SmartGames Penguins Huddle Up

Antarctic social dynamics, resolved by shoving.

Your penguins are scattered across the ice and it is getting colder. The object is to get your whole family into one huddle before anybody else manages it, on a board where every useful square is also the square somebody else wants. The penguin pieces are chunky and the board is a satisfying slab of ice floe, which does a lot of work for a game aimed at six-year-olds.

Movement is simple enough that a child has it in a minute, and the interference is where the game actually lives: you rarely make a move that only helps you, and you soon stop pretending otherwise. Multi-level, so it grows with the player. Around a quarter of an hour, and it holds up better with four than with two.

Perfect for: families who have discovered that co-operative games end with one person quietly taking over, and would rather the conflict were in the rules.

2–4 players | About 15 minutes | Age 6+