Animal Safari by Orchard Toys

I love playing board games with my children on our tiny square coffee table with two little chairs.  Playing together is the best way to engage both children and to educate them  while having fun along the way.

We were fortunate to be sent Animal Safari by Orchard Toys through Izziwizzi Facebook’s PlayFest for reviews. We are massive Orchard Toys fans in this house and we have collection of Orchard Toys’ games on our shelves. Orchard Toys are durable, have bright colours and normally contain an educational element!

Contents:

• 1 game board (in 6 pieces)
• 4 playing piece cards (each showing a jeep)
• 4 coloured card stands
• 2 dice
• 40 animal cards showing 1, 2 or 3 animals

It is suitable for age 5+ and for 2 to 4 players. Today, we invited our friend’s children E, 7 and K, 4 to join us to test out the game. We found the animal safari was a tactical mathematics game as you can either choose one of the dice numbers or add dice numbers together and work out the best way to win the game. As the children learnt the game, they could decide to be a good sport or be cunning. They were clearly very upset when they had to lose their favourite animal cards or when they were targeted because they had the most animal cards in his/her hands.

To set it up the game, it took the children a while to piece together the game board (like a jigsaw) as the individual path is not numbered. The game board looks boring and a bit dull compare to some of the other games that we have played/owned. The boards are thick and durable though and would withstand being played over and over again.

I placed the animal cards in a zip-lock bag and asked each player to pick two animal cards randomly with their eyes closed.  I then shuffled the animal cards and dealt them face down into equal piles, onto each of the marked circles next to the viewing points around the board.

The playing pieces are placed within the camp on the game board. During the set up. it was difficult to place the card into the stand (I used a bread knife to wedge open the stand) though it was not a problem after that first time.

Both dice measures about 1.5 cm by 1.5 cm and is a good size to hold. The dice is non-standard with numbers 1 – 5 but 6 is replaced by a binoculars icon. The binoculars icon indicates that the player must take an animal card from one of the other players.

Animal Safari comes with clear instructions and is easy to follow. It has clear packaging which describes the contents so you know exactly what you are getting for your money.

The objective of the game is to be the player with the most animals after all the players have returned to the camp.

This is our video:

Animal Safari retails at £11.75 which we think is excellent value for money as it helps to develop counting and addition skills!  It also encourages strategic thinking.  I gave them a rating of 4 stars out of 5.