A Bargain Thomas Game (Paul Lamond Games Thomas & Friends Windy Day Rescue Game)

Member Name: DavyMichelle

Product:	Paul Lamond Games Thomas & Friends Windy Day Rescue Game
Date:	10/06/09 (42 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, Simple, Quick to Set Up

Disadvantages: Limited, Cardboard Pieces

Thomas & Friends Windy Day Rescue Game is a bargain buy for any preschooler Thomas fan. The RRP is pretty cheap at £4.99, and Amazon have it even cheaper at £3.17. It was only £2.50 to us when Amazon had a big toy sale on not long ago.

It's suitable for two to four players, and is aimed at ages three and up. I would say that three and four year olds ar e the real target audience for this game. Any younger and they can't understand how to take turns, any older and they're going to find this a bit boring and simple.

In the box, there's a hard board that you can open out the same way you would do a Monopoly or Scrabble board. On the board there are lots of brightly coloured pictures, and circles for the trains to move along. There are also four little plastic trains, and there are cardboard inserts with pictures of popular engines on them which need to be inserted before you play this game for the first time. Once you've slid them in, they stay put well and make for decent quality playing pieces (considering the price).

There's also a dice that's got coloured circles on it, and a load of circular cardboard pieces with various pictures on them. You put them all around the board, and take it in turns to roll the dice. Whatever colour the dice lands on, you move your counter to (the next available space of that colour). Then if there's a token there, you can pick it up and put it in your train. Once you've filled up your train with four tokens, you've got to head back to the starting circle to win.

I think this is a lovely simple game for children to have a try at. It's certainly not worth any more than £5 or £6 because of the pieces being mostly cardboard, rather than more durable plastic, but the contents of the game is sufficient to serve the purpose it's intended for.

Little ones can learn basic skills here, mostly the art of playing a game with other people, and having the patience to wait while someone has a turn. It's also good for kids to learn winning and losing, and understand from a young age that it's all just a bit of fun. It's important to teach kids how to lose graciously as well as win after all.

Summary: Highly Recommended for the Price