Go Away Monster Review
Go Away Monster
No it’s not about fending off suitors at a singles bar. It’s a game for small children that helps develop tactile skills and gives them a sense of mastery over things that go bump in the night.
Up to four little players can play and each one gets their own game board picturing a bedroom out of your nostalgic childhood that never was. It’s a simply furnished room without televisions and computers and dozens of other electronic paraphernalia. A room without artifice, a room with a bookshelf with real books and one of them is probably Treasure Island and.. um where was I? Right. On each game board are the outlines for room furnishing; a lamp, a bed, a family picture, and a teddy bear. A non-talking teddy bear I’m betting.
Matching the outlines of the furniture are thick cardboard game pieces which are placed in a cloth bag along with 8 monster game pieces. The monsters are, of course, not scary ones. Players take turns reaching in and pulling a piece out of the bag. If it’s a furniture piece, they place it in the right spot on their game board room. If it’s a monster piece, they throw it into the game box and exclaim “Go away monster!”
Go Away Monster is largely a cooperative game with no winners or losers so parents don’t need to worry about how they are going to throw the game to prevent little meltdowns. Even if you play the option where you race to see who can complete their room first, it’s fairly easy for an adult to tell what piece is what by feel and act accordingly. The pieces are good quality. Since the most entertaining aspect for the little ones is tossing the monsters, a few missing pieces won’t significantly harm game play. GameWright, the game maker, offers replacement rules on their site (http://www.gamewright.com/gwintro.html), but no replacement parts as far as I could see.
The game advertises itself as being for ages 3 & up, but it’s really for the littlest game players aged 3-7 and of course their parents or other adults. It’s a short game that runs under fifteen minutes and so won’t lose the attention of your preschooler. Relatively speaking of course. Our two and five year olds have a good time with it. It’s a good first game for your little gamers.
