Buggaloop
Overall Rating: 6/10
Age: 6+
GLAM Age Range: 4-8
Number of Players: 2-4
Playing Time: 10 min
Publisher: Ravensburger
Complexity: Low
Available At: Amazon.com
Quick Take: My kids lost their minds over this game the first time we played it. Squeals of excitement and joy, it was a blast to play. However, upon repeat play the excitement level goes down dramatically and more of the flaws of the game reveal themselves. The hexbug can be trapped on the board for a really really long time and my kids end up giving it a reasonable number of helpful taps to move it back into its tunnel and move the game along. Speaking of which, this game really takes a toll on the hexbug battery life and we had to get new batteries for ours not long after we started playing this game. The skill level of this game is virtually nil, which could be a pro or con depending on your viewpoint. You just roll and move your pieces along and hope for the best. My kids are terrified of the bug getting their pieces and this game requires much more supervision than I would like for how simple it is. So this game can be fun and has some value but I would choose Bugs in the Kitchen every time over this one.
How to Play: You are trying to move your little bug tokens from the mouse side of the board over to the ivy leaves side of the board. Roll the die and take turns moving your bugs. All game play halts when the hexbug enters the board and you watch and see if the hexbug is going to move any of your bug tokens off their spots before it exits back off the board through one of the two tunnels. If your bug token is still touching a space on the path, they are safe and you can continue to roll and move them towards the other side of the board. If they have no longer touch a space on the path they have to go back to the start spot. Each person has a total of three bugs to move across the board, first person to move all three across is the winner.
Variations: You often need to help the hexbug back to the tunnel, or out of a corner if it gets stuck. You could work as a team and try to beat a certain time if you want to make this a cooperative game.
Similar Games To Check Out: Bugs in the Kitchen, Yeti in my Spaghetti, Pancake Pile-Up, Feed the Woozle