Cauldron Quest
Overall Rating: 9/10
Age: 6+
GLAM Age Range: 5-8
Number of Players: 2-4
Playing Time: 20 min
Publisher: Peaceable Kingdom
Complexity: Medium
Available At: Amazon.com
Quick Take: A cooperative game geared for kids who want adventure and strategy in their games. There are wizards, potions, and secret elements that you must reveal through some lucky dice rolls in order to win the game. It's basically a 6 year old's dream come true and my own 6 year old who has many games to choose from constantly begs to play this one. The game feels busy, there are many elements taking place simultaneously and it feels like you're doing a lot as you play the game but it's simple enough that my 6 year old has all the rules memorized and can do a reasonable job explaining them to people new to the game.
How to Play: You're trying to get the correct potion bottles to the center of the board. You must move them towards the center and reveal which ones are the correct ingredients for the magic potion before they are cast into the "magic cauldron." Meanwhile, avoid a wizard hat moving around the board and watch out for path blockers on your path. Everything is determined by dice rolls. You have one set that you roll for every turn but if you are lucky and roll the correct dice combination you get the chance to roll some additional dice which allow you to reveal the contents of the potion bottles, trade potion bottle locations, or get rid of a path blocker. You lose if the wizard blocks all your paths before you get all of the correct potion bottles to the center of the board. You win if you get the correct potion bottles to the center in time in order to make a magic potion which defeats the wizard!
Variations: This can easily be a single player game. It's probably more fun with more people but it functions exactly the same with just one player. Also, it's easy to have younger children involved in game play as long as they're willing to let older children help with strategy and as long as they are good about not flipping over the potion pieces before they're supposed to (my 3 year old struggles with this).
Similar Games To Check Out: Dragonwood, Labyrinth, Outfoxed, Dinosaur Escape