I'm extremely pleased with the Bright Idea Games line from Playroom Entertainment. If you have a little tyke that you want to get hooked on board games and not be bored silly yourself when playing with them, then these are the best games to get. Kids love them, adults are amused by them, and they have good, high quality cards. Hear 'N Seek (Playroom Entertainment, 2005 -- Reinhard Staupe) is one of the newer games of this line and is geared towards younger children -- more than most of them. In fact the box says "ages 5 to adult", but even three year olds can handle the game easily.

This is probably the only major downside to Hear 'N Seek. While the game is a marvelous one for little ones, it's going to be fairly boring for older children and adults. The game is slower than other games, and it's an auditory version of memory match. Young'uns will be excited to make the funny noises for the umpteenth time in a row, while the older ones will emit another tired sigh. Now, don't get me wrong -- I think that with an adult moderating, this can be a blast for the youngest set -- it's just that they are the only ones likely to enjoy it.

Twenty cards, ten pairs of different objects (musical triangle, cuckoo clock, fish, bell, motorbike, cat, drum, frog, dog, and train) are shuffled and placed in a face down grid on the table. A stack of point cards (30) are placed in a face down pile next to them. One player is chosen to go first, and the game is ready to begin.

On a player's turn, they lift up a card, showing it to everyone but themselves. All the other players must make the sound of the card, after which the player picks up another card, with the same thing repeated. If the cards are a match, the player places both of them aside. If they don't match, the player puts the cards back face down and gets one point card. This continues until a player has found all ten matching pairs or until they've gotten all thirty point cards. The next player then takes their turn, until all players have found the ten matches. The player who has received the fewest point cards is the winner!

Some comments on the game...

1. Components: The cards are thick and can take a lot of damage -- just right for chubby little fingers. The artwork on them is bright and colorful, which is sure to be a delight to children. The point cards, which I must say are nicer than simply keeping track, add a bit of suspense to the game. All the cards fit into a nice cardboard insert in a small, sturdy box. A well-designed, sturdy package, fit for kids.


2. Rules: The rulebook, of three languages, has five pages in each -- of fully colored, illustrated rules. The rules themselves are quite simple -- anyone who's played Memory Match, can easily play them with only a few adjustments. Just like kids learn Memory at an early age (my daughter played it when under three), this game is just as simplistic to learn.


3. Age: Like I said in the introduction, this game is great for young kids. Children who can't understand pretty much any other game can quickly catch on to this one. And the making noises part will delight young children, especially when many people do it together. Young children like to do the same thing over and over and over and over again (as I know to my chagrin), so the making of the noises will please them. For adults, however, this can become tedious. Older children will be annoyed that they have to wait for a while to take their turn and may get bored quickly. Either way, the game certainly works best with younger children.


4. Fun Factor: It is a lot of fun to see small kids happily making noises, and it is indeed a slight, pleasant change from typical memory games. My daughter loves the game (she's five), and so I'll gladly keep it around -- she enjoys playing it a lot. I'd just more often play a game with her that we both enjoy, such as Monkey Memory.

Whether you have little kids or not will certainly determine whether you get this game or not. Adults might have a brief power struggle, seeing who can do it faster, but I really can't see purchasing the game for that reason -- there are plenty of other games to do this with. But for wee ones, this is an excellent game, getting them interested in games, so that one day they can play on the same level playing field as you.

Tom Vasel
"Real men play board games."