You can get a lot more for a lot less money if you went for a non-branded set. But then it wouldn't look like a cute teddy. My 2 year old daughter has played with him a fair amount, and the addition of some plastic fruit has added a lot to the experience.

She still hasn't worked out the sieve thing, however.

I wouldn't buy this for my own child, however I might consider if buying a present for someone else's since it does look very good.

Toyologist Review: Transformers Bot Shots Battleset

Bot Shots are 'cute' (or as cute as robots can get) robots with simple transformations from robot to vehicle. Every one of them, in fact, shares exactly the same simple method of transformation - push the arms in, fold the legs up and the front section down. They have a rotating symbol on their chests and the idea is to play a kind of rock-scissors-stone game with them. As you launch them in vehicle mode (via the trailers, or simply rolling them) they smack into each other, spring into robots and reveal their symbols.

Since the transformation is so simple they ought to appeal to even the youngest of Transformer fans, however there are two problems.

1. The 'catch' which holds the robot in vehicle mode doesn't hold especially well. The Decepticons were the biggest culprits of this in this particular set and you had to tug at the front section to get them to stay as vehicles.

2. The transformation is activated via a very large button on the front of the vehicle. It's large because it's supposed to be easily struck by an opposing robot, but it also means that it's very easy to accidentally knock it when you don't want to.

The trailer-launchers are a great idea and I'm only a little sad that there isn't a Roller Bot Shot to put inside the Optimus Prime trailer. The Bot Shots shoot out with quite a lot of force (not really seen in the video since I was firing them on a towel!) and you can get a good distance out of them. There is a design flaw, however. You need to hold the trailer while you press the button that opens it up and the bit most people will hold is the bit that opens...so it can't open because you're holding it shut.

The 'game' aspect is a little limited as it's so simple and repetitive and after a couple of goes the boys lost interest in this aspect. As general Transformers the spring-action is quite fun, however the large and easily-knocked buttons on the front mean that the vehicles are springing open all the time. Which gets a bit annoying.

Overall these are so-so. Fun, but flawed.

Toyology Review: Transformers Prime Cyberverse Knock Out & Energon Driller

There are two parts to this toy: the Transformer and the Giant Drill. One I like and the other I'm not really a fan of. The children agree, which is a surprise as we disagree about so many things.

My boys both love the smaller Transformers. I was chatting to a man in Toys R Us once about it and he thought it was due to them being pocket-sized. Not true. They prefer them due to the time it takes to turn them from robot to car taking about 2 seconds.

The car looks exactly how a car should look. The robot, well, it's not a fantastic-looking robot but it serves its purpose. It's great that the little weapons can clip onto the car, lessening the odds of them being lost. All in all, it's a nice little toy.

The drill, on the other hand, is not such a nice toy. There's a lever on it which 'transforms' the drill to a sort of more weapon-heavy drill with missile launchers. The problem is that the cogs easily slip as you transform it, meaning that the launchers don't sit quite right. While it's easy for them to slip out of place, it's more difficult to slip them back into place. It took some violent jabbing at the transformation lever on my part to correct.

As to the missile launchers, one of them doesn't lock the missile in place properly so it simply shoots off when you load it. You have to press down on the catch to make it hold, which is very annoying. The other launcher works fine, however.

The drill has a light-up feature, which is simple and effective. This can either be a gun for the small robot to hold, or it can plug into the large drill which then lights that up. There is a silver-painted Decepticon logo on the button, however this has already begun to rub off, even with the limited about of button-pressing we've done.

As I said at the start, we like the little robot but the drill vehicle isn't as sturdy as it should be. It's not terrible, but it struggles to get above average.

Toyology Review: Pumpazing

I'm usually a big fan of Drumond Park games, but this one I'm not so sure about. Each player pumps the arms until a bit zings off. If Ziggy says 'uh-oh' you lose. Simple as.

It's definitely lacking something. It might be that there are only 4 shooty-out bits so the tension doesn't build up quite enough before the 'uh-oh'. Maybe it's because if you're not paying complete attention you can miss what sound Ziggy made. Maybe it's because it shoots on every person's turn. The zinging is too common and therefore not a surprise when it happens, unlike, for example, something like Pop-Up Pirate.

That said, it's a quality toy and while we haven't played it a hundred times over, the children do keep picking it up just to shoot the zingers off (and then have a jolly time hunting round the room trying to find them again). I wouldn't rush out and buy Pumpazing, but I wouldn't start thinking up excuses if I was asked to play. It's just that it could have been a bit better.

Toyology Review: WWE Rumblers

It seems a little unfair to review these guys considering the fact that the only thing I know about WWE is that it definitely doesn't have anything to do with pandas (thank goodness that confusion was cleared up!) and Hulk Hogan doesn't wrestle any more. At least I assume he doesn't, since he must be way past retirement age by now.

The figures come in a 2-pack, are a couple of inches tall, with articulation at the arms and waist. Poseability is therefore limited, but more than enough since these figures will likely just be smacked together by children. Their small size means that a child could carry around a whole bunch of these in their pocket. They have a good likeness to their real-life counterparts.

One comes with a scarf. I assume this is important to his character.

We found playing with these two figures is a little limited (hence the lack of exciting video), but then our family is definitely not the target for these. I'm sure most WWE fans, however, will end up with a whole bunch of their favourite wrestlers (and possibly a wrestling ring) which would liven up things no end. As it is, I find them little more than two guys in their pants and my boys had zero interest in them.

Toyology Review: Star Wars Fighter Pods

In my day we had Micro Machines Star Wars. Fighter Pods are along the same lines, I suppose, but slightly larger and infinitely more cute. Since Star Wars vehicles tend to be HUGE having everything small-scale is a big advantage if you want to have space in your house for both an AT-AT and a sofa. Fighter Pods come in a variety of box sizes - from single 'blind bags' to larger sets with little vehicles. They are being released in waves, with - from looking at the booklet that lists them all - enough, but not too many characters to collect before the next wave is released.

The figures are small, rubbery, and cartoony in design. There is a hole underneath which allows them to stick on the plastic 'pods' as stands. What's nice is that some of the characters have multiple figures in the wave, which means that you don't have to collect every figure to get every character (if that makes sense). For example, there are two Chewbaccas so if you only manage to collect one, it's not a complete disaster.

The box proclaims there are multiple ways to play, giving the impression there are games with rules to play with these. There aren't. Fighter Pods are simply like any other action figure and how you play with them is entirely up to the child/adult who never grew up.

As a Star Wars fan and a fan of small toys which come in blind bags, I'd have spent a small fortune on these when I was small. As chance would have it, when these arrived for review the boys and I had just spent the previous week watching Star Wars in its various incarnations so they were very interested in these toys and immediately complained that we were missing key characters.

So it looks like we'll be buying more of these (R2, Luke - I'm looking at you!), which must make them a hit. And Toys R Us very clever for sending us a toy to review that's ending up with us giving them more money!

Toyology Review: Football Game

I was in school the other week when I was approached by an 8 year old and asked if I liked football. 'I don't really follow football,' I replied. I thought this would be enough to turn his attention back to the book review he was supposed to be writing, but no, he was keen to continue with the topic. 'What team to you support?' he asked. 'You know when I said I don't really follow football?' I replied. This didn't dissuade him either and he continued with asking about England games and various other football-related topics that I really couldn't care less about. Probably as little care as he had of finishing his book review.

But this has nothing to do with this Football Game from Orchard toys.

The rules are simple and can be learnt within a minute. If you guessed at the rules, you'd likely get them right. The game is very similar to Snakes and Ladders, but with a couple of added spinners and everyone has their own board. Move your football up or down the board(/pitch), depending on the arrows, and then when you reach the top (aka 'the goal line') spin to see if you score. Score and win. Simple as.

Since my interest in football is limited to knowing when international matches are on so I know that the pub won't have any seats, the children's exposure has been limited and thus their interest as little as mine. They played the game, enjoyed it, but haven't been pleading for additional games since - hence their non-appearance in the video.

Like all Orchard games, the quality is high. The pieces are made of made of thick cardboard and ought to take a battering. Overall, while my children weren't overly keen, his does seem like a great game for young football fans to play when the weather outside is dreadful and there's no chance of playing real football.

Toyology Review: Transformers Weaponizer Bumblebee

When I first became a Toyologist last year, the Dream was that Toys R Us would send us a Transformer to review. Well, it's taken a while but that day is finally here. The first time I haven't had to pay out for a Transformer since...well, I think I conned my mum into buying me a Dark of the Moon toy last year, but that doesn't really count since Bayverse toys are hideous monstrosities. Besides, I think I told her it was for the children. This toy is all mine. All mine!

Sorry? What do you mean this review is supposed to cover what the children think of it? Really? You're not joking? Oh rats.

So here we are with (mostly) the children's opinion of Weaponiser Bumblebee :'(

I'm reasonably sure I've read somewhere that after things became ridiculously complicated with the film toys, Hasbro have been making an effort to simplify their Transformers recently. Bumblebee's transformation is fairly straightforward and most people should be able to do it within a minute or two without the instructions.

There is a big 'play' advantage of a quick transformation. You can be a robot, change into a car, drive across the living room and turn back into a robot again to fight the Decepticons very quickly without it taking away from the battle that's taking place in your imagination.

The articulation is extensive and Bumblebee can be posed in almost any way you can think of. His feet are large so he has no problem standing up. As a car he rolls nicely along most surfaces.

According to the box the toy has 4 modes, which is a bit of a cheat. There are only really 2, but both robot and car modes have the option of pop-out spinning cannons. While there is a blinking light when they pop out, there's thankfully no sound to annoy parents. I'm not convinced the light actually adds anything to the toy as it's the headlights which (briefly) light up when the cannons are unleashed, not the cannons themselves to represent firing.

While Bumblebee is a nice toy, the children weren't really interested. We already have countless Bumblebees, so they couldn't care a less about having another one, even with the new gimmick. This is a problem Hasbro are well aware of. Toy sales for the last film were down due to children already having all the characters, so a new robotic cast is being assembled for the fourth film.

If your children don't have a Bumblebee then this would be quite a good one to get them, but if they do already own a yellow car I definitely recommend checking whether they want a second before purchasing it as a gift.

Toyology Review: Imaginext Castle

I liked castles when I was small. There's something about hand-to-hand combat that guns and long-range attacks don't have. I remember being in a shop once and seeing a plastic castle for sale. My dad refused to buy it, saying that he would make one for me instead when we got home.

15 years later my dad built a wooden castle. It may take him a while, but he gets round to things eventually.

My children don't have to wait so long...

This would be an excellent centre piece for a Christmas present. You could then convince Granny to buy the dragon to go with it and Uncle to buy the battering ram and... Well, this is all assuming the child likes knights and castles, King Arthur and Prince Valiant.

And if they don't, they really should.

Toyology Review: Duplo Creative Cakes

We don't own any Duplo. We skipped over it and went straight to 'proper' Lego since we've collected bucketloads of the stuff since I was small (besides, they don't do Star Wars Duplo). So Creative Cakes was a completely new (kind of) play experience for us all.

The set comes in a reasonably strong cardboard box, with a plastic lid that doubles as a tray for your baked creations. The briefest mention of the word 'cake' was enough to capture my (note quite) 2 year old's attention and she sat for ages clicking the bricks together to make a variety of vaguely cake-shaped objects.

It's Lego and therefore very hard to fault in any way, however I will nitpick at it being very, very pink. As far as I am aware it is common for both girls and boys to have a play kitchen/shop/similar, which this set would compliment very nicely. Unfortunately since - for no really good reason - the colour scheme is heavily girl-targeted, very few boys are going to want it - or at least not be bought it by an adult. Which is a shame because, as I said, this goes perfectly with a play kitchen.

(If there is indeed a more gender-neutral set available, then I apologise.)

Other than that, this is a great set with just enough pieces to allow a number of different cakes to be made. Included is a booklet with some ideas pictured, but really the cakes are all down to the imagination of the child.

Toyology Review: Redakai Championship Set

Eons ago I used to play the Star Trek Collectable Card Game made by Decipher. I say 'play' but mostly I just collected the cards because I didn't know anyone else who played. Which makes me wonder why I bothered, but 'reflection' reveals so many things at all too late a stage.

I attempted to teach my family how to play, but the rules were a bit complicated and they quickly gave up. Which was a bit sad. Though not quite as sad as playing a Star Trek Collectable Card Game.

Time moves on and one of the newest collectable card games on the market is Redakai. There are any number of similar card games available at the moment, so a new one has to have a definite hook, something that clearly sets it apart from its competitors.

Spin Master have gone for making the cards look as good as possible. And, well, these cards are pretty darn awesome-looking.

I must have sat for hours now, rocking the cards back and forth in my hand and watching the little animations. They're brilliant creations and, though I will admit I'm no expert in the field, they seem to me to be a step up from everything similar available. You might get some special 'rare' cards having these kinds of lenticular images, but every single card?

Eventually, however, the boys grew impatient and demanded to actually play the game. The rule booklet looks intimidating, but reading through, the rules weren't too complicated. There are two different versions of the game - basic & advanced. With the Championship Set you get more than enough cards for the basic game, though an additional set is required to place the Advanced.

We ended up playing a hybrid of the two, along with a few House Rules. Both 5 year old and 3 year old were easily able to understand the rules and really enjoyed playing. I had one game, but kept being shouted at because I kept tilting the cards back and forth and forgetting to have my go.

They really are very pretty cards.

And since they're made from plastic, not card, they're hard-wearing and drink spillages from younger siblings won't do any damage. Phew.

There are more than enough cards in this set to trial the game and if a child becomes a fan they'll politely ask their pocket-money provider for additional funds for more cards. And with the rules simple, there's no excuse for a parent not to play with their opponent-less child!