Description
2 Players, Age 7 to Adult. Game play 2 minutes.
Sharpen your skills with Rock! A fast and furious version of an old favourite. Using the traditional rules of Rock, Paper, Scissors, players flip over cards and race to name the winning card. Each card is different so it takes a sharp eye and quick wit.
Awards: Major Fun Family Award
Listed in DR Toys Best Children’s Products of 2008 and given National Parents Centre Seal of Approval in the USA .
Review by Ben Rainbird; Actor and Games enthusiast:
If you’re blessed with a pair of hands, the chances are you’ve played Kő-Papír-Olló at some point in your life. Depending on what part of the world you hail from, you might also know it as Jankenpon (Japan), Ca-Chi-Pún (Chile) or indeed, plain old Rock-Paper-Scissors. It’s a game every bit as international as football, although you’d be hard pressed to make a fortune playing it.
The inventor of ROCK!, Anita Janes from Cornwall, has added an affectionate twist on this age old pastime. In the sturdy ROCK! tin, you’ll find 60 cards, with an even distribution of rock, paper and scissors printed on them. The rules are ever so slightly more advanced than regular RPS.
The cards are shuffled and dealt to form two equal draw piles for the two players (owing to the nature of the game, it would be impossible to have more). Once this is done, they pick up their draw piles, face down, and start playing. Simultaneously, both players flip the top cards from their piles onto the centre of the table. The players then race to call out the winning card, based on the traditional rules we all know. This can be a tad more difficult than it seems, as both players are under pressure, and the three objects are depicted in a variety of ways. For example, rock, rather than simply appearing as such, might be in the form of an Easter Island head, a giant boulder, a Stone Henge arch, etc.
Being the first to call out the object on the winning card will reward you with both the cards on the table, which you add to a hopefully ever-growing pile of winnings. Calling out the wrong one means your opponent wins both the cards. Should you both play the same object, those cards are left on the table and the game continues with cards being placed on top of them, and the next person to get it right wins the whole pile. Once all the cards are used up, each player counts up their cards and the highest scorer wins.
It certainly makes for an interesting reversal of the traditional Rock-Paper-Scissors experience; In ROCK! you don’t know which object you’re going to pull, whereas in RPS you, of course, do. And where RPS is completely random, ROCK! actually demands a certain degree of skill when it comes to calling out the right card. The object-recognition element and the easy rules would make it good for young children, and it’s an entertaining distraction for adults. In all, I thought ROCK! was a fun little game, and I think you’ll have a good time with it, providing you don’t expect it to rock your world (apologies).
Distribute exclusively in the British Isles by David Westnedge Ltd., London.
