Do you have Black Sheep on your farm?
Have you ever wanted to live on a farm and have a bunch of animals to care for?
My grandparents had a big farm and had all sorts of animals on the farm – from cows and horses, to sheep and chickens. Visiting them was always full of adventure. And I recall one year when one of their sheep gave birth to two baby lambs on my birthday – it was pretty cool.
I think all that farm life got pretty ingrained in my older sister, because she still loves that country environment and now has her own slew of animals – including goats.
Well, that love of animals has sprouted in Brooke as well. Of course, based on where we live she’s limited to stuffed animals. But her collection of stuffed animals seems to know no bounds.
So when I first saw the family board game Black Sheep, I had a hunch she’d love it. Guess dad was right. See for yourself in Brooke’s video review of Black Sheep.
Can the whole family enjoy Black Sheep?
Yes – everyone in the family can enjoy Black Sheep. It’s a fun, light game that’s easy to learn and play. Of course, we’ll wager that the younger kids are going to enjoy it more than the teenagers. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t something in it for them though. While Brooke did cover the basics of the game in the video review, she didn’t get into the fact that there are some optional game play rules as well.
The Task Card Variant lets you play with a set of cards that represents jobs assigned to farmhands. A player that completes their secret assignment gets rewarded with additional points at the end of the game. The assignments will range from collecting the most of a certain type of animal, a certain combination of animals, or being the only person to collect a certain animal type (definitely a challenge).
How are the game components in Black Sheep?
Need you ask?
As you can tell from Brooke’s video review, those cute animal pieces are one of the main reasons she loves the game. How can you not want to be the person to collect the most cute animals? Not only that, but all of the artwork is great. We love the style of artwork of all the animals and this board game is definitely targeted towards families and kids. And the cards are small in size – making it very easy for kids to handle.
But the other thing that makes the animal pieces in the game so cool are the numbers on the bottom of them. Since you don’t know the value of the animals you collect until the end of the game when you turn them over, players stay engaged in the game the whole time even if the other players have more animals on their boards.
How does Black Sheep score on the “Let’s Play Again” meter?
Black Sheep scores high on our “Let’s Play Again” game meter. It’s such a simple game to pull out and play. And since you don’t know who’s winning until the end, when you finally do score points at the end of the game, we always hear the “let’s play again” call out from those who just got edged out.
Black Sheep is a great family board game.
| The Board Game Family Game Ratings | |
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Caleb |
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Brooke |
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Jaden |
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Trevor |
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Mom |
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Dad |
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Average |
| Pick up a copy! |
Other family board games you might like:
Would this be a good, accessible game for my 4-year old daughter? How does it compare in value with, say, “Hey, That’s my Fish” or some other kids oriented games?
For a 4 year old and between the two, we’d recommend starting with Hey, That’s My Fish for two main reasons. First, the collection of the fish (points) is on every turn and they know immediately how many they get (versus the hidden value on the bottom of the animals in Black Sheep). Second, the game play is simpler in Hey, That’s My Fish and plays quicker – really only one or two things to think about with simple decisions (which penguin to move, which direction, and how far). Whereas with Black Sheep there is more to figure out – which cards to play, how many, where to place them, how they stack up against the others to claim the animals on the field, etc. So we’d suggest starting with Hey, That’s My Fish, then move up to Black Sheep as her ability to handle the decisions develops.
Thanks for the detailed response! I’d been thinking about ‘Hey, That’s My Fish!’ as the next step game for her and will probably stick with that, then. You all do good work!