SimplyFun Diggers Garden Match - A Matching Game for Kids - Learn About Colors and Shapes While Having Fun - 1 to 6 Players, Ages 4 & Up

This is a great game to play with kids. It reaches them thinking skills on multiple levels(match colors and/or symbols). My 5 year old grandchild and I play it a lot. The more colors and symbols matched on each turn advances you on a cute game board. The only reason I gave it four stars is that it does take up quite a bit of room on a table. Still, a good purchase for logical thinking skills.

What I like most about the Diggers Match Garden Game is that it is truly fun for all ages, which in our family is almost 3 to 63 years old. We own a multitude of board games and none of them are quite like this. On some of our just move around the board type games, I have to force myself to play and can’t wait for the game to be finished. But with Diggers Match, I love the challenge of strategically trying to find the best placement of the tiles. We adults do slack off with our strategic approach at times to make sure everyone has a chance to win though. A bonus is the game is set up for as many as six players which means more fun and less waiting to take a turn. Each player upon their turn gets to place one of their tiles adjacent to other tiles already played. They can match the edge of their tile to the adjacent tile either by color or shape. If they can match more than one side of their six-sided tile, the player can count each shape on both tiles. Our youngest does really well matching either the color or the shape, counting the number matched, and moving his bone around the board again counting spaces. Our four year old is already catching on to trying to match more than one side, which amazes me. This game really does teach critical thinking in a fun way. The presentation of a game can in itself make for more fun and the dog/garden theme of this game does add to the fun. The artwork of the board is well done and I like the feel and size of the bone shaped moving pieces. Everything in the board is well made and sturdy. The tiles and game board are durable and thick and won’t bend with play. The quality of the set reminds me of some of our old school games that were built better and have lasted for generations. I also like the storage tray of the game, giving each component a home. I’m predicting this will be another game that our family plays and passes on for many generations.

This is a simple-to-play game that has the advantage of not having too many pieces and the pieces that it does have are big enough to not get lost. The cardboard tiles are also thick enough to be durable. I gave this to my granddaughter for her 3rd birthday and she immediately wanted to play it. She is good at matching shapes and colors so it was an immediate success and she likes the fact that the tokens are dog bones. The instructions are also simple, but we did have difficulty figuring out how the points are supposed to be added up and whether or not to count the dog paws on the tiles into the total of the other shapes. You can pretty much make up the rules as you want, so we figured out a strategy. Of course my granddaughter won.

This game is pretty easy to learn, and fun to play. Each round is fairly short to play, it says 15 minutes but sometimes it's less. I ordered this with my 5 year old niece in mind, but I really enjoy playing it with her. Her older siblings, up to age 17, also get into the strategic side of it, trying to block each other from high scoring moves, planning out their next moves, etc. so no one has found it boring like many of the games geared toward younger players. The 5 year old loves moving the chunky, colorful "bone markers" around the game board. Her plays are of course not as strategic, but she quickly learned how to make basic matches and count up her points. And she's learning to think ahead and make more connections, but just thinks she's playing. Perfect! The board and pieces are basic but good quality, not complex or particularly beautiful graphics or anything, but durable enough materials to last a long time, not flimsy or cheap, and no one seems to mind the simplicity. I think it's a bit pricey for the design though, just my opinion. If you're looking for a quick to play, fun learning game designed for younger players but that keeps the rest of the family engaged, this is a good one.

This is a great little game for preschoolers and up. When you open the sturdy box, you will find the quality game pieces all organized inside. The game is easy to learn, but we still appreciate the clearly written instruction booklet. The object of the game is to make matches with the hexagonal tiles, strategizing to get the most shapes included in the matches. The player makes matches based on color or shape (the instruction booklet gives examples). The more shapes within the matches, the more points. To keep track of points, the player moves a colored bone on the game board (which looks like a rocky trail through a garden). It is easy to make adjustments to game rules if needed for younger kids. I like that you still have to pay attention and use a little strategy to find best matches for maximum points. At first, kids will just think it is fun to find what works and move their colored game piece to victory in the garden. Highly recommend this game with five stars.