We are great fans of Orchard Toy games in our house, so when we were passed a set of Slug in a Jug, we were eager to try the game.
Slug in a Jug is a rhyming game for 2-4 players with an age range of 5-9 years. Straight away I knew my 4 year old would have no trouble playing the game so don't be put off by the recommended age range if you're looking at this game.

In the box you receive 48 different cards, all in a good thickness and decent quality that Orchard Toy games reputation have in all their games.
The cards are a fairly decent size to pick up, not too large but a lot bigger than the average size of the smaller pieces you can expect to see in a lot of the other games from Orchard Toys. Each card boasts a single picture and word relating to the picture shown on the card.
There is no board to this game, just the cards, but all of the cards can be used to play three different games.

** Rhyming Pairs **

All of the cards are placed face down on the table and each player takes it in turns to turn over two cards. Should the player turn over two cards that rhyme then they keep the set. The player with the most sets of rhyming pairs once all the cards have been claimed is the winner.

I liked this game as it was easy for my 4 year old to work out the word by using picture association. We also learnt a lot about rhyming whilst playing this game. It makes a nice change to play a matching game without having to actually match the pictures.

** Find the Rhyme **

The cards are placed face down on the table with a small pile of card showing one card face upwards. Taking it in turns the players have to try and find a card that matches the face card.

This game is essentially like the rhyming pairs game but with just a different way of playing it to be honest.

** Slug in a Jug **

All of the cards are placed face down on the table and the players each choose one card for their own to see. Taking it in turns the players choose one down turned card to see if it rhymes with their own card.
If the card is a rhyming pair then the player keeps the card and moves the set aside and chooses another card to have face up on the table.
The winner is the player who scores the most points by collecting rhyming pairs.

Again this version is another take on rhyming pairs and not a lot different.

Once we had played each of the three versions, we realised they were all very similar, and essentially the whole game is a matching game. Whilst I felt slightly let down by the lure of three different games in one being just one game played ever so slightly different, I can see the attraction of the game. It helps younger children learn the word and picture association as they play as well as learning rhymes.
The game is well made by a reputable company and if looked after will keep the attention of children as they do grow. I'm not convinced a child over the age of about 7 would want to play this game too often and definitely would market it towards the younger age groups.

We did find the game could be played just as well with two or four players and it didn't really change the game play with fewer players.
Overall this was a good game, but I'm not sure it's worth the £7.00 price bracket it retails for. I would suggest a lower price of around £5.00 or even try to pick it up second hand.