Crazy Claw & Dig In! Review.

As a family we have all the tech you’d expect.
The children are both dab hands with a tablet, DVD, TiVo, and a laptop.
We also really enjoy being a bit ‘old school’ and playing table top games.

We spend a lot of time in the same room doing different things to one another whether it be homework, playing trains or watching TV.
Playing a game is a chance to sit and do something together as a family.
It encourages conversation as well as instilling ideas of sharing and playing fair. Saying that we are also VERY competitive by nature and these games really bring out the ‘best’ in us.

When Drumond Park asked us to try out two of their new table top games, we looked forward to the prospect.

The first game we tried out was Crazy Claw.
For 2-4 players aged 4+ this was one the whole family could play including Seth.

Each player has a card with three picture icons.
The ‘board’ is a box with balls inside and each ball containing a card picture token.
The aim of the game is to grab a ball, open it and hopefully match the picture in the ball with one on your card.
If the token matches one on your card you keep the token and pop the empty ball back, if it doesn’t match you put the whole thing back.

Simple right?

Whilst one player tries to grab a ball with the ‘claw’ the others frantically hit the paddles on the board to make the balls jump around.

Cue absolute chaos.

We started the game in a pretty sedate manner.  Every one was tapping their paddles nicely, catching balls and matching tokens.
Perfect.
Then Aoife realised Seth was winning so the gauntlet was thrown.
The paddles were being hit hard, the balls were flying and more difficult to catch and the competitive edge set in. I would argue that’s when the game becomes more fun.

At 3, Seth is slightly too young at the minute to really ‘get’ the idea of the game, he just thought the bouncing balls were hilarious.
Saying that he filled his card first much to Aoife’s dismay, her ‘tactical’ approach of remembering which colour ball she needed just wasn’t working out for her.

Crazy Claw is great for younger children. It causes mayhem and quite a bit of yelling.
Exactly as a good game should.

I have only two quibbles with it.
1) Once the kids start getting really vigorous with the paddles the board/game cube flies around the table.
2) The paddles feel a bit flimsy, as an adult I was reluctant to put as much effort into hitting them in case I broke them.

Although the game can be played with just 2 players, it’s much more fun with 4.
It’s a perfect game for those summer holiday play dates.

The second new game we tried out was Dig In!

Again for 2-4 players but this time with a recommended age of 8+.
I was really looking forward to playing this one!

Dig In! is simple in concept. Each player receives a card with 6 pieces on it. They then take turns in having 15 seconds to use both hands to Dig in the bowl and find as many matching pieces as they can. Once each has taken a turn they ALL Dig in at the same time using one hand to find the remaining pieces to match on their card.

The first thing I really took from this game is that 15 seconds is not a long time at all. During that time I find, on average, one piece. That means that unless The Flash is playing, no one fills their card on their turn so the final Dig results in absolute bedlam.
Using only one hand you have to match your pieces and shove gently move aside the others players hands that might be trying to get your pieces.

Although Aoife liked this game she got a little frustrated that she wasn’t quite quick enough to get the pieces she wanted. Although the final Dig isn’t timed every one wants to be the first to fill their card so the pace is fast.
Good parents would probably take it a bit easier in that situation…

Dig in! is brilliant fun though it could cause a few rows. It’s kind of addictive too in that you want to ‘better’ your own score in the 15 second part of the game.
I imagine that this game that will be pulled out after a meal and a few drinks with our grown up friends too.

Crazy Claw has an rrp of £22.99 and DIG IN! an rrp of £19.99. For more information and stockists please visit www.drumondpark.com

I received Crazy Claw and Dig In! from Drumond Park for purpose of review. This post contains an affiliation link to Amazon, you can see my full disclaimer here.  All opinions, as ever, are my own.