Chicken Cha Cha Cha

Chicken Cha Cha Cha

Ducklin’ Dancin’ (Expansion set)

• Designed by Klaus Zoch
• Published by Rio Grande Games (and others)
• 2-4 players aged 3-8 (up to 6 if you get Ducklin’ Dancin’)
• 20 minutes per game (about)

Meeples – If this is one of your first games outside of the standard fare, you will simply be amazed by the quality of the pieces. The actual chickens are made with wood, not plastic. They are painted beautifully, polished well and fit little hands. The feathers are actually wood pegs with a matching colored end. The tiles that make up the game are made from thick cardstock, about 1/4 inch thick. These won’t bend or break under heavy useage. The artwork on them is superb and perfectly appropriate for its target audience. The color on each tile is done very well and have not faded after two years of heavy play. The tiles are nicer than most young children’s board books.

Theme – You are a chicken. You are running around like chickens tend to do. You are also trying to hop over the other chickens and take one of their tail feathers. Do real chickens do this? Beats me, but it works for the game, so why not? The artwork on the tiles match the theme nicely and are pictures of chickens doing chicken things and other related critters. It is not a barnyard though, just a chicken coop.

Rules – The idea is to run around the coop trying to get the other player’s feathers. Each of the chicken pieces has a few holes on their backside in which the feather is stuck. You lay out a track and inside the track you place the hex pieces face down. On your turn, you flip over a hex, trying to match the tile in front of you. If you match it, you get to move on it and go again. Keep going until you miss one match. When another chicken is in front of you, you have to match the tile just after them, hopping over their chicken. If you are successful, take all of their feathers and keep moving. First one to get all of the other players feathers, wins the race.

Game Play – The standard play can move pretty quickly. You can pick a random player to go first or have the oldest one start. Cheering your opponents on and trying not to give away the location of matching tiles can make this fun. It plays quickly and simply and after a few plays, the children could probably play it on their own. The feathers are a choking hazard though, so don’t leave them alone with younger siblings if they are still sticking everything in their mouths.

Educational Value – This is one of the rare games where going first is not great. You will have no idea what is on the board and it helps kids realize that sometimes, going last can be the best. This is a memory game at heart and activates all of the good memory skills young children should be learning. Turn taking, social play and being a graceful winner or loser are all here.

Adaptability – One of the easiest house rules is to allow the younger children to have a second pick, leaving the first tile up. You can also allow them a second pick and have them rehide their first pick. This helps with frustration levels and the older ones do not seem to mind to spot them a little extra. You can also handicap older players by only allowing them one successfull move per turn.

Adult fun factor – Adults will have the most fun by watching and playing with the kids. Unless your memory stinks (like mine) and you have to actually play it to keep up with your seven year old. She routinely beats me at this. I like to blame others for distracting me. Anyways, this is fun if played with children, not without.

Ducklin’ Dancin’ – This is an expansion set for the game, you must have the full game to use this set. This comes with two wooden ducks, matching tail feathers and a matching pile of poop for both the ducks and the four original chickens. The poop brings about a small change in the game that you can use or ignore. At the start, you place the poop behind your meeple. When another player approaches it, they have to jump over it by finding the hex tile that matches the egg tile after the pooped on tile. If you guess incorrectly, you land in the poop and get so scared, your feathers fly off, The owner of the poop gets the feathers and their poop token back. They can then “poop” anywhere else on the board to try to get someone else to step in it. It is pretty silly and the kids love the idea of it, although adults might tire of hearing about stepping in poop after a while. It is worth getting if you have more than four who want to play.