Chef Pop de Pop

Chef Pop de Pop

Chef Pop de Pop is a fun popcorn-themed game that requires matching by color and counting.

What jumped to mind as I held the popper was Jiffy Pop popcorn. Did you ever use Jiffy Pop as a kid? It is a foil covered aluminum plate that is full of un-popped popcorn. Hold it over a flame and as it heats up the corn pops and the foil expands. I was surprised to see it in the store the other day and bought one for my young nephew as a novelty. Turns out his family has been taking it camping with them for years. Guess it is not as obsolete as I thought it was.

The blue corn popper is made of lightweight plastic and the clear plastic bubble is not removable, so no chance of losing the eight lightweight dice inside. It even sounds like popcorn softly popping when you shake it. Above is a picture of the back of the box so that you could see the size of the shaker in a hand.

There are 80 cards. Each card will have anywhere between one and four pieces of popcorn (see the cards on the back of the box above). The popcorn on a card will all be the same flavor/color, white for plain, yellow for butter, orange for caramel and black for burnt.

Object:
Collect the most cards by matching the popcorn in the popper to your cards. OR have the most pieces of popcorn on those cards. Decide which way you will play before the game starts.

Set up:
Remove all the burnt popcorn cards (single black piece) from the deck and put them to the side. Then mix the remaining cards and deal four to each player. Players place their cards face-up in a row in front of them. The rest of the cards are placed face-down on the table and this becomes the draw pile.

Play:
The first player gives the popper a few shakes and places it on the table for all to see. First, look at the action die to see how to proceed. Here are instructions for the four possibilities:

After this action has been taken (if it wasn't a POP), it's time to match the pictures on the dice to the pictures on your cards. Add the amount of popcorn pieces in the popper for each flavor - plain, buttered, caramel. Each player checks their cards for matching flavors that match the number of pieces. It can be any combination of cards that equal the number of pieces. For instance, if there are three plain pieces and you have three cards, each with one plain piece, that works. Or if you have two cards - one with two plain pieces and one with one plain piece - that works too.

After each player has counted and placed any of his matching cards on his scoring pile, a new round starts. Each player will draw cards up to the total of four, and the next player shakes the popper. The game ends when you either run out of action cards or run out of cards on the draw pile. The winner is either the person with the most cards on his scoring pile or the person with the highest total of popcorn pieces on those cards.

Try this:

• Turn over two or three cards and shake until you get those pieces to show in the popper.
• Shake the popper to mix and then set it down. Turn over cards until you find matches for each flavor.
• Place several cards face-up in a horizontal line, say 10 or 12. Shake the popper to mix the dice and then move across the row, one card at a time. Are there pieces in the popper that match card 1? If yes, go on to card 2. Keep moving alone, checking for matches, until you get to a card that cannot be matched. Then take all the matching cards before that and put them on your scoring pile. Your turn is over. Each player plays until all cards have been taken.
• Mix the three flavor cards and place them in a face-down pile on the table. Shake the popper five times and set it down. Turn over the top card. Can you match it to the pieces in the popper? If yes, decide if you want to keep going. If no, take that card and your turn is over. If yes, take that card off the deck and turn over the next card. Does it match? If yes, do you want to keep going? The longer you can match, the more cards you will collect. But if you turn a card and it cannot be matched, your turn is over and you don't win any cards for that hand. The object is to stop while you are ahead, before losing all your cards.
• Mix all the cards for two flavors. Place them in a face-up pile in front of the individual. Place one color card on one side of the deck and the other color card on the other side of the deck. Take the cards off the deck one at a time and sort between the two piles.
• Mix all the flavor cards and sort into three piles on the table. Hold half the deck in the non-dominant hand and push the top card off the top with the thumb to separate. Sort all the cards. Then sort the other half of the deck in the same manner. (There are too many cards to fit in the hand comfortably, so I divide the deck in half.)
• Work on visual discrimination, figure ground, manual dexterity, counting, socialization skills, process skills, executive functioning skills, play and leisure exploration and participation

In the box: 1 popcorn shaker, 80 cards

If you are interested in purchasing this game or just want more information, click on the image below.