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Players: 2-4
Playing Time: 15 minutes
Need a quick, fun game to play with a kid who can’t read yet? Leaping Lizards has quickly become a favorite of my two girls, aged 4 and 8 years. (And it’s not that easy to find a game that they both can play together without fuss.)
The rules are simple and easy for the younger set to remember. Once you’ve set up the “Lizard Race Course” (a very long shoelace with 18 wooden beads) and had each player choose a colored wooden lizard:
1. Everyone chooses a “Secret Creature Card” at the beginning of each turn and places it face down in front of them.
2. The youngest player starts by shaking and pouring out the 11 two-sided “Creature Tiles,” making sure they are lying flat.
3. That player looks at his or her secret card.
If the Lead Lizard shows a happy face, then the player at the back of the line leaps over the number of beads that match her secret creature card. As a bonus, that player gets to randomly turn over another secret creature card and move forward the number of tiles that match. But if the Lead Lizard shows a sad face, then the player in the front of the line has to leap backwards for the same amount of beads.
The player who jumps to the finish line first wins the game.
The first time we played, there was some confusion about who should move and why, but we quickly caught on. We also made up our own rules, and played happily by those as well.
The game is compact and easy to take with you on a trip. It was a snap to teach the game to aunts and uncles and provided a nice diversion (i.e., time for mom and dad to visit with other adults). Another bonus of the game is that it reinforces matching and counting skills for the young ones by having them count the tiles and the spaces on the race course. Mom gives this one a thumbs-up.
