Banana Boy VS Uni-Cone

I got Banana Boy VS Uni-Cone as a review copy to try out with my kids. It’s for ages 8+ and my kids are 5, but the designer sent me a copy thinking they might be old enough to play.

Banana Boy VS Uni-Cone is similar to the classic game Memory but with double sided cards. The game comes in a card box and is just a deck of cards, so it’s super portable (but uses a good amount of table space when you play). The cards are very colourful with pictures on them of different items in four different categories (each category has its own color and symbol background). On your turn, you point to two cards, say out loud what is on them, and then flip them over. You want the flipped over sides to match – if the item matches, you get both cards. But if the background color (category) matches, you get to pick one card to keep. So you don’t have to make a perfect match – which is good, because it’s actually really hard to remember when each card has multiple things on it! And even if you do remember some things, a lot of times the match you’re looking at will get flipped over before your turn, and both cards have to be flipped the right way in order for you to be able to flip them on your turn!

Another rule is that you can reserve a card by putting your finger on it. You can only reserve one card, and then no one else can use it. But then you have to use it on your turn, so if someone else sees what you were going for they can flip the match you wanted face-up and you won’t be able to get it.

I think if you like memory games then this is a neat twist on it. Unfortunately, I don’t like memory games, and apparently my kids don’t either. Also, I think my kids are too young for it currently. They weren’t really following the rules that well – they would turn one card at a time, forget to say what was on the cards, and flip extra cards or flip cards back and forth. Plus they would move all the cards all around the table, which made it a lot harder for me to remember things. They also aren’t very good at memory games, so they were getting frustrated with not finding matches. So this game was not for us, but it seems like it could be fun with older kids (and adults) who like memory games.