Barrel Aged Games: Fruitoplay - Zombie Fruit-Themed Card Game, Trick Taking & Set Collection, Couples & Family Game Night Ages 8+, 2-6 Players, 20 Min

This is a simple game that is good for a young family. The card art is cute and the gameplay is simple. It took us about ten minutes to get through the rules and onto playing. The game has limited math skills that are good for smaller kids (basically, which card is closer to the target number).The downsides of the game are the cardstock and the art. First, the cardstock is somewhat flimsy. It is nowhere near the sturdiness of Bicycle playing cards. With this being a game with kids involved, a more robust card would ensure more longevity to the set. Second, while the card art is fun, it is fairly repetitive. Each suit has twenty cards, but the art gets recycled a lot and I find the repetition to be a bit boring.Overall, this is a good game for families and kids. It is an easy addition to a game night, camping trip, or rainy afternoon kit. Just a few things are keeping it from being a five-star game.

My kiddos and I enjoy playing FruitoPlay! It’s easy to learn the basics of the card game, and even a great way to teach counting and multiplication to your younger ones :)The more you play it, the more you realize there are many strategies to winning. So fun!

Pros:- good instructions- compact and easy to transport for a trip- nice family gameCons:- reasonable amount of fun

The fruit game is a little complex to learn, and required checking the instructions numerous times during the first game, but it doesn’t take long to play. The game has 3 rounds of seven turns each, with the 2nd and 3rd rounds varying slightly with the addition of a community card which figures in the score. Each turn consists of players simultaneously laying down one card from their hand which is scored by how well it matches a target card with the closest match winning all the cards played plus the target. The cards have fruit values for matching, face values to determine the closeness of the match, point values for scoring, and sometimes are “rotten” and can reduce the player’s score. The cards won are sorted by type of fruit (and point value of 1 or 2). A player’s score is based on multiplying the player’s fruit stack with the most value by the player’s fruit stack with the least value plus the community card, if it’s in use and matches either column’s fruit type. There is an additional rule with 4 or more players that if the same person wins the first 6 tricks, they don’t participate in the final “round”; I think the instructions should say “final turn” because a “round” is all 7 turns.I played with an almost-eleven-year-old and while she and her older sister usually like to take charge of reading and explaining the rules to new games, this one confused her. She also wasn’t keen on tallying the scores, so I think she was uncomfortable with the various steps involved because she’s probably better than I am at multiplication. I found myself overlooking points in the nuances of which cards are 1 point versus 2 points and double-checking to make sure I had included the correct score from the community card. As you play a few rounds, it becomes clear that there is strategy in which target cards you’d like to win or allow someone else to win based on the target and community cards, as well as what’s in your own hand. The “rotten fruit” cards and community cards can be the difference in which fruit column becomes the multiplier and can change the outcome. It’s not a particularly exciting or funny game, but it’s not bad. It does reinforce some math skills. The cards are good quality, and the storage box will last for a while. I’m not sure it will win out over some of the other game options in the house.

FruitoPlay is a fun, family game that can be played in a relatively short time for a single play or all afternoon. I first played with just my wife to get the rules and basic strategy down. The rules, as explained by the included instructions, were fairly straightforward, though it didn’t make total sense until we actually started playing the game. It was then you could better visualize and understand the play, strategy, scoring, and nuances of the game.The play of the game is fairly brisk. There is a river of 7 cards that drives the play for the 2 to 6 players who are playing. Each player lays a card which are turned up simultaneously to capture the trick. This is repeated for each river card in turn with players strategizing which trick should help them score the most. This is done 3 times with the highest score at the end winning the game. Sounds simple, and is for the most part, but there is a subtle strategy, as well as a good degree of luck, that goes into each game. We found that 4 to 6 players is the most fun while the 2 player game is much quicker. Our 10-year-old granddaughter tried a game with us but quickly abandoned us as she really didn’t get the flow of the game. It didn’t help that it sounded like her cousins were having a lot more fun than we were.This game is definitely a keeper and is already part of the family rotation during our get-togethers. Definitely recommend for family good times and to those who want games that don’t take hours to complete. I am so very glad I ordered FruitoPlay and would do so again!

The game play itself isn’t very complicated and it didn’t take long to learn. Scoring took some time to understand, but we were able to learn as we went. The more you play, the better you get at strategizing, and it’s helpful to strategize out loud as you’re learning to help each other. Tip: The number on each card is used to determine who wins each trick, but it isn’t used in scoring. We played with 2 adults and a 10 year old and it went smoothly. It is very number focused so get ready to do some arithmetic. It’s not a favorite yet, but it seems well balanced and interesting, and we think it’s worth a try.