Matthew BaileySo having had a quiet month as far as board games go due to Jack(7) and Toby(4) now becoming Jack(8.) and Toby(5) we start for the first time in quite a few months a…
“Let’s play Spiel des Jahres winners and nominees leading up to the UK Board Game Expo mini-marathon.”
Game 1 is a game that has been nominated for this year’s “Kinderspiel des Jahres” and that is Carla Caramel a cooperative light strategy game marketed as being suitable for kids 4+.
The premise of the game is simple. You have 5 children all wanting ice cream and 6 possible cones. As you roll the dice you either get:
1) A scoop of icecream of a specific colour you can put onto any ice cream but no 2 icecreams can have the same colour.
2) A sun which makes the sun rotate along the top melting any 3 scoops of ice creams it comes into contact with. (if you melt 2 you cannot serve each child an ice cream and the game is over)
3) A child icon which allows you to give an ice cream to a child (with at least 1 scoop) gaining you oddly 1 point for 1 scoop, 2 points for 2 scoops and 4 points for 3 scoops.
If you cannot take an ice cream of a certain colour there is also a coin to flip to select whether a kid or a sun.
It’s a sweet little game with a little bit of placement strategy and quite some luck thrown in.
I could see this being great fun with younger kids but for Jack(8.) and Toby(5) they both felt it was far too easy as we got the maximum possible of 20 points on our very first game.
I 100% plan to revisit a load of these games when Henry(nearly 2) is a bit older to see them again through slightly younger eyes.
The whole thing is presented really well and the components are excellent. The way the box becomes an ice cream stall is a nice touch and it all oozes quality.
So… one for very young kids wanting a little strategy but for older kids, it’s a little too easy.
Tomorrow we will be looking at my pick for this year’s winner of the “Spiel des Jahres” 
