Litle Builders

Game 21# of the “Now & Then Summer Marathon 2024” is “Little Builders,” played with Henry (3).

The aim of “Little Builders” is to work together to find the items you need to build buildings and create your own town. Each building is made using four items: a vehicle, a paint colour, a material, and a plant. To complete a building, you must find the four items displayed on your building card.

On your turn, you look at the large grid of cards in front of you and pick an item card that could be a paint, vehicle, plant, or material. You hope that the card you flip over is the one you need. If it isn’t, no problem—you can remember what the card was so that when you have another turn, you might pick it again. Because you’re working as a team, this is especially useful when playing with young children, as you can help them remember and guide them through their turns. If you find a card with a little builder on it, you are supposed to perform an action with the tool they are holding until you turn it over. If it’s a card you don’t need, you place it back. We actually ended up house-ruling with these cards as wild cards because I wanted to introduce the concept to Henry, and he coped with it quite well.

The game continues with players choosing cards as they try to build their places. You keep taking turns until you have found all four items needed to complete your building card. Congratulations, you’ve built it together! Now you can add more buildings to your town by picking up more cards and continuing to create a bigger town.

Herein lies my biggest issue with “Little Builders.” Yes, it’s designed for very young children, which is fine. I have a young child and am happy to play with them, but this game lacks a clear ending. It essentially encourages you to keep going until you get bored and stop, which I’m not really keen on. I’m not saying I want the game to be crushingly difficult, but I do want some kind of end goal or win condition, whether we achieve it or not.

What the instructions don’t mention, but I’ll point out, is that the game actually plays better as a competitive game. In this version, each player gets three cards, and using memory, players try to find and build buildings. The first player to build three buildings wins. I played this with Henry, and even at the age of three, he found it just as engaging, if not more so, with a small competitive element. But maybe that’s just me.

This is a nice little set, but to be honest, I think it’s very much optional and I don’t really recommend it highly. I’m a firm believer that games should be judged based on what’s in the rulebook and the presentation. If I have to house-rule something for it to be engaging and enjoyable, then I think that’s largely an issue with the game itself.

With a few small tweaks, this could have been a delightful little game for kids. As it is, it feels a bit lacking.