Everyone once in a while I'm sent a fun game to review, and sometimes those games are even educational! I jumped at the opportunity to receive Circuit Maze from #ThinkFun for review. We've had a couple of weeks to play with it, and my *almost* nine-year old has enjoyed using it.
If you've ever used an electrical circuit "toy" then you'll be somewhat familiar with the concept of how the electrical portion of this game works. If you've ever played any solitaire logic games (Rush Hour and the like), you'll be familiar with the logic portion of the game. What a great idea to put the two concepts together!
The pieces in this product are tokens (squares with metal contact strips in a variety of configurations), a start token that includes the battery power pack, and a finish token.
The concept of the game is to set up the game grid using the game cards~ each card shows the start and finish tokens, as well as some other tokens in a specific set-up. There are also some missing tokens, and the puzzle part of this game is to put them in the right place in order to complete the circuit and light up the light(s). There are three beacon tokens with one green, one yellow, and one red light.
One of the cards my son worked on appeared to be solved correctly, but the yellow light wasn't lighting up... hmmm... sometimes the tokens don't seat firmly and the lights flicker on/off (my only *con* with this game), but this didn't appear to be the case this time around.
After fiddling around with it for awhile, he decided to put it away for the evening.
The next day I asked him to pull the game out again, and retry the challenge. I also reminded him to make sure that the positive and negative sides were matching up correctly so that the current would flow. Sure enough! That was his trouble the night before. Paying attention to direction of the little + and - signs made a huge difference!
I anticipate this being a good game to bring on trips and to use any time that a brain and hands require something to keep them busy for awhile, without being in front of a screen!
What a fun way to get some STEM learning in this summer without the kids even realizing that it's something other than a cool logic game!
Not So Nutty Nitty Gritty
- Company: Think Fun
- Product: Circuit Maze
- Ages: 8+
- Price: $29.99
I hope this was a useful review as you search out fun and educational games to occupy your children this summer!
Blessings~
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Thanks so much for letting me know you were here. I appreciate "thoughtful" comments. :)