HABA 304558 Snail Sprint

Played with simplified rules for first games. Good replay ability and great joy racing snails up the box.

I gave this to my 7-year-old for his birthday. He absolutely LOVES it, and so do I. The game focuses on having the snails end in the pattern you pull on a card. Typically each person is supposed to pull a card with a different pattern, and you move the pieces to help your own "hand", but we typically just pull one card and go for just that pattern -- so you're not necessarily trying to "win". (This is huge, especially since my kid HATES losing (can you blame him?).)This isn't one of those game boards whose box you'll throw away either - each part of the packaging has a purpose, and the box is actually part of the game.This would probably be great for 1st through 5th graders.

My daughter could win it pretty easily at six...which makes me happy! However, it is not too easy for her. She still had to try to figure out how to make her snails more likely to win the race so that she could win her bet. That is why I like Haba games. There is always an added element of thinking or prediction and there is always an interesting material aspect (Kayanak -poking paper holes, Rhino Hero-building card board towers, Snail Sprint-magnetic snails). They are good games for early elementary students.

First off, the game I ordered shipped with instructions for the wrong game. The company website has downloadable PDFs of all their rules, so it was easy to address.I did email them in the hopes of getting a full-color copy of the rules. The game is a more engaging version of something like Candyland, especially for adults, as there is a certain amount of strategy. I swore when I became a parent that I wouldn’t play Candyland or Chutes and Ladders or the like if it could possibly be avoided. This fits the bill pretty well, but younger children may find it too difficult to handle the card part where they keep the snails they want to win a secret. It might be better at first just to pick a color or two to root for openly, even if it undermines the surprisingly subtle strategic elements of the full game. The tin being part of the play surface and adding some 3D qualities to the race is a major added wow factor.

This game is super cute. Love that the box is interactive. The directions are a litttttle bit confusing for my elementary speech kids but it is great for groups when they're all working on different goals.

My 4 and a half year old loves it and I enjoy it too. A little too advanced for my 2 and a half year old. Reminds me of Royal Turf for kids.