Hasbro’s Scrabble Slam! has received an electronic upgrade that accelerates the frenetic pace of the original while maintaining the basic structure that earned the game a Major Fun Award in the first place.

First, a quick review of the basics. The Scrabble Slam! consists of 55 double-sided letter cards (different letter on each side). A four-letter word is spelled in the center of the table and the remaining cards are split between all players. Players use their cards to change the four-letter word in the middle. First player to use up his or her cards wins.

Turbo Slam! introduces a timer and special cards. During a round, the electronic timer plays an increasingly rapid jingle. When the tune is interrupted by a Turbo sound, the players race to slam the big red button on the top of the timer. This accomplishes two things: a moment of blessed relief from the timer AND the chance to draw one of the 12 special cards. The special cards generally help the players by allowing them to get rid of cards (hand them to other players) but a few actually hurt the winning slammer.

We found that the Slam! button kept things moving rapidly and helped equalize the game a bit for those who were slower at changing the central word. Generally I am not a big fan of new editions that introduce random events, but in this case it works pretty well. The timer also serves as a carrying case for the cards, and the whole thing is remarkably compact (unfortunately the game comes wrapped in a lot of unnecessary packaging which hurts the sleek, efficient design of the game).

All in all, a fun revision of a fast-paced word game.

For 2-4 players, ages 8+

Scrabble: Turbo Slam! © 2011 by Hasbro.

You, of course, know the board game called Sorry! And, though the card game Sorry! Revenge is not exactly like the board game (how could it be?), you get to be as just as smugly insincere when you say “sorry.”

The game is mostly luck, but if you pay just enough attention and make just timely enough decisions, you can honestly believe that you won because of your ineffable superiority.

There are a total of 109 cards in the deck. Fifty-nine of them are number cards, ranging from 0 to 10. Each player gets five cards. Players take turns, playing a card and picking a replacement from the deck. When a card is played, the player must announce the total value of the cards in the play pile. If, on your turn, you make the value equal 21, you win. If you make it go past 21, you lose.

Another 34 cards are action and Sorry cards. These allow you to do semi-sinister things like: reverse the direction of play, make the total value of the cards in the play pile equal 10 or 15 or even 21 (these are the “slide” cards – a cunningly calculated reference to the Sliders version of the Sorry game), take two more cards from the deck or play two cards simultaneously. The Sorry cards have, naturally, the most dramatic impact on the game – naturally, since most of the fun of Sorry, in any form, comes from the sheer drama of it all. One kind of Sorry card reverses your opponent’s win – so it becomes yours, instead. Another blocks them from playing their Sorry card on you. Yet another takes away a win they’ve already scored.

Each player also has 4 pawn cards. These cards are used to keep score. Flip a pawn card over, and it has reached “home.” The first player who has managed to bring all 4 of their pawn cards home is the winner.

The mechanics of the game are similar to an old card game called 99, and, yes, one can claim educational benefit because it requires the players to add numbers. But the real education is the 15 or so minutes of fun you get each time you play.

It’s not an especially pretty game. But then again, revenge isn’t pretty either. But fun? Oh, yeah! Especially for families with school-age kids.

Haba‘s Animal upon Animal is a stacking game for two players. The pieces are small, made of wood, and designed so that there are many ways they can be stacked, more-or-less securely, one on top of the other.

There are 6 different kinds of animals, two of each, each a different color and shape, plus one larger, wrinkled-back alligator that serves as a base for the stacking game. There is also a comparatively large, wooden die which determines the game play.

Before you start playing, you divide the animals equally, so that both players have exactly the same animals. This is important, because each animal has a different shape, and the shape has a lot to do with how difficult the stacking task becomes.

Each turn begins with the roll of the die. If you roll a 1, you take one of your animals and place it anywhere on the alligator or any other animal that has already been played. If you roll a 2, then you get to place two of your animals. Since the object is to be the first player to no more animals left to stack, it’s clearly more advantageous to roll a 2 than a 1. If you roll the hand symbol you give any one of your unplayed animals to the other player (good for you, not so good for your playmate). Roll a question mark and your playmate gets to decide which of your animals you have to try to stack next.

Depending on the nature of the pyramid, larger animals usually offer more of a challenge. Roll the alligator symbol and you get to put one of your animals next to, but touching the alligator. This gives both players a larger base for their pyramid, and makes the whole game a bit easier.

That’s just about all there’s to it. Just enough luck to keep the game even, just enough challenge to keep the game inviting. Just large enough to be endearing.

There are a couple more rules that make the game a little more forgiving. If, on your turn, one or more of the animals fall off the stack, you take one or two of them back and put the rest of the fallen animals back into the box. So the penalty is not as egregious as the collapse of the pyramid might indicate.

All-in-all, a well, shall we say, “balanced” dexterity game that offers a meaningful challenge, and an even more meaningful invitation to fun with a friend.

One such friend of mine is Douglas Wilson. He loves Animal upon Animal and was especially excited to learn that there are different animals in this set than in the Animal upon Animal Game (with 14 different animals, plus alligator) and of course Animal upon Animal Balancing Bridge (with another 14 different animals).

All the versions of the Animal upon Animal games are designed by Klaus Miltenberger, with art by Michael Bayer. This set is for two players – kids 4 and up (which could mean you) – and is available in the US from Haba and others.

Tell Tale Fairy Tales is a recent addition to the Major Fun award-winning Tell Tale line  of story-telling cards from BlueOrange Games. The Fairy Tale edition adds a wealth of images and themes from classic children’s stories.

There are 60 round cards in a brightly colored, round tin. Each card is illustrated on both sides. The illustrations are vividly colored, and as easy to interpret as an image from a classic children’s cartoon. A prince proposing to his princess, a sleeping dragon, a room with three beds in a row. Hmm. Three beds in a row. Remind you of something? Like, say, bears?

And so it goes, and you play, almost like classic poets, building stories replete with references, some arcane, some familiar, and some invented on the spot. Each card reminds you of yet some other story that can be woven into the fabric of your literary creations.

Like the original Tell Tale game, there are recommendations for several different ways of playing – starting points, really, for once you start making up stories, you are tempted to make up rules as well.

Play by yourself. Play with others. Creative. Cooperative. Ageless fun.

Family reunions on my father’s side would not be complete without shuffle board. That my great-uncle and aunt HAD twin shuffle boards on their property did not strike me as odd (I was never older than 12 at these reunions). I loved the long poles and the smooth rasp of the pucks as they traversed the polished cement. I loved the tournaments and the good-natured ribbing.

I first learned of curling when it was officially recognized as a winter Olympic sport in 1998. I had 2 conflicting thoughts. First: “Fantastic! Shuffleboard on ice!!” Second: “Olympic ice shuffleboard? Ridiculous!” I’m not sure why I had such a strong negative reaction to the idea of shuffleboard as an Olympic event, but there it is. Maybe I recognized how damaging the effects of intense competition could be on something that had been more purely FUN in the context of the family social event. I’d had similar experiences with badminton, volleyball, and Frisbee.

Thank the primordial fun-gods for Caveman Curling, the table-top game from Gryphon Games.

The game comes with a roll of illustrated parchment-type paper (in curling called “the sheet”), 2 sets of 6 rocks (red and white wooden pucks), 2 sets of totems/hammers (special events). The sheet has a bulls-eye on one end as you’d find in curling and a start line at the opposite end. Players (individually or in teams) take turns flicking the rocks toward the target. Closest rocks score points.

In modern curling, teams use brooms to adjust the trajectory of the rocks. That mechanic is lost in Caveman Curling (broom technology needed another few thousand years to develop I imagine) BUT each team has a collection of hammers and totems that they can use to protect or move their rocks. Hammers are rectangles of wood that allow the player to move the rock the length of the hammer. Did you get close to the target but not close enough? Whip out a hammer and move the rock closer. The totem protects a rock. It sits on top of your rock. If that rock is hit and the totem falls off, you may remove the rock and flick it again—do over!

There are variations on the rules but Caveman Curling is really a very intuitive game of accuracy with a few tricks to keep things interesting. The pieces are colorful and solid. The rules are short and sweet. The illustrations are amusing (check out how a caveman writes the credits on the curling sheet). It all works to create something Major Fun!

Have to spend a bit of time indoors? Caveman Curling is a great way to pass that time as you wait for the rain or snow or (as it is right now) the blistering-sun (current temperature in Indianapolis: 105^o) to move on.

For 2+ players, ages 7+

Caveman Curling game by Daniel Quodbach. © 2010 Le Scorpion Masque Inc. and published by Gryphon Games.

Word of warning: Zip Zap is not for those with sensitive fingers or a weak heart. Also not for those with weak fingers or a sensitive heart. When you get right down to it, fingers are essential but having a heart is probably more of an impediment than an advantage. The slapping of your hands will drive blood through the rest of your body.

Gamewright’s Zip Zap is a game of speed. Your mission is to get rid of your cards before your opponents get rid of theirs. Your cards come in five suits (red, green, blue, yellow, and wild) numbered 1 – 10 plus a Zap! Card.

To start, cards are dealt to the players and one is turned up in the middle of the table. Players then play their cards sequentially on top of the middle card as fast as they are able. For example, if a red 4 is face up in the middle of the table, players may play a red 5 or a wild 5. If a wild card is played then the next number can be any color. Keep in mind that everyone is playing as fast as they can. There are no turns. Collisions are imminent.

But the frenzy must pause in certain situations. When a player puts down a 10, the melee pauses and that player gets to put down a card of his or her choice. Once the second card is played, everyone can join in again. The Zap! Card works the same way. Everyone has one Zap! Card that acts as a super wild. You may play it immediately after you play another card on the deck—thus you may not play the Zap! Card unless you have just played another card. When the Zap! is played that player gets to put down one more card and then the game resumes.

When a player discards their last card, the round is over and points tallied. Unplayed cards count against you. Each regular card counts as one point, each wild card counts as 3 points, and the Zap! card counts as 5 points. Play a number of rounds equal to the number of players. Lowest score wins.

Rounds go quickly but have just enough pauses to allow even the slowest players a good chance to get some cards out of their hands. The Zap! card is a great way for players of any speed to take some control of the game; however, those with quick eyes and nimble fingers will often prevail. Rules are short and simple. The cards are bright and clear.

Zip! Zap! Major! Fun!

For 2 – 6 players, ages 6+

Zip Zap game by Brian Weinstock. © 2012 Gamewright

The Dog’s Meow? What could that possibly mean? Dogs don’t meow. They woof. Saying that they meow is like saying the very opposite of what they do.

And therein lies the game.

Well, close to therein.

It’s about saying the opposite, and doing the opposite, and it comes with two versions, and the second is even oppositer.

As you see from the accompanying illustration, there are cards (42 of them, and lovely, thick, durable cards they are). Surrounding the center card, which compassionately clarifies left from right and above from below, are four cards, to the left, right, above and below the center card, as logic would dictate. The other card, the red one with the down arrow on it that says “left” on the top and “sound” on the bottom bears the instructions of which you are to do the opposite. Should you respond correctly to that card, you would say “cat,” because, you see, the cat card is to the right and its name (not its sound) is, well, like you said. Should you, on the other hand, be responding to the blue arrow card…wait for it, I’ll give you a minute…you would say, of course, “boom boom,” onomatopoetically describing the sound (not the name) of the object below (not above).

Get it?

Well, if you’re a parent of a 6-or-above-year-old, you probably don’t. But your kid will, so don’t worry. Fun and laughter are on their way.

And as for the oppositer version, you play with all the cards, which includes a blue center card and a red center card. And around each center you arrange your selection of 4 object cards. And you have both blue and red arrow cards. And if you draw a blue arrow card, you have to look at the cards surrounding the red center card, whilst, as you predicted, a red arrow card would steer you conceptually bluewards.

The Dog’s Meow turns out to be delightfully befuddling. And whether you win or lose, you will, in all likelihood, laugh yourself silly as you try to make your brain think opposite enough, fast enough.

Designed by Reinhard Staupe, made available by Playroom Entertainment as one of their award-winning Bright Ideas series, The Dog’s Meow will prove Major Fun for 2-6 family members, ages 6 and older.

You can play Super Shooter Basketball any way you want. You can play by yourself. You can play with a friend. You can play with a couple of friends. You can play for score. You can make it easy on yourself and put your shooter close to the basket. And, because, when smartly struck, that little super shooter can shoot one of those little balls, what, 15 feet, you can make it a shot worthy of both peer and parental praise. You can shoot from the side. You can shoot from the other side. You can print out a Super Shooter Basketball court and see how many different places you can shoot from.

So, OK, so the balls are a choking hazard if you’re, like, 3. And so kids like it, and some kids really like it, and some of them can probably get really good at it. But that doesn’t mean you can’t play it, too. Maybe after they’re in bed. (My wife, who was captain of her high school basketball team o so many years ago, played with it for a half-hour before I took it away from her.)

There’s some assembly required, but everything snaps together, and the picture on the box is all you need to guide you through the few steps needed. And after you’re finished playing with it you can fold the backboard down, if you want, and store it away, if somebody tells you you have to.

There’s a lot of fun here. Some of it major. You can spend a lot of time practicing, developing skill and maybe even a trick shot or two. It’s made well enough to take all that play. And if you loose one of those well made, durable, but light little balls, well, there’s still two more.

Super Shooter Basketball is one of a series of Big Little Games from Patch Products.

Major Fun ribbon for using pirates to rescue an old soggy game.

I’ve mentioned before how Go Fish is one of those games that kids of a certain age find irresistible and adults often equate with that sound an amplifier makes when you walk up to it with the microphone. But small changes make big differences and ARGH! Uses the Go Fish mechanic to create an engaging press-your-luck game. Players collect treasure cards that are spread face down on the table. On your turn you draw until you decide to stop OR you find one of the 8 pirates (in which case you lose all your cards). If you stop before a pirate you can score sets of three or more.

Special cards keep things interesting. Treasure chests are worth 3 points all by themselves. LOOT cards allow you to steal treasure cards from your opponents. And that’s it. When the 8 pirates are all discovered then all cards not face up in front of a player are shuffled and spread out on the table. Play goes until someone reaches 40 points. Games are quick and get very tense as the number of revealed pirates approaches 8. Players take more risks when there are fewer pirates in the game.

Pirates (like zombies and ninjas) prove once again to be the chocolate of gaming tropes. They usually make most everything a little bit better. In this case, Go Fish becomes MARRRR-velous ARGH!

ARGH! Is for 2 – 6 players, ages 6+

© 2011 by Fat Brain Toy Company

Game design by Nicholas Cravotta and Rebecca Bleau.

Major Fun ribbon for most excellent slapping game.

Rapid Reflex is a card game that encourages the players to slap the table as hard as they can. The game consists of 8 colors of Reflex Cards (4 cards of each color) and 80 action cards. The action cards tell the players what color card to slap and with what hand. BUT, to borrow from Emily Dickinson, they tell the color slant. Instead of saying “Right hand BLUE,” the action card will say “Right hand JEANS.” Instead of saying “Left hand RED,” the card will say “Left hand STRAWBERRY.” Players race to slap the color with the correct hand. Once a player has a color they may not slap that color again. If they do, the player is penalized.

The game is played until one player has all 8 colors. An interesting twist is that slapping a card with the wrong hand does not result in a penalty. If the first player slaps a card with the wrong hand, no one gets the card. In this way you can prevent other players from getting the cards they need, but thinking that fast is quite a challenge.

Major Fun but watch your fingers!!

Rapid Reflex is for 3 – 4 players, ages 6+

Game design by Peggy Brown. © 2011 by Fat Brain Toy Company