Matthew BaileyToday’s review is going to be a very quick one, and a bit of an odd one, and that is Flying Fries. In this case, we are going to be looking at the Playte version.
The reason I say that is because this game is a bit unusual in terms of its release situation. It was originally released back in 1993, branded as McDonald’s Flying French Fries. This is a very simple, completely chance-based dexterity game that basically plays exactly like Gooey Louie, if you’ve played that, or alternatively it’s a bit like Pop-Up Pirate, but in a much smaller box, which is obviously a big win.
Now, you can buy this game in the UK in a much bigger box from a completely different publisher, which is less appealing. You can also order the Playte version, which comes in a smaller box, and again, if you’re going to get this, that’s probably the one I’d go for. What’s even weirder is that this version is called Flying Fries, but it still has the Flying French Fries sticker on it. Then there’s another version actually called Flying French Fries again… there’s definitely some weirdness going on here.
Generally, the way the game works is you set it up, put all the fries in, and one of them is the trigger. You then take turns pulling fries out. If you pull the “stuck” one, everything pops and you lose. Again, it’s basically Gooey Louie or Pop-Up Pirate, it’s quick, it’s silly, it’s fun. If your kids like this kind of thing, it’s actually a really good version of this style of game, largely because it takes up very little space and comes in a pretty small box.
That’s basically all I’m going to say on this one. I’m going to leave it as a fairly neutral review because you’ll know straight away if this is something your kids would enjoy. If they like those chance-based “everything explodes” moments, or if you’re buying for a really young child, you could genuinely play this with a two-year-old, then this is a solid version of this type of game. The boys actually surprisingly enjoyed it, probably because it’s about the least complex game we’ve played in the last five years. It’s also well made.
You can buy this on Amazon UK from a different publisher, and there are still some very old copies of the McDonald’s version from the 90s floating around. However, I’d probably recommend the Playte version purely because it comes in a much smaller box, which for most of us is a big win.
