Do you want Bugs in the Kitchen?

The first game we listed on our Board Game Gift Guide 2014 a few months ago was Bugs in the Kitchen.

Well, now’s the time to take a deeper look at this fun children’s board game.

Actually, we can’t dive too deeply into this board game, because it’s such a straight forward game.

It’s not like there’s a bunch of deep strategy to the game. In fact, I’m not sure if there’s any strategy at all.

Bugs in the Kitchen is strictly for fun.

Check out Caleb’s video review of Bugs in the Kitchen and see if your kids might like to play it.

Can the whole family enjoy Bugs in the Kitchen?

As we’ve already mentioned, and as Caleb pointed out in the video, Bugs in the Kitchen is a children’s game pure and simple.

Teenagers and adults may enjoy playing it if a child or younger siblings wants them to play.  But it’s most likely that this would be the only time they’d play it. We don’t seeing adults or teenagers pulling out Bugs in the Kitchen to play on their own.

Young kids on the other hand will get a kick out of trying to guide the Hexbug Nano into their corner of the board.

As our kids have grown, the games we review have adjusted in age-range as well. They typically have more strategic elements in them.

So we’re happy to break from that and get back to a game that’s well-suited for children.

The Gadget = The Fun

The obvious fun in Bugs in the Kitchen comes from the Hexbug Nano frantically banging around the board wherever it’s little legs can carry it.

Kids love watching the bug scuttle around trying to find it’s way out of this ever-changing maze. And they love trying to figure out which utensils they should rotate.

As Caleb demonstrated in the video, players don’t simply rotate whichever piece they want. Player first roll a die that will tell them which type of utensil they can rotate. So their decision is more about which one of the utensil type they rolled (fork, spoon, knife) they’re going to twist. For example, with multiple forks on the board, which one will best guide the bug where the player wants it to go?

But even with those best-laid plans, the bug will have a mind of its own and will zip off in the opposite direction.

Since the bug will always have a mind of its own, players need to get the bug in their corner 5 times to win. So the luck of the frantic bug will balance the game out a bit amongst players.

The game comes with one Hexbug Nano, but if kids want to add more bugs to the mix, we say “Go for it!”

The other cool thing about Bugs in the Kitchen is that the box itself is the game board. There’s no need to set up a board. Simply take off the game box lid and turn on the bug.

How does Bugs in the Kitchen score on the “Let’s Play Again” game meter?

As you’d probably guess, Bugs in the Kitchen doesn’t score high on our “let’s play again” game meter for the majority of our family. But Caleb has fun playing with his buddies. And we’ve lent the game out to neighbor families with young kids and they really enjoy it.

We recently purged a number of games during our game closet organizing project, and Bugs in the Kitchen survived. Even though our kids aren’t the target age for this game, Bugs in the Kitchen will stick around our game closet. After all, it’s going to be a game we believe our future grandkids will enjoy.

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