BOARD GAME REVIEW: Rush Hour Jr – A Solution To Our Traffic Woes?
Raves
Rants
We had the opportunity to try a boardgame/table top game, Rush Hour Jr by ThinkFun and is locally distributed by Marshmallow Toys. Rush Hour was a puzzle game invented 15 years ago by Nob Yoshigahara. Mr Yoshigahara a famed Japanese inventor who went to America to look for a game company that shares the same […]
We had the opportunity to try a boardgame/table top game, Rush Hour Jr by ThinkFun and is locally distributed by Marshmallow Toys.
Rush Hour was a puzzle game invented 15 years ago by Nob Yoshigahara. Mr Yoshigahara a famed Japanese inventor who went to America to look for a game company that shares the same excellence and his passion for puzzling. He found it in Bill Ritchie and Andrea Barthello, ThinkFun’s co-founder. Rush Hour has helped changed ThinkFun since and went on to be a world-wide best seller.
The objective of the game is to solve the puzzle by freeing your car from a traffic jam. It’s similar to a few mobile puzzle games wherein the objective of the game is to take a piece out of block out of the puzzle board. You start the game by placing the plastic cars as it is shown on the challenge card. You solve the puzzle by moving the cars only in a straight line. You can move the cars by sliding up or down, left or right, depending on how it is placed.
There different levels of difficulty which ranges from easy, medium, hard and super hard. Since the game is for ages 5 and up, we skipped the easy part and tried the hard challenge immediately.
Since this is Rush Hour Jr, the hard puzzles are relatively easy, something that a 5 year old can really solve. As you go along, it will test your analytical skills, and patience! There were a couple of puzzles that made me think how is this even possible? If it were in real life, you wouldn’t want to be caught in that kind of traffic jam, especially on rush hour!
I would have to say that I’m proud of myself that I was able to solve the super hard challenges. Just don’t ask me how I did it or make me repeat the challenges. I don’t want to through the headache again.
Kidding aside, Rush Hour Jr is a simple yet highly analytical game. This game would make you think regardless of your age group. We also had a chance to talk to Ms Shine de Castro, Marshmallo Toys Philippines’ Operations Manager. Shine told us that one of their goals with their games is to take away the gadgets from kids and let them have fun and learn at the same time with educational games such as Rush Hour Jr.
I think with entertaining games like Rush Hour Jr would do just that. Almost any kid like cars and with the colorful cars in Rush Hour Jr would definitely catch their attention. The game’s mechanics are simple that kids could easily understand and enjoyed by adults. It brings back the fun in classic educational toys. It’s handy, you could carry it on trips or bring it somewhere to play around with friends.You can enjoy it alone but better with friends.
If we could only incorporate the solutions in Rush Hour then life would be so much fun! But the traffic in Metro Manila is another story in itself. However, be it in a game or real life, patience goes a long way.
Aside from Rush Hour Jr, there is Rush Hour Shift, which is the 2 player version of the game. We were not able to try it but it looks just as fun, if not, even more.
Learn more about other entertaining and educational toys from Marshallow Toys by visiting the Marshmallow Toys Philippines Facebook Page.