Knock Your Blocks Off – Gamewright

Knock Your Blocks Off by Gamewright has really brought the fun back to gaming for us. We had a drought when video games were taking over, but then Knock Your Blocks Off shows up at our door. A game where you get to knock things over? It has dragons, ogres, and boulders? You had me and the boys hooked just by the name and the premise alone. So–did it live up to the name?

Gameplay has two main parts, deciding your structure type and building by matching patterns on the blocks, and then attacking the other person’s structures. You win by getting the most tokens, which you receive for building fast and first, as well as attacking and defending. As Gamewright calls it, “brains and brawn,” and I like that analogy. What I always look for in a family game is the ability to morph it a bit for the younger children. So house rules here, we let our younger boy play but he only has to match half of the dice by patterns. This allows him to be competitive on the building level, as well (because we all know any age child can knock things down!). For the older children the ability and strategy to build different types of structures that have different benefits also allows them to grow with the game.

While we have played a bunch of times on the table, because of the dice frenzy we found it is better suited to the floor, which is where most of our current games end up. That is because flicking and throwing dice around seems like it does better on the floor. Make sure you know where all the dice end up, as we did have to spend a few minutes after someone (the boys) got a little crazy and a die ended up under a piece of furniture. The playing time of around 15 minutes works for us and keeps the kids interested while playing.  With the added element of matching patterns and strategy, I feel like the boys are learning some life skills while playing, as well.

The dice feel nice and solid in your hand, and the coloring is nice and bright. The attack die is also made of solid material, just as one comes to expect from a Gamewright game. Each person is also able to have a structure guide which shows them the bonuses for each type of structure, but I found I learned them rather quickly and did not need to use the guide after a few games.

What I found great, and how I know it was a fun game, is that I even saw my wife on the floor with the boys playing a few rounds one night. She was really getting into it, as well. This is truly a game for the whole family that is fun and fast paced. Another must buy game from one of our favorite companies, Gamewright.

Note: Knock Your Blocks Off was provided for review by Gameright.