{"id":16021,"date":"2017-01-12T00:04:47","date_gmt":"2017-01-12T00:04:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/?p=16021"},"modified":"2017-01-12T02:28:25","modified_gmt":"2017-01-12T02:28:25","slug":"unplugged-haba-games-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2017\/01\/12\/unplugged-haba-games-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Unplugged: HABA Games 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"cliffAs a parent looking for games to play with my kids, I am always impressed at the quality and durability of titles from HABA. \u00a0With quality cardboard and wooden parts, they sometimes aren\u2019t cheap (although these titles are relatively inexpensive) but components are first rate. \u00a0While my oldest child is now able to play more strategic games with dad, he still enjoys playing these when we get together for a family gaming moment with the entire family. \u00a0Here\u2019s a few HABA games I\u2019ve played in the past few months, starting with my favorites.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"kaskaria<\/p>\n

Heroes of Kaskaria<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a05+ yrs, 2-5 p, $30<\/b><\/p>\n

\"kaskariaIf you read my holiday guide a few weeks back, you\u2019ll already know about Heroes of Kaskaria. \u00a0Every once in awhile, I come across a great kid\u2019s game that I could conceivably plunk down in front of a bunch of grown-up gamers and we can all enjoy a quick game \u201cfiller\u201d at the start or end of a night of gaming. \u00a0The Heroes of Kaskaria has simple rules so that any age player could win, but it also provides players with interesting choices such that a strategic player will have a better chance of success. \u00a0The idea is for players to participate in two simultaneous races. \u00a0The faster moving Cliff Runners approach the peak from one side and the Scaled Griffons from the other. \u00a0Players either pick up two cards or play a set of cards of matching color (but not both draw and play.) \u00a0Cards either grant points (in the form of gems), two additional cards, or move one\u2019s animals (runner or griffon) closer to the peak. \u00a0There are more runner cards than griffon cards, but the griffon route to the top is shorter. \u00a0When one animal (runner OR griffon) reaches the peak, the game ends and bonus points are awarded for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place of both runner and griffon. \u00a0The player with the most points (from animals and previous cards) is declared the winner. \u00a0The board and pieces are great and draw the young folks into the game. \u00a0The interesting decisions come when players decide whether to play their cards now (and move forward on the race) or draw more cards and hope to play more matching cards at once. \u00a0(For grown-ups, I highly recommend using the optional rules that reward players for playing multiple cards of the same color and type.) \u00a0Some kid boardgames float into and out of my collection, but I expect The Heroes of Kaskaria to stay around on a permanent basis. <\/span><\/p>\n

Rating: I love it.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"logic<\/p>\n

Logic Labyrinth<\/a> \u00a0 5+ yrs, 2-5 p, $7.50<\/b><\/p>\n

\"logicLogic Labyrinth is a small-box game centered around a race to place one\u2019s tiles in a formation so that all their paths connect. \u00a0Each round, a die is rolled and players draw that many path cards and then race to place them down in a formation so that all paths on adjoining tiles line up correctly. \u00a0Matching any tile pair is not assured, as every tile has three exits that can appear in any of five possible positions on a side. \u00a0The first players to correctly complete their design grab one of the available treasure tiles in the middle, with the last player to finish losing out entirely. \u00a0Paths are then double-checked and anyone with an incorrect arrangement loses their treasure and it is claimed by the last player (even if they didn\u2019t finish.) \u00a0Occasionally, the die will display a genie instead of a number. \u00a0When that occurs, players race to put their tiles down with adjoining paths and in a specific card pattern (such as a \u201cT\u201d shape, a \u201cU\u201d shape, a line, or perhaps some sort of zigzag.) \u00a0The game continues for four rounds and then players total up the value of their treasures to determine a winner. \u00a0Logic Labyrinth is a great little portable game. \u00a0The box is small enough but I can even slip the dice and cards into a little ziplock and carry it in my pocket if I wish. \u00a0As a \u201cspeed\u201d game, it will consistently favor the fastest player. \u00a0A player who is slightly faster on average will consistently win rounds, ending up with a lopsided victory. \u00a0Played with kids, I enjoy the puzzle aspects and I can enjoy myself even if I choose not to \u201crace\u201d too hard. \u00a0Of course, playing against my wife, all bets are off but I still end up losing. \u00a0The speed aspect makes it less attractive for games between kids of more than a couple year\u2019s difference but the short game time means losing a game is only a 10 minute experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rating: I like it.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"princess
\nPrincess Mina – Jewel Matching Game<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a04+ yrs, 2-4 p, $12<\/b><\/p>\n

\"princessThis is a cute little inexpensive title in a little pink box. \u00a0As the title says, this is a jewel matching game. \u00a0Players start the game with a cardboard amulet, hanging from an actual string. \u00a0Player take turns flipping up cardboard jewels in the center of the board. \u00a0If a match is made (both color and shape), the player gets to add the found jewels to each side of their necklace. \u00a0There are 36 total jewels in four different shapes, which helps when trying to find a match. \u00a0There is a black jewel for each of the four shapes so there are a total of 18 unique matches. \u00a0While not lending themselves to any strategy, matching games still require a bit of thought so even if a parent isn\u2019t setting out to win, there\u2019s something here to keep their attention. \u00a0Matching games are a dime a dozen, but the theme (and the idea of having different shapes) makes Princess Mina more interesting than many others. \u00a0Being able to \u201cwear\u201d one\u2019s necklace after the game ends is just icing on the cake!<\/span><\/p>\n

Rating: I like it.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"catapult<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Splish Splash Catapult<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a05+ yrs, 2-5 p, $7.50<\/b><\/p>\n

\"catapultSplish Splash Catapult is a cute dexterity game in a small package. \u00a0Player are attempting to flip (using a supplied wooden seesaw) cardboard balloon tokens onto eight round cardboard targets in the middle of the game area. (The difficulty of the game is decreased if the targets are very close together.) \u00a0On one\u2019s turn, a player selects a balloon token (either in the starting pile or one that had missed in earlier rounds) and launches it with the seesaw. \u00a0If it lands on one of the targets, the player claims it as a prize. \u00a0They also claim any balloons in the play area that match the color of their launched balloon token. \u00a0Play continues until all the balloons in the starting pile have been launched. \u00a0There is a modicum of strategy (try to pick balloons that will match the color of ones already lying around) but the game is mostly technique. \u00a0Unfortunately, I (and my teenaged opponents) found the \u201ccatapult\u201d to be very hard to use effectively. \u00a0Basically, anyone who got their tokens to land anywhere near the targets won the game. \u00a0Admittedly, our tokens were not extremely close together (which I now highly recommend) but even with a denser board the catapult is not straightforward to use. \u00a0\u00a0As a family game with somewhat \u201crandom\u201d results, it plays just fine. \u00a0Gamers who want a more cutthroat game that heavily rewards technique may want to look elsewhere.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rating: Not for me.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a parent looking for games to play with my kids, I am always impressed at the quality and durability of titles from HABA. \u00a0With quality cardboard and wooden parts, they sometimes aren\u2019t cheap (although these titles are relatively inexpensive) but components are first rate. \u00a0While my oldest child is now able to play more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-game-reviews","category-unplugged-miscellaneous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16021"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16038,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16021\/revisions\/16038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}