Battle of the board games
High-tech versions of traditional games are predicted to be some of this year’s most popular gifts. But are they really better than the originals? Judy Yorke and her family find out…
The new…
MONOPOLY
Monopoly Voice Banking Game, £22.49, Amazon.co.uk
FEWER people use cash these days and nor does this souped-up Monopoly. As I sat down to play with husband Adrian and our sons Kit, 14, and Rory, 13, we clocked the first big difference – an electronic top hat-shaped unit in the middle of the board.
When you buy a property, take a Chance card or pay rent, for example, you press the button that corresponds to your playing piece and explain what you want to do. You can also ask it questions, such as how much money you have in the bank or who’s winning.
There are quite a few changes to the traditional game, with fewer properties and innovations like “take a train ride”, where you are sent to a random property.
The voice unit makes the odd joke and keeps track of things effortlessly.
VERDICT: Kit and Rory, who are Monopoly buffs, thought it a great update.
The new…
CONNECT 4
Connect 4 Shots, £17.49, Smyths Toys
THE old version of Connect 4 works your brain but is a bit, well, stationary. If you’ve never played it, it’s for two players and you take turns putting discs into a grid, aiming to get four in a row without your opponent blocking you.
This new version is altogether noisier and more active. Both players have 12 ping-pong-sized balls and the aim is to bounce them off the table and into the top of the grid to make a line of four.
It’s fast and furious and if you keep missing, like we did, you’ll end up with balls bouncing all over the room.
It all makes for excellent exercise after Christmas dinner.
We enjoyed this and the kids kept asking for “just one more round”, which is always the sign of a good game.
VERDICT: Kids loved the chance element of the new game but we preferred the mental skill of the old.
The new…
PICTIONARY
Pictionary Air, £15.99, Amazon.co.uk
THIS brings the popular drawing game very much into the 21st century. You download a free app on your smartphone or tablet, or a compatible TV.
The “artist” takes a card and draws the words – but they do this in the air using a special pen, not on paper.
Using the app, teammates can see the picture on their phones. However the artist can’t, which makes it very tricky. I thought my picture of a chin – a face with an arrow pointing to it – was obvious, but my husband couldn’t guess it.
You can look at a video of your drawing afterwards to see the mess you’ve made.
You can also interact with the picture – my younger son had us in hysterics by drawing a strange shaped object and then squatting over it. His brother correctly guessed “poo”.
VERDICT: The kids liked it but it made my bad pictures even worse which was frustrating.
The new…
RUBIK’S CUBE
Rubik’s Cage, £17, Argos
THE sound of the 70s was the clickety-click of dozens of teenage hands twisting cubes under school desks.
Rubik’s Cage is a new version that you can play with up to four people.
It consists of a three-layer “cage” and different coloured “cubies”, which you drop into the top.
The aim is to make a horizontal, vertical or diagonal line of three.
You can ruin your opponent’s tactics by twisting a layer to move their cubies, or turning the whole thing upside down.
At first it feels a bit like noughts and crosses but you quickly realise it’s much cleverer.
If you have a mathematical mind, you’ll love working out each move and how to undo any damage your opponent has done.
We liked the fact this was easy to set up and takes up hardly any space too.
VERDICT: We all enjoyed it but still love the original too.
The new… BATTLESHIPS
Electronic Talking Naval Battle Game, £19.99, Smyths Toys THE joy of Battleships is its simplicity. You and your opponent both place battleships of different sizes on a grid, then try to guess where the other player has put theirs. If you guess the correct square, you score a “hit”. When you’ve hit all the squares the ship is in, you sink it. Sink all the ships and you’ve won the game.
This version doesn’t mess much with the basic rules. After placing your ships, you plug co-ordinates into the game’s memory, which is easy if a little timeconsuming. Once play begins, you press buttons to show where you want to aim. The game then makes a firing sound before announcing “miss” or an explosion for “hit”.
The sound effects were a bit cheesy but we liked the tension of waiting to hear if it was a hit or not. It also meant you couldn’t cheat.
VERDICT: We found this fun and absorbing.
The new… CLUEDO
Harry Potter Cluedo, Amazon.co.uk, £24.98 WE thought it might just be Cluedo with the names changed but we were impressed by how many elements of the books had been incorporated into it.
The instructions are lengthy (“it takes longer to read this than The Prisoner of Azkaban,” grumbled my husband) but you soon get the hang of it.
The board has “rooms” as usual, themed, like Gringotts Bank. But there are many differences – for instance, the rooms in each corner have cardboard wheels under them which open and close doors, or light and extinguish fires.
You throw two dice – one numerical and the other telling you to move the wheel, or take a Dark card (a kind of Chance). You can also move through the rooms using the £100 network.
VERDICT: My Potter-loving teenager thought this was wonderful and the rest of us enjoyed the cleverness of it.