Need More Summer Fun Ideas? Try These New Blue Orange Games

You know us — we’re always on the lookout for excellent family games since it’s one of our favorite family time activities. We’re impressed with this new batch of fun 2019 games from Blue Orange Games –and happy to share them with you just in time for these last weeks of summer vacation. These four games provide opportunities for quick thinking and visual perception yet are engaging for families with kids six and up.

Thank you Blue Orange Games for sending me review copies!

And it’s so nice that these games are meant for 2 – 6 players because sometimes you only have two who want to play but sometimes you have more!

TopiCubes

Players: 2 – 6
Ages: 7+
BUY on Amazon: $10.99

We like all the games on this list but this is our family’s top choice! We’ve already played it several times in the past few weeks. Probably because it’s quick and easy but fun at the same time. And it works well for families with older kids like mine who are now ages 17 and 14.

Full disclosure, I also like it because I actually won a few times. (Finally.)

And as I said, it’s super easy to learn and play.

First, roll the picture dice.

Before you move on, check out the pictures so you know what each one means — there’s a key on the directions. For example, the tree means tree or plant. The buildings mean a city. Einstein’s face means a famous person.

Next, roll the letter dice and start the game play.

Quickly try to pair picture dice with letter dice, something that starts with the first letter of the dice (except if the colors match — you can’t pair the pink vehicle with pink letter H for Honda.)

For example, you could pair the tree with the G for gum tree.

Say the pairing out loud and grab the two dice quickly.

Play until there are no more possible pairs. For every pair you have, you earn 1 point.

We like to play until someone gets 20 points but for fast games, you can play to 10 points.

Fun, right?

Put this in your purse or backpack for family game play on the go!

Dog Rush Unleash the Mess

Players: 2 – 6
Ages: 6+
BUY: (Coming soon and is already at local toy stores.)

My kids are SO much better at this game than me so I want to say it’s for ages 6 to um, how old was I when I started losing all the games? Maybe 30? So 6 – 30.

Anyway. I digress.

All your dogs and leashes get messed up when you drop them randomly on the table.

Call out one of the colors.

The object is to figure out which ball is at the end of which leash. WITHOUT touching. You can ONLY USE YOUR EYES.

How great is this for tracking in reading? You have to use your eyes to read left to right and not all kids can do this easily. My oldest had to do vision therapy for 9 months to be able to track without “blips” in her left eye which made her lose her place.

Back to the game…

If you pick the right lead, you win a bone token.

The game ends when a player has won a total of 4 bone tokens.

(I know I’ve mentioned this before but I got NONE. Zero. Sigh.)

This is a very quick game which is good for certain times like waiting rooms and travel. Or maybe just a quick game before bed.

Sherlock Express

Players: 2 – 6
Ages 7+
BUY on Amazon: $13.99

Don’t you love games that are a blast but also give your kids practice with deductive reasoning?

Sherlock Express is great for both thinking and visual discrimination because kids use the alibi clue cards to eliminate suspects to eventually find the culprit.

THINKING. So much thinking.

For example, if you turn over an alibi card picture of the library, it means that any of the suspects with a library background are eliminated as the culprit. (Below, tht would be the panda in the top hat.)

The tricky part is that you have to figure out who gets eliminated BEFORE the other players do. Ultimately, you want to figure out the final culprit before the other players to win the round.

The first person to win 5 suspect cards wins the game.

It’s a blast!

Beagle or Bagel?

Players: 2 – 6
Ages 7+

BUY on Amazon: $13.99

The subtitle is “the game of delicious optical illusions” and at first glance, you might be like my 17-year-old and say, easy peasy.

BUT… when you’re going fast and trying to win by counting the highest number of beagles or bagels, it’s harder than you think to discriminate between the dog and the food.

Trust me.

The game includes several ways to play. Essentially, you’ll look at all the cards on the table, quickly assess which category has MORE cards, then call it out– bagel or beagle.

Winner of the rounds wins a bagel or beagle chip.

Although, there are three game variations which some made sense to us more than others did and we kind of did our own game after awhile.

I’ll tell you though–we laughed a lot during this fast-paced, quick-thinking game! (That I lost again.)