- Designed by Klaus Miltenberger
- Published by Haba
- 2-4 players aged 3-8
- About 15 minutes per game
Meeples – You get 29 wooden animals, that are painted very nicely and have faces on one side. The paint job seems very nicely done and probably won’t rub off on anything. These are choking hazards though! If your little one is still sticking everything in their mouths, please be careful! The animals are designed primarily to be stacked on top of one another, but they do resemble their real world counterparts well. You also get a six sided, wooden die, which is also done nicely.
Theme – There really is no story here, just a bunch of animals who seem to like to make pyramids by climbing on top of each other.
Rules – Start off with the crocodile on the table, split up the animals by taking a number of different types of each animal depending on the number of players you have. Roll the die and then take one or two animals and stack them on top. You also might get to give an animal to another player, place a new one next to the crocodile to build a better base. The other players may also get to tell you which animal to place. If animals fall, they go back into your stack.
Game play – This one moves pretty quickly and with two small kids, can come in under 15 minutes after a few plays. Try to keep them from rolling the die into the pyramid, although they seem to find that pretty funny. The pieces fit pretty well on top of each other, feel free to turn them upside down or in any direction you can get them to stay on there. They stack up pretty well and it takes a bit to knock them loose.
Educational Value – This game helps with spatial relationships and three dimensional problem solving. Turn taking and other basic game skills are all reinforced here. With younger ones, you can work on colors, animal names and following directions.
Adaptability – This is pretty easily adapted to the youngest of gamers and even comes with ideas for the more experienced player. You can end the game once someone knocks it down instead of adding pieces to a player’s pile. You can also ignore the die and have players take turns stacking one animal on top of the other, although starting with the crocodile will give you the best results. If an older sibling is playing with a younger one, you can mix the rules up pretty easily to handicap the older child.
Adult Fun Factor – Like all dexterity games, this one works if you are into them. Adults will enjoy trying odd ways to stack the animals and playing with their children. While this game is lower on the adult fun scale, it is still way above mass market games!
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