Wake Daddy and Jump Out of Your Skin!
Written: Dec 28 '05
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Pros: Adorable theme, fun for up to 4 players, no tiny pieces to misplace.
Cons: Noisy and frightening to an extent.
The Bottom Line: This is a cute, enjoyable game for preschoolers and those they love to play with. It's well constructed. I advise parental supervision til child is used to "Waking Daddy."
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| RCarte2000's Full Review: Hasbro Parker Brothers Don't Wake Daddy Board Game |
Don't Wake Daddy!
Last year, my daughter (then 3 years old) saw a commercial on television for this game called “Don’t Wake Daddy.” This has been a running joke in the family already because her own daddy is a bear and often says or does things during that certain waking/sleep stage that he never remembers or means to do. I’ve always preached to my daughter, “Don’t wake Daddy unless Mommy is there, too.” Needless to say, when she approached me with the claim of a game by that name, I was in hysterics with laughter. I knew this was something we had to get.
We searched high and low, store after store, website after website and did not find the game. This year, her grandma found the game and she got it for Christmas. She was probably the most excited to see this game than any other gift, regardless of how much more money those other gifts cost! Isn’t that how it usually is?
The Basics
“Don’t Wake Daddy” is a preschoolers board game. The object is to tiptoe quietly from your bed, all the way around Daddy, and make it to the refrigerator for a night time snack without waking up Daddy! What a task it is! Daddy must be a very light sleeper!
There are 4 children that can be moved about the board. Two are girls and two are boys. They are colored in red, green, yellow, and blue just as the spaces on the board are. This is very simple for preschoolers since they are the primary and basic colors. There is also a spinner which directs you as to which space to move to next.
Preparation
Daddy and the bed need to be assembled before playing the game and then Daddy is placed in the center of the board with his cute little night cap on. Once he is laying down in the bed, he’s ready to snooze and await his awakening.
There are 16 cards in a deck that comprise the obstacles that must be avoided in order to accomplish the venture to the refrigerator without waking the grumpy bear himself. These cards consist of a dog, a cat, a keyboard, a broken vase, roller skates, a baby and many other things that could cause Dad to stir.
Game Play
At the beginning of the game, the deck is dealt evenly to all players, the children are placed in their color corresponding beds and play begins with the youngest player. He/She spins the spinner and moves the child to the first space matching the color shown on the spinner. If the space is blank, the child is safe. If the space is occupied by an obstacle, he/she must check their deck to see if that obstacle is in their cards. If it is, they are safe and game play passes to the next player clockwise. If another player has that obstacle in their deck, the child must click on Daddy’s bedpost button the number of times that space shows to click and collect that card from the player possessing it. All the while, the player is praying to not wake Daddy.
Should the pre-selected (by the toy of course) number of clicks be performed, Daddy jumps straight up in the bed with a very loud presentation of course, and has officially been awakened. At this point, that child must return to their bed and start over again while game play continues with the next child in line.
The first child to make it around the board and to the refrigerator successfully is the winner of the game!
Thoughts
Daddy can be quite frightening to some. I’m 29 years old and jump out of my skin when he awakens and pops up surprisingly. Of course, I also jump at Crocodile Dentist when the crocodile snaps, although I know he cannot harm anyone and is just a toy. It’s the element of surprise that gets me every time.
My four year old adores the game. She is never the least bit scared of it or jumpy over Daddy’s sudden awakening. She laughs every time. I have heard and read of others whose children are frightened to death and scream their heads off, vowing to never touch the game again. True enjoyment of this game will depend solely on how your child reacts to surprise.
The awakening is quite noisy. He doesn’t just sit up easily in the bed. He pops up without warning and the clicking of his arousal is loud. Also, it makes another loud clicking noise when you press Daddy back down in the bed to reset for the next play. This is certainly not a quiet time toy.
Overall, the game is very exciting and suspenseful as you wait to see who is going to make the parental figure spring to life first. It can be frustrating if you are the one to set him off every single time. In general, I get a kick out of the game and my daughter’s response to it. Of course she harasses her father about the game since it has special meaning to her.
The pieces of the game are fairly well constructed. The players and cards are typical cardboard. The game board itself is typical cardboard and paper construction found in most board games. The bed and daddy are plastic and the night cap is a sewn together piece of yellow fabric.
The True Cons
Perhaps my main complaint with this game is that Daddy does not want to go back to bed very easily. Perhaps he is one of those who can’t go back to sleep right after being awakened. Whatever his problem is, it often takes many times of pressing him in the bed to get him to stay and reset for future game play. This is frustrating, as I am afraid that I will break the piece and the game will be useless. I have found that each reset usually takes about 5-7 times of trying to tuck Daddy back in snuggly. Also, his night cap tends to take off flying when he rises out of bed. This is a cute touch, but can be annoying in due time.
Final Thoughts
I am glad that my daughter finally received this game. I am sorry we didn’t get it sooner. We play this on a daily basis and it provides for the perfect family time and many laughs and giggles from my daughter. It is a classic remake of a 1980’s game (which I don’t recall at all) and it is a true blast to play. Milton-Bradley / Hasbro really out did themselves this time!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 19.99
Type of Toy: Board Game
Age Range of Child: 3 to 5 Years
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Epinions.com ID:
RCarte2000
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Member: Becky Carte
Location: West Virginia
Reviews written: 225
Trusted by: 58 members
About Me:
29 years old, separated, mom of a 4 year old daughter and 2 stepchildren.
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