I freaking love the Bluey TV show!  It’s a kids show but has so much to offer for adults, too.  And I even reviewed a Bluey video game last year.  The show is set (and animated) in Australia, and stars a family of four cartoon Australian Cattle Dogs, or Blue Heelers for short.  The family consists of Bluey, the titular playful and curious six year old, her younger sister Bingo, and their parents: Bandit and Chilli.  They all learn lessons through play and imagination, and some of the topics are more serious things that only adults would truly understand.  These can range from moving away, infertility, dealing with ADHD, and even death.  The show strikes a balance between making things easy for kids to understand, but deep enough to keep adults interested.  So when I got the opportunity to play a Bluey board game with my 5 year old nephew and 3 year old twin nieces, I was thrilled and decided I would review it.  In the game, up to four takes turns moving around the board, and everyone works together to try and find and pick up all the toys before bedtime.  If you do, everyone wins!

Here’s a bigger picture of the front of the box.  I don’t think the game is new or anything.  I think it was even on sale.

And here’s a picture of the back of the box.

And here’s the game board and pieces during play.

Up to four can play, and you get these neat little figurines of Bluey, Bingo, and their parents.  I of course, played as Bingo, because she’s one of my favorite characters.  Too bad you couldn’t play as Unicourse the puppet (that wouldn’t make sense though), or bratty cousin Muffin, because they are my other favorite characters. In the game, you take turns rolling the die and moving around the board.  When you land on a square, you must do what that square has.  If you land on the clock, you must move the clock piece one notch on the board.  If the clock reaches the end, it’s bedtime and everyone loses the game.

But it’s really hard to lose because most of the squares have you draw cards.  Each card tells you to do something like act like a robot, find a certain color, think of something, or answer a trivia question.  If you do what it says on the card, you get a toy to put in the box.  When all the toys are in the box, everyone wins!  And that’s the game!

Kid Factor:

Reading skill is a must since the cards have text on them.  Plus it helps to be knowledgeable about the Bluey TV show because some of the trivia questions are about it.  And I don’t know if little kids would really know that Bluey’s real life breed of dog is Australian Cattle Dog, or Blue Heeler (that was one of the questions).  I’m not sure if this game would keep my nephew and nieces’ attention for more than a couple of games, but we had fun while playing it.  I don’t think I’ve ever played a co-operative board game before either, so that was interesting.  And the game was on sale, so it all worked out.  If you can get this game on sale and have young Bluey fans around the house, you might like it for a little while, too.

So yeah, I love this show and I wanted to talk about it a little, too.  My favorite characters are Unicourse the puppet, bratty cousin Muffin, and little sister Bingo.  My favorite episodes are “Fairytale” (It was the 80s, man!), “Sleepover” (Coconuts have water in them!), and “Baby Race,” which almost made me cry!  Oh, and if you do decide to watch the season three finale called “The Sign,” which is a 30 minute special episode, make sure you have some tissues handy.  I didn’t think a kids show could get that hardcore!  What an emotional roller coaster that episode was!  And now there’s going to be a Bluey movie coming out in 2027!  Anyway, in the comments section, tell me your favorite Bluey characters and episodes!  –Cary

Tags: Television, Unplugged