A Rhino Rampage in your living room! (Mattel Rhino Rampage)

Member Name: takeachance

Product:	Mattel Rhino Rampage
Date:	12/08/09 (115 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: price, easy to assemble, easy to play,unisex, hardwearing

Disadvantages: only one special 8 sided die !

My little one recently turned four and is starting to take quite an interest in sitting still and playing card and board games with me.
Unfortunately we are going through a stage where every card game, puzzle or board game has pieces missing or mixed up. I find this extremely frustrating when wanting to play a game and used little ones birthday as a good excuse to top up her game collection.

Why did I choose Rhino Rampage?
Simple - It was made by Mattel, a name we all trust in games. It was for ages 4+ (despite amazon stating 5+), it can be played with just 2 players and obviously was on offer at Amazon for a mere fiver which meant that it was also delivered free of charge (Well every penny helps you know!).
It is currently selling on Amazon for £11.99, it has an RRP of £16.99.

So, moving on to the product, the box contains the Rhino, a ground platform with the 'stepping stones', 12 birds which are your pieces (3 each of blue, green,red and yellow) and a special 8 sided dice.
The first player to move along the 'stepping stones' and land all three birds on the Rhino's back is the winner.
Obviously there are perils along the way and you can find yourself back at the beginning!
Basically if you roll a number then you are free to move along the path. If you roll a 'rhino' then you must push down on the Rhinos tail which causes him to STOMP which can launch your bird off the game altogether and you must go back to the start.
The birds have flat heads. This is to enable them to stack on top of eachother so if you land on a space already occupied by an opponents bird then you can stack your bird on top of theirs which means that bird becomes stuck until either you move from his head or your opponent rolls a 'free bird' on the dice.
THe rules also state that you do not need an exact number to finish thus making it simple for younger players to understand.

The game came in a few parts. The rhino needs snapping onto the ground base and the tail needs to be clipped onto the rhino but this is all very easy to assemble and youre ready to go in a matter of minutes.
The game needs to be dismantled when finished to fit back in the box but again this takes moments.

My daughter loves this game. She picked up the rules very easily. The pieces/birds are bright and chunky, ideal for small fingers and she loves rolling the 'rhino' and making him stomp!

Mummy loves this game as its easy to set up, keeps little one amused and doesnt frustrate her with too many do's and dont's.
The games are short which is great and my daughter can actually beat me without me 'allowing' her to.
Anything that doesnt require batteries alo gets the thumbs up in this house!
Due to it being an animal its very unisex friendly too!

I believe that I got an absoloute bargain. As mentioned its great for younger children, the chunky plastic pieces seem very hard-wearing and Im sure that if I can keep all the pieces together that this will be played with for years to come!
If I had to pick fault with this game then I would have to mention that when pulling Rhinos tail the whole game moves as its lightweight.
Also the game will be absoloutely useless without the special 8 sided dice so a spare would be handy!
In my opinion the RRP is a bit optimistic but I would be happy to buy this for around the £10 mark.

Summary: Mummys and little ones alike will enjoy this