Boardgame age ranges are all over the place but some are particularly nice for the younger set. HABA is always present with their fleet of yellow games, the newest of which was the octopus-themed memory game Hello Hello Kalmario! However, the huge stack of Rhino Hero XXL was definitely eye-catching. At a small press event I was able to try out the simple fishing game/activity of Real Big Catch and the chaotic team game of Hey Hey Relay. Several puzzle-themed entries were also there including the stacking game Upzzle and some high quality Zelda-themed metal puzzles.

HABA

Hello Hello Kalmario! (2023)

That’s Kalmario, as in calamari. A 2-4 player game of of extending the tentacles of an octopus. Players take turns flipping tiles in an attempt to correctly extend the octopus arms. Memory comes into play as you need to match the correct color if you plan to extend an arm. 

Rhino Hero XXL Version 

A ginormous version of Rhino Hero was on hand. Rhino Hero has players adding roof cards to the tower that dictate where the next player is allowed to place walls. The popular card stacking game is getting an XXL version some time in November. 

Educational Insights 

Real Big Catch

A simple little fishing game. Each fish on the table looks the same, but they’re chained together to create a long telescoping tail. Fish are not created equally, some are short and long. Players take turns using the fishing pole, hoping to hook the longest ones. It’s pretty much just an activity, but a fun one in the right circles.

Kanoodle: Ultimate Champion

Unless you’ve been puzzling under a rock you’ve seen Kanoodle before. Choose a puzzle and try to place the polymino pieces in the required formation. As linked beads, puzzles can also go three-dimensional. The Ultimate Champion edition has, wait for it, a timer – embedded in the lid to the box.

Upzzle

A two player stacking game also using polyminos, players draft pieces and then roll dice to determine how many pieces they are to place that turn. Pieces can stack but are not allowed to hang over the edge or be placed over gaps. Some sides of the dice allow a player to swap a piece with the opponent. The first player to use up all their pieces wins the game. 

Hanayama

BePuzzled 

In addition to a variety of games, one press event had several Zelda-themed puzzles on display. The classiest of the bunch was a series of metal puzzles (what I sometimes hear called blacksmith puzzles) where you’re trying to take things apart or put them together. The manufacturer has created a series of 6 Nintendo Zelda-themed puzzles ranging in increasing difficulty. They were not large, so easily handheld, but metal, so they were nice and hefty. The looked to be a great desk piece for that Venn diagram of Zelda fans and puzzle fiends. Not exactly cheap, they run about $27, but they seem to be (and feel) well made.

Ultra PRO

Hey Hey Relay

A goofy real-time dice-rolling race around a board of animal symbols. Each team rolls their own set of 3 dice hoping to NOT roll the symbol matching the next space. If so, they move forward. If not, they grab an activity card and immediately do what it says. Once it is complete they can continue rolling again. The first team to make it around the track, wins. The game has optional character cards that grants that team a special ability during the game.