I'm Peppa Pig! Oink Oink! (Jumbo Peppa Pig Jumbolino)

Member Name: mumto3

Product:	Jumbo Peppa Pig Jumbolino
Date:	20/04/09 (187 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nicely presented - something different to snakes and ladders or snap

Disadvantages: Fiddly pieces - can be quite long winded

When my five year old daughter was about three she was a huge fan of Peppa Pig, with this in mind we bought her the Peppa Pig jumbolino game for Christmas.

I had searched on www.amazon.co.uk under Peppa Pig and a wide variety of toys, DVD's and books and come up. I like to get my children a game for Christmas and there were a couple of Peppa Pig games available. I had no idea what the Jumbolino game was and had never heard of it but the other games available were some that we already had such as snakes and ladders.

Jumbolino is a numbers game that involves you trying to build a Peppa Pig by collecting numbered body parts by rolling a dice. You have an outline board, a head, torso, two arms and two legs to collect. You have two normal dice and both are thrown on each turn. I have lost the instructions now but I think you have to roll a double six to get a board so that you can start the game. If you roll another double six you can get another board and start another Peppa Pig or you can steal a body part from another player. You either take the number from each dice individually or add them together to get as many pieces as possible. For example if you rolled a 1 and a 2 you could select a head and torso or you could combine your score and choose an arm. Each of the body parts has a small dice on them showing their value and the six boards show Peppa dressed in different coloured outfits. At the start of the game all the pieces and boards are placed face up in the centre and each player takes turns to try and throw a double six to start the game. The winner is the person who has the most completed Peppa Pigs.

The game is aimed at children aged 3 and over and I think this is right for the Peppa Pig theme as this has quite a young audience. The pieces of the game fit together like a jigsaw and the pieces are quite small and fiddly which could be a problem for younger children. Also if you are playing the game on carpet they do move about quite a bit and you have to keep replacing the pieces. I think the counting aspect of the game is good to encourage numeracy but some three year olds may struggle with this, it all depends on the child's level of understanding.

I have played this game many times with my daughter who is now five and my three and a half year old son. My daughter has always enjoyed the game and often asks to play but both children have had problems with the fiddly pieces. Although they enjoy the game it can be quite a long game and if you are getting near the end you do have quite a few turns when you already have the pieces and are just waiting for a two or something. My children soon get bored and start turning the dice to the number they want. They are also frustrated because the puzzles do come apart easily and it causes arguments about who knocked who and who broke the puzzle. We have a Chad valley game called Build a Beetle which is the same concept as this game except that you have to build a 3 dimensional beetle from various body parts. My children enjoy this game much more because once you have fitted the pieces together they tend to stay put plus the beetle theme is more universal.

The boards and body parts are on quite thick cardboard and the game is very nicely presented but it's just not a very exciting game. I would say that the game may be too advanced for some three year olds and the Peppa Pig theme does limit the life of this game.

I would recommend the game to anyone who has a Peppa Pig fan in the house as it does appeal to boys and girls alike and it is a bit different to snap or snakes and ladders or other more common games.

Summary: A nice game that encourages numeracy