John Adams 10455 Think Words Spin Game, Multicolor

Product Information

The ten second timer does add an urgency to the game, which in turn hinders the thought of words that could lead you to victory. For me, the timer can cause my brain to just reboot like an old computer and even makes me forget words I have already primed whilst others were taking their go. At some stage it is inevitable that someone will put their hands to their head and pull a “Gah!” face like something in the Beano. At this point you see their mind melting behind their wide open, but blank eyes.

The difficulty levels go up from this very first book in the series to the most advanced activities of Volume IV. Assisted Living staff may find this book useful in their activity planning, and family members may find it enjoyable to play with their relatives. “Fill in the Blank” and “Complete the Song Title” are examples of the types of games described in the book. Aretha Franklin once sang ‘You better think (think), Think about the word game you’re trying to play with me, Think (think, think)’. She was of course referring to Think Words!, a fast-paced family word game from John Adams aka Ideal. This is a two to eight player game according to the box – it is! Having said that, I have heard my eldest son play it on his own to try and get all the letters pushed down. This is a 2 to 8 player game according to the box. It plays well at all counts but somewhere between 4 and 6 is probably best. I have even heard my eldest son play it on his own to try and get all the letters pushed down.There are 80 cards in total and so that gives enough of a mix, they won’t last forever though, but I will be surprised if you want to play this forever! Components So, for example, if the subject or category was “Things in the Bathroom” you could say “Toilet” and push down the T followed by a slap of the central button to reset the timer. Play moves on to the next player who might say “Sink” pressing the ‘S’ and play moves round until all the letters are depressed. A player is eliminated from the round if they run out of time, give a spurious answer, or don’t say an answer before the ting of the timer. There aren’t actually that many word guessing games, but there are a few more worth mentioning that just didn’t make the cut for the top 10. minute, then Dabble might be the word board game for you. This game tests not just your vocabulary skills,

The joy is that it takes no time at all to learn, meaning you can jump right in and start thinking about words as soon as you unbox it. Just like Aretha Franklin. And who doesn’t want to be like Aretha Franklin? The age limit of 8+ years is dependent on your child, if they are good at knowing what words start with what letter and are confident around that then there is no reason why a slightly younger child couldn’t play. I have played this with my 4 year old but he needs considerable help – I still think this helps his vocabulary and spelling through osmosis but ultimately he just wants to hit the button in the middle which resets the timer, so we usually team up. The frenzy Think Words imbues onto my children is genuinely brilliant to watch. I don’t love playing this game, but I do like it and as such it is a good family game. That said, there are a lot of family games out there that my kids can grasp that sees us happily playing on a bit more of a par with one another. Dobble is, in my opinion, the best at that and if you don’t own it, you really should.Younger players do not get ‘their go’ and can get a bit lost in the melee. Therefore playing with a mix of ages, and because of the differing range of vocabulary, there is an unfairness this game cannot get around. The different ways to play are actually good and temper the difficulty rating slightly depending on the audience. The plastic spinning thing does exactly what it needs to do. It holds the cards and it spins. Equally the cards do exactly what they need to do and it is all good enough quality. The joy is that it takes no time at all to learn. This means you can jump right in and start thinking about words as soon as you unbox it. Just like Aretha Franklin. And who doesn’t want to be like Aretha Franklin? Think Words is an excellent game for the kids to play with a few of their friends of the same age. It takes little explaining to children new to gaming and they would all enjoy the fast-paced nature of it. With that in mind it is a good game to play on a sleepover. If you don’t want them playing electronics all night or if the movie has finished and they are predictably not ready for bed this would fill time.

This modernized version of the classic old-school 80’s variety of Upwords is fun and challenging for all ages to play. It makes a great Friday night game for the family, a fun indoor activity for a rainy or snowy afternoon, or an occasional break from worksheets and online instruction for school spelling and vocab lessons. If you are looking for a social deduction game, I highly recommend When I Dream as it has a unique twist on the genre. Werewords is also pretty good, it’s pretty similar to the One Night Ultimate Werewolf social deduction games but adds in the twist of word guessing that makes it a bit more interesting. The frenzy Think Words! imbues onto my children is genuinely brilliant to watch. I don’t love playing this game but I do like it and as such it is a good family game. That said, there are a lot of family games out there that my kids can grasp that sees us happily playing on a bit more of a par with one another.

Gameplay

It is however very transportable, as it is quite small. I think that the original version is also quite transportable, but my wife disagrees. It is a fairly moot point because neither of us would take either version above some of our other transportable or travel games. Think Words Spin vs Think Words! I like the ability to make Think Words! as long or as short as you want. It answers that plea for one last game before bedtime without having grumpy children the next day. You also feel like it is sort of educational too, as it helps build vocabulary and spelling.

This is a two to eight player game according to the box - it is! Having said that, I have heard my eldest son play it on his own to try and get all the letters pushed down. Unlike its big brother this boasts seven different ways to play, which makes writing about the gameplay a bit more tedious. That said, each variant basically follows the same formula: Spin the spinner until it stops, match the colour to select the category and letter, shout out an answer to win the card. In the immortal words of Kylie Minogue: “I’m spinning around, move outta my way”. Why? I don’t hear you ask. Well, it’s because I have been given the dubious honour of being the Zatu blogger that gets to review Think Words Spin. The recent addition to the family game genre from John Adams aka Ideal. Letter Jam is a game for 2 – 6 players that takes around 45 minutes. It’s an easy game in comparison to most board games, but with most word-guessing games being party games, this is probably the heaviest game on this list. They're based in convenient locations including supermarkets, newsagents and train stations. Plus they're often open late and on Sundays.When I was looking at Think Words Spin it was sort of billed as a travel version of the original. Now I am not convinced by this. I think a travel version of a game should be able to be played on a small surface. From my youth the stalwart was Top Trumps or other card games. Today you have other options like Dobble and Skull, the joy of these is that you can literally play them anywhere, be it on a picnic blanket or on a table on the train. The cards are a little flimsy and small. As a result, my boys have managed to bend quite a few now. I’m still managing to sleep at night and haven’t resorted to buying a new version because of these minor creases. However, there is a little part of me that wants to. I do like the way the cards store away inside the underneath of the letter wheel. There seems to be enough cards too, something like 144 different categories. I dare say if this was played every day over a wet half-term it might not be quite enough. It is plenty for the occasional game though, and to be fair that is how often you will play it. In Codenames, you are split into two teams. Each team has a spymaster, who gives the clues about the words to guess, and a team of field operatives, who need to guess the clues. There is a 5-by-5 grid of 25 spies (represented by words) on the table, and the spymaster is given a grid to say which people are spies and which people are assassins. They have to give one-word clues to their team to guess the spies without guessing any assassins, and they have to do it faster than the other team. Codenames is a game for 2 – 8 players that takes about 15 minutes and is very easy, taking only a couple of minutes to teach.