| Players: | 2 |
| Recommended Age: | 5+ |
| Cost: | $24.99 |
| Play Time: | 2-5 minutes |
| Company Site: | www.blueorangegames.com |
| Skills: | Strategy, Memory, Fine Motor, Analysis |
| Contents: | 1 Wooden Grid 12 Wooden Gobblers Illustrated Rules |
| Replacement Pieces: | $5.00 - for one of the following options: - 1 set of 3 orange pieces (a stack of sm, md, lg) - 1 set of 3 blue pieces (a stack of sm, md, lg) - 1 set of 2 grids (1 each of green and red) |
Blue Orange Games has come out with some wonderful games and Gobblet Gobblers is one of our favorites. Taking the classic game of tic tac toe’s 3 in a row and making it a brand new and amazingly fun game! Get 3 in a row but watch out! You can get gobbled up by another piece!
We discovered this game at the Blue Orange Games booth at Gen Con, where we spent a LOT of time playing. The people working the booth showed us how to play and I wasn’t allowed to leave after that. They had too many fun games to play (not that I minded!) but the kids played Gobblet Gobblers a LOT and demonstrated to others exactly how much fun two kids can have playing a simple wooden game.
T
he Gobblers and the Grid pieces are all made out of wood. The good smooth sturdy kind I have come to love from games from Blue Orange Games. With their little felt hair and painted faces these Gobbler monsters are not only adorable but very well made.
The Geeklings have played tic tac toe before in various forms using X’s and O’s, colored dots and their initials but using little monsters to place instead was so much more fun for them and hilarity ensued when they learned how to “gobble” up other pieces.
My son likes to use the gee what should I do, aha! maneuver while my daughter likes the drag it out by moving my arm WAY slow and high before gobbling your piece approach. Personally I like the fake out. Almost place a piece and at the last second Gobble! Ninja style!
Now on to the how to play part but first a video explanation from Blue Orange Games!
Get the idea? Great! Now let me elaborate and confuse you! Hopefully not that last part but I will elaborate on the how to play and how you can adjust slightly for younger kids.
Objective:
Be the first to get three of your monsters in a row.
Setup:
First set up the Grids. Red on bottom and Green on top in a hashtag symbol. Then each player chooses their color. Orange or Blue and decide who goes first.
Play:
During your turn you can either put a new Gobbler in an empty space or Gobble up a smaller Gobbler! Obviously the first turn is just placing a Gobbler. You also have the option of Moving one of your Gobblers to an empty space or to Gobble up a smaller Gobbler in another space. Yes! You can move the pieces! Keep in mind though that once you touch a Gobbler you HAVE to move it!
You should also try to remember what you gobbled up because if you gobbled another players gobbler and then move your gobbler they could win if you uncover the third piece needed! I admit nothing….but I did this and lost to my 6 year old.
Never be afraid to Gobble your own Gobbler! You might trick the other player into forgetting YOUR Gobbler is under your OTHER Gobbler! I have yet to trick my son…and it feels mean to try to trick my daughter…but I do it anyway sometimes. You are not limited to just Gobbling up the next size down either, you can Gobble up any piece that is smaller than your Gobbler.
The game is very simple to learn and play but the strategy involved is what makes it so much more than tic tac toe. Trying to remember what pieces are under which Gobblers makes for a very fun and educational game. If you are playing a younger child you can adjust the rules slightly by letting them peek under the Gobblers one time and also keeping in mind they will focus on just Gobbling up other Gobblers and not so much the 3 in a row. At least at first.
My kids can both play this game with the rules as they are but we started by not telling them about the moving of Gobblers and focused on the 3 in a row so they understood that was how you won. After they had some quick fun games of just that we added the moving of Gobblers. It is still a quick game and they forget to move them a lot, especially the Diva but they will get there.
Gobblet Gobblers is a fast, fun, strategy game for kids that is quick to set up and fun to put away! The kids will LOVE Gobbling up the pieces to put them in the box almost as much as Gobbling up pieces in the game!
