MindWare Qwirkle Cubes
Family Fun
So I was out Christmas shopping this year and actually couldn't decide what to get my niece and nephew. We'll ignore the fact that I found myself leaving with a remote controlled airplane for myself. My niece is incredibly intelligent, though most people say that about the kids they care about. The difference is, I think her mom is trying to groom her for MENSA when she grows up. We were playing a game called Mexican railroad which consists of creating chains of dominos, so it develops a bit of logic and strategy. She was really into it, so I thought I'd find her something similar. I came across Qwirkle which is a comparable concept. It's pretty cool, I think of it as being akin to the card game UNO for those who are familiar. You build a chain by matching either the color or shape rather than color or number as in UNO. I was all set to buy it when I came across Quirkle Cubes on Amazon for about half the price. This game is a bit of a sequel, taking the 2-D Quirkle game into a bit of a 3-D level with cubes instead of flat blocks. Now she constantly asks me to play with her, which of course, I'm more than happy to do. The best part is that the rules are so simple that when I'm not around, her 5-year-old brother can play with her and keep her busy.