Princess Sleeping Beauty

• Designed by Anja Dreier-Bruckner
• Published by Haba
• 2-4 players
• Good for the four year old set
• about 10 to 15 minutes

Meeples – The base of the game is a small folding cardboard mat upon which sits a metal tin.  The tin is painted nicely to look like a castle tower and has different colored areas going around it.  The top even has a nice serrated rim to make it look more castle-like.  The princes are small, painted wooden pieces with a small magnet glued into the middle of them.  There are also small wooden discs painted like roses.  The artwork is very nicely done.  The pieces are small though and children who put things into their mouths should not play with this game, especially the pieces with magnets.  The game is very pretty to play.

Theme – You are a prince who has to wake the sleeping princess by bringing her three roses.  The theme is nicely done and combines ideas from Sleeping Beauty and Rapunzel, just don’t tell Disney.

Rules – This is a roll and move game, although more cleverly disguised.  You roll the die and can either pick up a rose or move to the color rolled that is adjacent to you.  You have to climb the tower to get to the princess.  You can also move other princes away from the top.  First one to the top with three roses and then rolls a crown on the die wins.

Game Play – This moves along fairly well.  There are not a lot of decisions to be made, which helps the speed of the game, but takes away from some of the fun for me.  You do get to decide whether or not to move another prince further away, which could lead to hurt feelings among the little ones if you are not careful.  When you are moving, you can either get a rose by rolling it, or move to a colored spot that has a rose on it.

Educational Value – Children can reinforce color matching skills, turn taking skills, some decision making also occurs in this game.  Some fine motor skills are also needed to move the little meeples on the board and up the tower.  Then you also have to discuss kissing…..

Adaptability – There are a few things you can do for mixed ages playing at once.  Allow the younger player an extra roll or disallow moving other princes.  Due to the small meeples, do not allow children who are still a little hand to mouth to play this game.

Adult Fun Factor – Minimal.  This is mostly a roll and move game that children will enjoy and adults will have more fun because of the children laughing than playing the game.  It is still more enjoyable than most mass produced games by far.

The game in action.