I SPY Treasure Hunt

I SPY Treasure Hunt - An I SPY memory game.

I was very excited to open this new game from a well known name, I SPY, by Scholastic Books. When it comes to figure ground games, they're as good as any. However, as a therapeutic tool, this one was quite disappointing for me. And it had so much potential!

I SPY Treasure Hunt is a modified version of the old stand by memory/match game. Match up pairs of two tiles to claim sets. Have the most tiles at the end of the game to win. It's the way that you match up that is unique.

The game includes 48 tiles that are stacked 4 high on each square on the board (see above). There are four different colors of "sand" pictured on the I SPY logo side of these tiles and they are stacked in a particular order, from darkest (bottom) to lightest (top). Once the board is set up, use the magnetic shovel to pick up two tiles, one at a time, to see if you have a match. The shovel is sloped on the end that you would "dig" with, and this sloped area is the only magnetic part of the shovel. Touch the shovel, at an angle, to the top of any pile to pick up the top card. Take the card off with the other hand to see what you got. Pick up a second card and see if they match.

If you get a match, set the tiles on your side, picture side up. From now on anything you pick that matches that category can be kept by you and added to your pile, even if you don't make an exact match. There are several categories such as coins, jewels, shells and gems. The pictures on the cards are not identical, as in a typical matching game. However, I quickly realized that I was not even looking at the pictures. Each category has its own colored background and I found that as I picked tiles I was just checking the color of the background for a match. Once you have several piles going, which isn't difficult, almost everything you pick up will be a match, so there is not even a need to try and remember where anything is. At this point it was just a color matching game for me.  

Check out more fun figure ground games at I SPY Games.

To read more about why memory games are so popular, read my post Memory Games. Why are They so Popular? This post also has links to the other memory games I have blogged about.  

Work on visual discrimination, spatial relations, visual constancy, figure ground, visual memory, manual dexterity, process skills, executive functioning skills, socialization skills, play and leisure exploration and participation

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