Kids Games: Würfel-Zwerge

This charming little kids game, Dwarves and Dice, was Nana's gift for Ana when she turned three last year. Also known as Le jeu des nains (French) or Würfel-Zwerge (German) the game is made by Selecta^™.

We've been playing it fairly regularly, usually at Ana's request. D is very sportive and with his busy schedule he always makes time on weekends to join in a game, even if for a short while... makes me nostalgic about the time before Ana came into our lives, when D and I used to play Scrabble (pretty close but he always managed to beat me!) or Risk or Trivial Pursuit or even simple old Boggle, just to keep the little grey cells active :)

It is a very simple game: 56 little wooden cards have pictures of dwarves wearing pants, shirt and hat of various colors. Three dice are rolled at once. The resultant color combination starts the race to find the one single card among the 56 in which the dwarf's pants, shirt and hat matches the colors from the dice roll. Whoever finds the matching card first gets to keep that card. And the next player takes turn to roll the dice and so on. The game has a few variations for older kids, but in the simplest version the game ends when the dice-roll results in a color combination already played (and therefore the card is not on the table anymore).

I fell in love with this game right away and haven't turned down an invitation from Ana to play so far. Ana is pretty quick if she is into the game, so, initially I take it slow and let her 'win' a few cards so she doesn't get frustrated...

This is not really a memory game, just needs sharp observation and quick processing.

The pictures of the dwarves on the cards are terribly cute with interesting facial expressions and poses. The first few times we played when Ana was three, she would just stare at the pictures and study them, not really getting the hang of the game. The colors are vibrant and eye-catching.

If there is one thing I would change about it, it is the same issue I had with Candyland: the red and pink tend to blend together in indoor light; I would make the red a little deeper and leave the pink closer to pale baby-ish pink. Invariably D confuses the pink and the red, and Ana and I have to help him relearn his colors :)