From the moment the box arrived on our doorstep, my kids were eager to see what it contained. They had spotted the word “toy” on it and their little eagle-eyes sparkled. As I opened the package, they were both anxious to see. Grace was overjoyed about the first game I pulled out. Animal Mastermind Towers caught her eye right away. In fact, this is what her expression looked like before I told her to just be “normal” in the photo (like above):

I love a six year old, don’t you? She was thrilled at the fact we were going to sit down and play a game together. William decided that he just might be too old for the game and so he went outside to play football. But later, he returned and saw what fun we were having  and willingly took my place while I cooked dinner for several rounds of this fun game.

Mastermind comes with matching tiles. You use the smaller ones in the towers and the larger ones on the table to help formulate your guesses. Each player picks the agreed upon number (easiest=2 tile game; hardest=6 tile game) of tiles and then their opponent takes the cardboard tiles which match.

Both players stack their tiles in the tower, keeping the order secret. The challenge is to guess your opponent’s tile order. The trick? You can only ask “yes” or “no” questions. So the game questions sound something like: “Is your fish above your rabbit?” or “Is the alligator below the fish?”

The first person to match the order correctly wins…here Grace beat me handily. As we played each round I thought that her reasoning and deduction skills were getting a great workout. The game instructions suggested some ways to make the game more complex or difficult. I also appreciate the fact that we were up and running quickly because of the intuitive design. The game was rated for ages 6 and up…and by the end of the night even the middle schooler had played with smiles.

This is a great alternative to electronic media and is a stepping stone to the more complex Mastermind game the Pressman Toy Corporation also produces. This game retails for around $12 or less and is a fun addition to our collection.

Disclosure: My family was provided with both Mastermind and Mastermind Animal Towers by Pressman Toy Corporation to produce this review. No other compensation was received, but we did have a lot of fun!