and up – Whole Heartily

How to Play – Memory Match

Part of the fun in raising Zoey is finding things that delight and educate her; I want to find fun, creative board games to play with her during our family game nights! This week we played Memory Match, the LotFancy version, for 2 to 6 players.

This specific memory match game is designed for kids and does a great job building visual recognition and, of course, memory recall. The graphics are adorable and gameplay is fun and engaging; especially when competition narrows in Zoey’s focus.

So let’s play!

IN THE BOX

39 cards

INSTRUCTIONS

For standard play, remove the 3 stinky lunchbox cards. For more of a challenge, leave them in the deck.
Shuffle the deck and lay them face down so the cards are not overlapping. You may place them in a grid or randomly, it’s up to you.
Players take turns, the youngest player goes first.
On your turn, flip two cards face-up. Make sure that the other players can see the cards too.
If the two cards match, you get to keep them! Place them in a score pile in front of you. As a reward, you get to go again and flip over two more cards.
If you do not make a match, flip the cards back over so they are hidden, your turn is over.
If you are playing with the stinky lunch box cards and you turn one over, your turn is over.
Play continues to the left and the next player takes their turn.
When all the cards have been picked up (minus the stinky lunchbox cards if in play), each player counts the pairs of food they’ve collected. The player with the most food wins!

ENJOY!

How to Play – Disney Eye Found It!

This is a cooperative game, which is nice when you’re not feeling competitive and want to focus on teamwork instead. Zoey enjoys the Disney content and searching the board for hidden objects (so do I honestly). The only warning I will give is that the game board is rather large, you’ll either need a long table, countertop, or you can set it up on the floor like we do!

So let’s play!

IN THE BOX

1 game board (in 3 sections)
6 characters
6 character bases
1 spinner
12 Mickey marker
30 search cards
1 sand timer

INSTRUCTIONS

Unfold the game board sections and connect them.
Set the Mickey markers, sand timer and spinner near the board.
Shuffle the search cards and put them in a pile near the board. Either the blue or red sides may face up.
Set Maleficent’s staff to “1”.
Insert each character into a base. Each player chooses a chapter and puts them on the “Start” space.
The youngest player goes first. On your turn, spin the spinner and follow its instructions:
- Move – Move your character forward the number of spaces indicated.
  1. If you land on a shortcut, follow the arrow.
  2. If you get to a fork in the road, choose which way to go.
  3. If you land on a “search” space, follow the search rules.
- Maleficent’s Magic – Move the staff one or two spaces forward, then spin again!
- Search – If the spinner or your character land on a “search” space, draw the top card of the deck.
  1. If you spun a search on the spinner, use the side of the card matching the color on the spinner. If your character landed on a search space you may choose which side of the card to use.
  2. Start the timer. All players help look for the object(s) shown, hidden on the game board. Each time you find one put a Mickey marker on it so you remember where it is. When the time runs out, stop looking and count up all the Mickey markers you placed on the board. Everyone’s character moves forward that many spaces!
If all players arrive at Aurora’s castle before Maleficent casts her spell (when her staff reaches 16), you all win!

ENJOY!

How to Play – Guess Who?

This game was a little tougher for Zoey because she is just learning to read, but she wanted to play and when there’s a will there’s a way! She ended up winning our second game together after she got the hang of asking questions and flipping down faces. She made her guess by asking if he was a ship captain with a name that starts with an “E” (for Eric); she was correct!

So let’s play!

IN THE BOX

2 plastic game boards
48 plastic frames
48 face cards
24 mystery cards
Scoring pegs

INSTRUCTIONS

The object of the game is to guess the mystery person on your opponent’s card by asking one question per turn, and eliminating any game board faces that don’t fit the mystery person’s description.
Each player chooses a game board and places it on a flat surface with the mystery card slot facing them.
Both players flip all the frames upright by tipping the game board away from themselves, then settling their game board flat again.
- Notice the differences among the 24 faces on your game board. Hair, facial hair, eye color, hats and glasses. As you play you’ll notice several other differences among your “suspects”.
Shuffle the mystery cards, then each player chooses one card at random and places it into their mystery card slot so that the mystery person faces you (do not let your opponent see your card)! Set the unused mystery cards aside.
The youngest player always goes first.
Ask your opponent one question per turn and each question must have either a “yes” or “no” answer.
- For example, “does your person have white hair?”
After your opponent answers, you may be able to eliminate one or more suspects.
- For example, if their mystery person has white hair, flip down all the faces that have black, brown, red and yellow hair. That leaves only the white haired people as suspects after your question.
After you ask a question (and flip down as many faces as you can), your turn is over.
When you’re ready to guess who the mystery person is, make your guess on your turn, instead of asking a question. Don’t use your turn to guess the mystery person until you’re ready! If you guess wrong, you lose the game!
- To guess the mystery person, say (for example), “The mystery person is Paul.” Your opponent must then tell you whether or not your guess is correct.
If you guess correctly, or your opponent guesses incorrectly, you win the game!

ENJOY!