There are certain times in your life when you become acutely aware of how old you are. For me, those times are becoming far more frequent–such as when I dazzle the new office intern with tales of life before the internet, and when I see children confused by the sight of pay phones. However, the most recent time I was age-aware happened to be when I was having fun repeatedly losing to my children at a game titled Color Clash.
One of Blue Orange Games‘ new releases, Color Clash is a game that uses color combinations to cleverly confuse players and rewards quick response times with a win. Cute little chameleons do a number on your comprehension as you play this game to correctly decipher conflicting information. Each pog-shaped game piece (Pogs! There I go showing my age again!) is labeled with three attributes: a colored lizard, the text description, and the color of the text. These three details can be used to play a variety of games with a number of players.
In the game’s instruction booklet, there are numerous options on how to play Color Clash. The number of players you have influences which style of gameplay you want to go with, but players can choose from the 3-or-more-player “Guess What I’m Thinking” to the single-player “Pyramid” mode. The mode my daughters and I liked the best was the 2-player “Western” game. In this version, each player flips over a clash tile and the first to decipher the majority color displayed wins the duel and earns the tiles. That may sound easy, but when the text displayed doesn’t match the color shown your brain is thrown for a loop. Sure, the tile could display a green lizard, but the text could spell “purple,” and that text is written in red ink. Does your brain hurt yet? Smarter people than me label this confusion as the Stroop Effect.
Don’t worry; this game may sound confusing, but it is very easy to pick up and play. Notice I didn’t say easy to win. No, my youngest daughter’s synapses were firing much quicker than mine, and I would find myself staring at the tiles blankly trying to figure out just how she was able to quickly find the matches and claim the tiles.
The box advertises that the game is appropriate for ages 7-adult, which I agree with. You could play with younger kids, however they would need to at least be able to read color words to play. I wouldn’t consider this a game that adults would play together, but rather one targeted towards kids that will still be fun for mom or dad to play as well and not lose interest. Plus, the versatile nature of the game’s playing options means that, even if you don’t like one style of play, perhaps another will be more to your liking.
The game retails for $15.99, but can be found cheaper elsewhere online. Gameplay is advertised at 10 minutes, but we were playing some rounds in half that time–so if you’re looking for something quick that both younger and older kids can enjoy with little explanation or setup, Color Clash is a great option. Even though you’ll definitely lose to your kids at times, the game is fun enough and quick enough that you won’t be left seeing red at the end. Or was that blue? Or how about purple…
Disclaimer: I was provided with a review copy of this product.
