| Recommended Age: | 8+ |
| Players: | 2-4 |
| Cost: | $9.99 |
| Play Time: | 2-5 Minutes |
| Company Site: | www.otb-games.com |
Super Circles is a fast paced quick thinking matching game that is great for adults and kids alike. It is a race to play all the cards in your personal deck by matching a Circle color and number to the last card played but you can’t say the same number twice in a row. This game tests your quick thinking skills and is so much fun!
Super Circles is meant for 2-4 players and has several of my favorite features in a game. It is portable (easily fits in a pocket) in this convenient little card deck sized tin, quick to play so perfect for doctor office waiting rooms, educational and tons of fun! I think that might be all of my favorite features in one game.
The tin is fairly durable but it is a metal tin so I imagine it could be dented if you are not careful. The cards themselves are your typical playing cards material. If you have a child that rips things maybe they shouldn’t be alone with this game but otherwise pretty safe in the hands of kids. Now on to how to play…
The brilliant company behind Super Circles (and other fantastic games) Out of the Box has done a fantastic job explaining how to play in this video! My turn! I’ll go over the standard rules but then I will explain how I played with my 3 year old daughter. Yep even 3 year olds can play (sort of) Super Circles! Well a version of it anyway…
Objective:
Be the first to get rid of all the cards in your deck.
Setup:
There are cards so guess what? Shuffle them! Take the top card in the pile and put it face up in the middle of all the Players. This is the starter card. Now deal all the rest of the cards face down to each Player. These are the Players draw piles.
Play:
The Dealer gets to start the game by saying “GO”. Be ready because once that happens the game does not go slow…unless you are playing with a younger kid and then maybe you slow it down a little bit. Also you might let him play his cards face up so he doesn’t drop them all the time and can see them a little easier.
Every Player draws cards, as many as you want but one at a time and plays them one at a time on the Center Pile. In order to play a card your card has to have 1 circle match to the Center card and you have to call it out loud. So if the center card has a Green 4, a Pink 3, a Blue 2, and a Purple 1 your card would have to have a card that had ONE of those as well. Then call it out, like Green 4 and put the card on the pile before anyone else found a match.
Sounds easy right? Well there are no turns and the first card placed wins in the event of a tie. So you have to be as quick as you can to find matches while the Center card is constantly changing, everyone is playing cards at the same time, oh and you cannot play the same number twice in a row. So if you played that Green 4 you couldn’t then play another 4 right after…in fact no one else could either.
My 5 year old can play fine just although a little slow at first and we let him keep his cards on the table face up so he can see them easier. This helps us see his cards too for those moments when he loses focus or is taking a little bit to find a match. As we play more he gets faster and I think I will start losing even when trying to win soon enough.
My daughter really wants to play too so I figured out how to teach her matches without actually playing but without changing the rules. I created a new game and it can be slowly scaled up until she can play normally. Here is how I did that.
Obejctive:
To run out of cards and find all the matches.
Setup:
Shuffle! Of course. then pass out about 10 cards to your child. Only my daughter plays while I deal cards until she gets used to finding matches. You can also play with just your child but you should still be the card holder the whole time.
Lay about 3 or 4 cards face up in front of your child. Take one card from the deck that you can see clearly has a match from one of the 3. Show your child and explain the numbers and colors making sure she can identify each. Then have them go over the cards so they know what a match is.
Play:
Have your child flip over their first card which is above their playing area of 3 or 4 cards. Once they spot a match they should say which number matches and put the card from the Row of playing area cards next to the card drawn. Then have them put it on top of that same card and find a match from that card. This teaches them the basics of the game.
If they cannot find a match have them get a new card from their deck and use that. They will still have to use that one card eventually but this is sort of how you are supposed to play anyway so that helps them learn. Once a match is found and removed from the playing area take one of the cards from the Main deck and replace it.
Playing this way teaches your child how to identify matches and play the basics of the game. Giving your child more options to choose from helps them scan cards and find matches easier. As they get faster at finding matches you can adjust the game so their deck is in front of them and only one card is flipped and then eventually add another Player. This happens a lot faster than you would think.
My husband and I are always looking for quick and fun games to play when we get those precious 30 min or so to ourselves at night. You know that time when the kids are supposedly asleep but its getting late and you all have to get up early? Yeah…we don’t get to watch a movie or play a long game or one that takes awhile to set up often but we DO have time to play something like Super Circles.
Super Circles is truly a game for all ages. It is portable, teaches kids various skills and is a lot of fun. It is one of our carry around games I keep in my purse. We have a shelf with TONS of games but one shelf has grab and go games for doctor offices, lunch at the Y, restaurants and any other place we go that we might have to kill a little time. We bring this one a lot since all of us can play.
