Tantrix Discovery Game Pack

It’s summer time and face it – there will be time when your kids will say the dreaded words “I’m bored!”  Well be joyful right now because I have a great game that will kick the boredom out of their life and had some challenge at the same time.  The game is Tantrix and I have received the Discovery Game Pack to review.  First let me tell you how I discovered Tantrix.

Not too long ago, I had to bring my second son to the orthodontist for a consultation.   His older brother is at the end of an orthodontic treatment but his specialist is a bit far from our home.   Just for the drive alone I am looking forward to finish these treatments.   Anyhow, our dentist has recommended a guy that is much closer to home – a 10 minutes drive maximum compared to a 30-40 minutes drive (one way).   So we decided to go check him out.   So Dominic got some x-rays done and we sat with the orthodontist and his assistant to discuss treatment.  Turns out we have to way 6 months which is about the time when oldest brother will be done with his own treatments!   Anyhow, as we were talking about what needed to be done, the assistant gave Dominic Tantrix to play with as we chatted.     I thought it was a great game to have at the RV or to simply challenge yourself while waiting somewhere.

However, what I didn’t know is that the game exists since 1988 and that you could also play online of download an app on your device.

Now you might be wondering – what is Tantrix?  Well Tantrix is a coffee-table strategy game that comes from New Zealand.   The game has to be resolve with skill and chance.   It is a fun family game that will bring some interesting memories while you play it.

The Tantrix Discovery Game Pack contains 56 numbered tiles which can be used in 4 unique challenges:  Discovery Puzzle, Rainbow Puzzle, Tantrix Solitaire, and Tantrix Strategy Game.

Discovery Puzzle consists in building loops of various shapes and sizes starting with tiles 1-3.  The more tiles you add, the more challenging the puzzle.  This is what we were originally introduced to.  The game can be played with up to 30 tiles.   For the purpose of this post, I decided to take only 14 tiles for the pictures.

Once you resolve the three tiles loop, you can add a fourth one.   As you can see on the image below, the #4 is red which means that I have to make a red loop.

The four tiles loop being completed, the fifth tile tells me that I still have to make a loop in red.

And then the sixth tile informs me that I need to do a loop in blue the next time.

And you pursue this pattern until you finish all the tiles you have selected for your game.  My husband tried it and was able to do up to 10 tiles which was how many I had taken out for him to try out.  He thought it was a bit too easy.  Me on the other hands I was stuck at 8 tiles.  So depending of the ability of a person to resolve problems like this it could be easy or difficult.

The bag I have received also have three other games.

Rainbow puzzle consist in splitting the tiles into five color-coded piles and form unique loops or lines of color.  The objective is to solve all the five puzzles and you would need the 56 tiles sorted into 5 piles.  For the Green tiles you will have to make a green loop with all ten tiles.   For the Yellow tiles you will have to make a yellow loop with the 12 tiles.  For the White puzzle, you will have to make a loop with all nine tiles but you have to figure out which color it will be.  The Blue puzzle will challenge you to make a 0-tile pyramid whilst building a continuous blue line that passes through all tiles of the pyramid.  Finally the Red Puzzle will challenge you to make a 15-tile pyramid whilst building a continuous red line that passes through all tiles of the pyramid.

Tantrix Solitaire requires you to make a red line or make a red loop using 14 tiles.   And finally, Tantrix Strategy Game will challenge players to form the longest line or loop.  In order to do this, you will have to develop skillful moves and a competitive spirit.

As you can see there are plenty of fun time inside this bag of tiles.   It is perfect to bring while travelling whether you are going at the beach or the campground.   It is easy to carry if you go to appointments where you know that you will have to wait a bit.  But the biggest bonus I find is that it will challenge your kids to develop quick thinking and resolve problems in order to complete the game you decide to do.

 

Disclaimer: Thanks to  Family Games America for sending me the above mentioned product for review purposes . I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.