As you may remember, I’ve got a laundry list of game reviews to write, but I promised myself that I would never let reviews take over my blog. The holidays may have gotten me slightly off track, but with the aforementioned promise, it seems totally acceptable.

Today is the day to revisit the world of product reviews. Today is the day to review an amazing kids game. Today is the day to talk about pirates. And penguins. And Little A. And Trouble.

Little A is my gamer-in-training godson. Trouble is his little sister. We had a lovely afternoon of gaming a few weeks ago, and played this amazing game. “What game?” you ask? Don’t Rock the Boat from Patch Products. You may know Patch from Farkle or Buzzwords.

The mission is simple: Stack all of the penguins onto the boat without tipping it over.

The task itself? REALLY HARD!

Three adults and a pretty clever 7 year old had to work really hard (and maybe not quite follow the rules) in order to achieve perfection. But did we have fun doing it? Hell yes.

Let me start from the beginning.

I busted the game out for Little A and I to play. My cousin Rachel, Trouble, and Brian all decided they wanted to play. So we set the game up. Little A was STOKED because the box alone was some pretty sweet business.

The game is super easy to set up. It comes with the base, the ship, and the pirate penguins.

Just like Jenga, the object is to gently complete the task, without toppling the whole game over. Except that Jenga starts out easy. This, my friends, is some tough stuff. That ship is teetery and tottery and crazy. It’s like the ocean has declared war on the pirate penguins.

The minute Trouble saw one penguin topple the whole game, she giggled and giggled and decided that was exactly how you play the game. That and stealing the penguins. We had to hide them from her.

So we may have cheated a little bit. Our mission was to get all the penguins on the ship. Little A decided that he cold hold the ship while he placed it. Rachel, Brian, and I chose not to argue with the kid’s logic.

And we did it!

So, really, this is a game that anyone can play. Even a two year old like Trouble. Even when she is trying to sabotage the game and steal all of the penguin pirates. It’s more fun that way, right?

We really loved playing, and Little A wanted to play with the pirate penguins the rest of the day. And take the ship off of the wave base. Because then the penguins wouldn’t fall over. This game rocks.

What are some games that you love to play with the whole family?

***I was given a free copy of Don’t Rock the Boat at the Chicago Toy & Game Fair in order to play and review it. I was not paid money to say nice things about the game, nor was I compensated in any other way.