One of my favorite childhood games was Mastermind. Okay, adulthood too – Chris and I still love playing board games. I love the logic, the guessing, and the deductions. And, since it has already been established that Ali is a geek child after my own heart, when I saw that they had a children’s version out, I was so excited to try it with her!
Animal Mastermind Towers is packaged for ages 6 and up, but I like that it IS a bit over her head – she didn’t completely get it right away, but after a couple of games, she understood the concept and loved it.
The basic idea is that you put 4 to 6 animal tiles in your tower, hidden from your opponent. They know WHICH animals you have, but not which order they’re in. Then you take turns asking yes/no, above/below questions such as, “Is your elephant above your pig?”, then use your deductions to form a guess as to the order of their animals.
(Since Ali is younger, I loosened up the definition of acceptable questions and encouraged her to ask things like “Is your pig on the top?”)
(She, of course, tried to loosen the rules even more and asked questions like “Where IS your sheep??”)
Ali has really loved playing (and asks to play every spare moment we have), and has even beaten us a few times, which makes it even more fun for her!
I love how constructive this game is for her reasoning and logic skills, and that it’s stretching her to another level of thinking.
If you’d like to try out Animal Mastermind Towers with your kids, Pressman Toys has provided one copy for me to give away! Simply leave a comment on the post to be entered to win.
You can earn up to four extra entries if you:
(be sure to leave separate comments for your extra entries.)
Best of luck! This giveaway is open until Monday, September 13th. The winner will be randomly selected and posted on my giveaway winners page on Tuesday, September 14th.
Disclosure: I received a review product for this giveaway from Pressman Toys that I will get to keep after this giveaway. I did not receive any other compensation for this giveaway, and my opinions are always my own.
{ 75 comments… read them below or add one }
We would LOVE to win this.
I follow you on Twitter and Facebook
I follow your blog (so does my hooman)
I'm tweetin' it right now.
My son would love this game! He loves a great puzzle game!
I follow your blog
My boys would love this!
My boys would love this!
I also follow your blog!
And you on facebook
Cute!
Please enter me!
I follow you.
Sounds like a fun game!
i follow your blog!
I follow you on Facebook!
I would love to win this for my son!
I follow MasterMind Board Games on Facebook now.
I follow you on Facebook and Twitter!!
Sounds like a fun game
I Like Mastermind Board Games on Facebook.
I like Grasping for Objectivity in my Subjective Life
my kids adore board games…this would be great to try out!
I also follow your blog!
I would love to win this game. I am expecting my first child, and it's exciting to think of getting his/ her first board game. Until he/ she is old enough to play, my husband and I can have fun with it.
We'd love to teach Abi how to play. Thanks for the giveaway.
I subscribe, of course!
This sounds like a fun game!
I follow you on Facebook
I follow your blog and love it!
We would love to win this game – I love anything that encourages development of his reasoning skills.
Neat game!
Also subscribe to your blog
Ooh! Would LOVE to use this in my classroom…kids need so much more practice with logic and reasoning these days.
looks like educational good fun
tvollowitz at aol dot com
This would be great to add to our family game night.
I tweeted http://twitter.com/cstironkat/status/23116723102
Mastermind use to be my FAVORITE game!
Following you on FB!
I follow your blog!
I "like" Mastermind Board Games!
Posted about your giveaway on FB!
I subscribe to your blog
I follow you on facebook
This looks like a fun game!
stormraven at gmail dot com
I follow you on Facebook.
stormraven at gmail dot com
I love having new games to play with the kids.
monster6236 at gmail dot com
That might be a game that Mabry would like, she is just starting to get into playing board games for her age.
I follow your blog
My son would love this prize
This looks like a game my 4 year old granddaughter would love!
smchester at gmail dot com
I've never seen that game, but it looks fun!
What an interesting looking game! I've always loved Mastermind but figured it would be years and years before Elizabeth would be old enough to play. Never thought there would be a simplified version like this. Erika could play it already – and Elizabeth would have fun pointing to the animals even if I doubt she'd get the point of the game yet!
PS I follow you on twitter, and your blog, and I "like" the Mastermind facebook challenge
This would be a great game for my daycare kids.
mryward(at)yahoo(dot)com
I would love to win this for my niece for Christmas! tracietrump@yahoo.com
I think the kids would have fun with this.
My family loves games!
Thanks for the chance to win! Looks like a fun kids game.
aleksa91 hotmail
looks interesting,thanks
amy16323(at)gmail(dot)com
follow gfc
amy16323(at)gmail(dot)com
Thanks for the chance. Great review!
purehrt555(at)Yahoo(Dot)com
I've just started looking into games for my almost 3 year old and I think this would be a great one.
sounds awesome!!
My niece would love this game!
trippyjanet at hotmail dot com
My kids and I would love this game.
kerrie@mayansfamily.com
I follow your blog as degood with google friend connect.
kerrie@mayansfamily.com
I follow you on twitter as kmayans.
kerrie@mayansfamily.com
I'm sure the boys would love playing this game!
mintstatesportswear(at)juno(dot)com
I would like to win.
msurosey@yahoo.com
looks like a fun game
11newmom at gmail
follow twitter 9ziggy
11newmom at gmail
This looks fun! Thanks for the chance, justicecw@hotmail.com
My kids would like this
Please enter me