Not bad at all
Written: Jun 26 '05
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Pros: Teaches basic letter and word skills, easy to play, short games
Cons: Cardboard letters and no tile racks
The Bottom Line: Great game for beginner players. Finally a junior version of a classic that works!
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| oakleysmommy's Full Review: Hasbro Scrabble Junior |
My son loves games. Any kind, video, card, or board. The problem - he is only three. Which makes purchasing games for him that he can play easily and become good at quickly with little frustration a bit of a challenge.
When we have a family game night he is always left out. He has a Cranium Cariboo game that he loves to play, but after a couple of games the adults get restless and move on to their own games. He knows how to play Uno and even gets the concept of Monopoly, but overall is usually left out.
On a recent trip to our local Target, he spotted Scrabble Junior. He knows what Scrabble is, we play it often at game night, and also knows that games ending in junior are games for kids like him.
He loves letters and is starting to read a little and even write some letters, so I did not hesitate to purchase this for him.
WHAT YOUR MONEY GETS YOU
After tearing the game open immediately after getting home we found a two sided gameboard - one side for beginners, the other for advanced play - 101 letter tiles, and 44 scoring chips.
I have to say I honestly did not look at the box very closely at the store and assumed the Scrabble Junior version was like the adult version only for kids, down to the tiles and letter racks. This is not the case. The letter tiles are cardboard and there are no racks. Upon reading the directions I figured out why there are no racks, you are supposed to lay your tiles down for all to see eliminating the need for them.
The scoring chips, also cardboard, are used for the beginners play side of the board. Upon completion of a word you get a scoring chip, you do not need to write down any scores for this side.
When you first open the game you will need to punch out all the letters and chips from the cardboard sheets. After that you are good to play.
BEGINNERS GAME
The side of the game board for the beginners is the side with the printed words on it. These words range from 2 letters long (ax) to the longest word ,television, 10 letters. Most of the words are 4 or 5 letters long. The words also have pictures to correspond to them around the first letter of the word. Every letter of the alphabet is represented in at least one word.
Each player picks 7 tiles from the pool of letters. You lay your tiles down face up in front of you, making them seen by the entire table.
You may play only 2 tiles from your hand every turn and they must go in the order of the words.
The first letter of the word must be played before the second and so on.
You play by taking your tiles and laying them on top of the corresponding letter in one or more of the word(s). For example, if you had an A and a B, you could lay your A on top of the A in apples and the B on top of the B in buzz.
If you can only play one tile then that is your turn and if you cannot lay down any tiles you must exchange two tiles from your hand with those from the pool.
After placing your two tiles on the board you pick two from the pool and your turn is over.
As the game progresses and all tiles are gone from the pool you obviously cannot switch out your letters. If you cannot play at this time, your turn is simply over.
You get a scoring chip if you are the player to lay down the last letter of the word. If the last letter of the word ends another word at the same time (think crossword puzzle where one letter space is used in two words) you get two scoring chips.
After all the words have been completed, the player with the most scoring chips is the winner.
You will use all the letter tiles for the beginners game because there are 101 spaces to be filled on the board.
ADVANCED PLAY
For the advanced play you will need the flip side of the board. You play almost exactly as the adult version of Scrabble.
This board resembles the adult Scrabble by being one giant grid but there are no special spaces like double or triple word scores.
Also, you do not need the scoring chips for this side. You keep score with paper and pencil like the traditional game.
All players still get 7 tiles and they are still laid out for all to see.
You can play any number of tiles to form a word placed up or down on the grid but never diagonally. The first player also has to cover the middle star with one tile from their word.
After your turn you replace the number of tiles used in your word with tiles from the pool and the next player goes. That player then adds to the existing word or forms another word using at least one of the letters from the previous word, again think crossword puzzle.
Scoring words is easy since there are no double point squares. You get one point for every letter of your word. If you make two or more words with your turn (for example, adding an s to an existing word and then building your word on that s would give your two words) you would get points for both words.
After all the tiles have been used or no one can make any more words with the tiles in their hands, the winner is declared. The winner is the player with the highest score.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
Overall, I am happy I purchased this for my son.
The age recommendation is 5 and up, but my three old can play the beginners version with no problem at all.
I am a little disappointed with cardboard for the tiles. I understand that this is made for children and safety was probably a reason for choosing cardboard versus wood, but they are very lightweight and shift around the board easily. There is nothing surrounding the squares on the board to keep them from shifting.
I was also surprised that there were no racks. Again, thinking childrens game, I get it. Easier for them to handle and the less pieces to lose the better. But when you have adults trying to play along with the kids it can get a little hairy.
By seeing other people's tiles you know if you lay down a certain tile they could lay down the last letter of that word (beginners play) or something like an "s" on the end of your word (advanced play) and get the points. But with that said, hopefully kids won't be as mean and winner driven as the adults!
In my quest to buy my son some games he can play I have been disappointed by some junior versions of adult games. They simply do not translate well into a kids version. And some kids games are simply too easy even for the kids to be considered fun or challenging.
This junior version of Scrabble is simply great. It is challenging and can grow with the child. It is teaching them letters and words and they don't even know it.
My son has enjoyed this game from the day it came home from the store with us. He loves to play and is getting better every game.
He even loves to play alone, which is why I think he got so good so fast and beats me every time we play!
I know that sometimes games and toys are just that, made solely for the fun of playing. However, this is a fun game capable of teaching kids easily, a rare combination that is hard to find.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 9.99
Type of Toy: Board Game
Age Range of Child: Whole Family
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Epinions.com ID:
oakleysmommy
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Location: CA
Reviews written: 22
Trusted by: 2 members
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