Chip Theory Kids independent play series

This isn’t a board game but a set of logic puzzles for kids – the Chip Theory Kids independent play series. I got the set as a review copy and had my 4 year old twins try them out.

There are four different games in the set (they’re also sold individually) – Sudoku Forest (ages 3+), Tangram Adventure (ages 4+), Pixel Party (ages 5+), and Neighborhood Hide & Seek (ages 6+). All of them seem to be pretty age appropriate and they all have varying difficulties of puzzles from one to three stars (with the beginning ones being very simple). The puzzles are all pretty easy for adults, so it’s not like other logic puzzles you’d get where the hard difficulty is for adults. They’re also all physically set up similarly – they’re each a set of big square cards that come in tins and have magnetic pieces, so it’s travel-friendly.

Sudoku Forest (ages 3+) – This is a grid logic puzzle with animal pieces that you need to place in the grid. It shows clues on the rows or columns that an animal must be in the column or must not be in the column, and you fill in the entire grid. It’s a super cute sudoku-type puzzle and I think it might work for 3 year olds, but my kids actually found the rules a little less intuitive than the other games. It’s also hard to confirm if their answer is correct without parent help, so this might not be as good for independent play.

Tangram Adventures (ages 4+) – This was one of my kid’s favorite. It’s basically Tangrams (putting triangle and square shapes together to make a given shape), but the easier puzzles have some clues for which pieces go where. My kid started out doing the 3 star ones by himself and he was really good at it! It’s very intuitive because it’s similar to other puzzles (like a normal jigsaw puzzle) where you are matching up and putting the shapes in place. He specifically asked to play this one again and can play it independently.

Pixel Party (ages 5+) – This is another shape-matching one, but there are polyominoes with alternating black and white squares and you’re matching them to a pixel image/shape. Each puzzle shows you which shapes to use since you don’t use all of them. This is a little too hard for my kids to set up by themselves, especially since two of the polyominoes are the same shape but just have the black and white squares switched, so they get confused about which shapes to use. But if I give them the shape pool, then they’re able to figure out the puzzle because it’s a similar spacial puzzle feel to Tangrams.

Neighbourhood Hide & Seek (ages 6+) – This is a polyomino shape-fitting puzzle. There are a bunch of polyomino shapes with one circle cut out in each shape. Every level is a full square grid with some clues showing which polyomino shapes go on that space – the cutout circle goes on top of that space, but the shape can be rotated any direction. You have to match all the shapes so they fit, and at the end one space will be open and the kid there wins the hide & seek game (that’s the theme). This was more intuitive for my kids than Pixel Party, and one of my kids really liked it and was able to do the simple ones by himself. It’s a similar feeling to Tangram Adventures since they’re both spacial puzzles (and maybe my kids are better at those).

Overall I thought these were all pretty neat logic puzzle games with a really nice production for kids. The age ranges are a little arbitrary but for the most part they seem age approprate for young kids. Getting the whole set of 4 is a little overkill (and makes it less travel friendly) unless your kid is super into logic puzzle games. My kids liked all of them, but I think their favorites were Neighborhood Hide & Seek and Tangram Adventures, and their least is Sudoku Forest, although they had the most trouble with Pixel Party. For independent play, I’d definitely recommend Tangram Adventures and Neighborhood Hide & Seek, especially if your kid is into spacial things like jigsaw puzzles!