Over the past year Gideon and I have enjoyed many rounds of Wonder Forge Games’ hidden object board games Busytown, featuring the characters from Richard Scarry’s world, and Eye See It! Disney.
The heavily detailed oversized game board is 6 ft long) with scenes representing Winnie the Pooh, Phineas and Ferb. The game’s quest is to find specific items before the sand timer runs out.
So when Wonder Forge offered us a chance to play two new games we excitedly awaited their arrival. We requested Pictopia and Force Grab.
Pictopia is a picture-trivia game. Its gameplay is organized so that all players can participate in each round which is unlike a typical trivia game where only one player is answering questions each round. In Pictopia a majority of the questions require players to work together toward the answer or answers. There are individual questions as well but everyone answers using the Mickey shaped answer dial and are simply credited individually.
We loved the Spotlight category questions. These focus on the card reader and reflect personal taste. The other players try to match that answer using their answer dials. For example on this card the question was – Which ONE of these resorts would I most want to live at for the rest of my life? We enjoyed the discussions they started. My son chose the Contemporary because he likes the food options available there the best. While I enjoy the beach and tropical island theme of the Polynesian Resort.
Play begins with the reveal of a card’s four images. We love that the images come not only from Disney animated movies, but from live action films, Pixar, Disney Channel shows, theme parks and more. Sometimes they are full images, others offer a partial image perhaps only the nose and some are silhouettes with no detail available. Players then secretly wager the number of spaces received if they get the correct answer. Since Gideon is younger than the suggested age for this game which is 7 and up we altered play a bit. We would just roll the die after getting the question correct and move number of spaces indicated. Given the level of knowledge of my Disney geek friends I suspect we will also make a few changes to gameplay, but I am really excited by the “Spotlight” category. I haven’t played any other Disney board game that allows you to learn more about your Disney friends personal tastes within the world of Disney and competitive play.
Wonder Forge games also has various Disney edition card matching games available including Frozen with Elsa, Anna, Olaf, etc; a Doc McStuffins version, Jake and the Neverland Pirates version and a series of Surprise Slides games featuring various Disney characters – Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Frozen, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, etc. In Surprise Slides select tiles within the board game are interchangeable for a variety of pathways to the win. This keeps gameplay fresher than a typical roll the die move a piece game.
Along with Pictopia, Wonder Forge Games sent us – a fast reaction game for ages 6+. It’s unlike any game I’ve played before with 15 miniatures representing characters and vehicles from the Star Wars universe. I particularly enjoyed the Han Solo in carbonite, the fallen AT-AT and tiny Millennium Falcon. Game play is simple. Roll the 15 miniatures on to the table. Paying attention to their positioning on the table, turn over the card. Be the first to grab the colored lightsaber that matches the item’s background. The item’s positioning does matter. It reminds me of the energetic, quick response game Spoons. I suspect it can get just as crazy when playing with a group. Playing with my 5 year old I adapted the rules a bit using it to reinforce following the directions and observations skills. We played taking turns instead of head to head competition. He would observe the card, the objects and then grab the matching lightsabers. I would be the judge, evaluating his choice and explaining, when needed, why it wasn’t a match. He struggled a bit with the head/helmet shape as it had a left side or right side to lay on as well as the upright position. Next turn I would grab and he would judge my choices. We would win tokens for the matched items and played each round to a total of 6. I can also see building a memorization element into the gameplay by only allowing a measured look at the card and relying on memory to grab the correct matching lightsaber.
Perhaps one of these Wonder Forge Games can enhance your family’s fun during the upcoming holiday season as they appeal to wide array of ages as designed and we found them easily adaptable to our own tastes outside that range as well.
