There's a Moose in the House

There's a Moose in the House - Try to keep that pesky moose out of your house.

There's a Moose in the House! Maybe you will find him sleeping in your bed. Or maybe he is taking a bubble bath, raiding your refrigerator, or warming himself by your fireplace! Those moose can be down right pesky animals! Your job is to either catch them or shut them out so they can't wander in in the first place, while at the same time adding pesky moose to other player's houses. 
 
There are four rooms altogether (bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, living room) and each room has two cards - one showing the room with furniture but no moose, and one showing the same room with a moose (see image below). As you play, you will be adding rooms to other player's "invisible" houses as they add to yours.

There is also a card showing a moose walking into the house, a card with a shut door, and a card with a moose trap - a mouse trap with spinach on it. I just learned that moose are herbivores, or in today's lingo, they eat a plant based diet. You go moose!

Object:
Keep moose out of the rooms of your house, put moose into your opponent's houses, and have the fewest moose in your house when the last card is played.

Set up:
Deal four cards face down to each player. Place the remaining cards in a face down pile in the middle of the players.

Play:
You will be building a "house" of cards in front of your opponents as you play, and they will be building one in front of you. These cards, the house, will be played in a horizontal line in front of each player. The first card in this line will always be the moose entering the house. You can place empty rooms in your opponents houses, but until this card picturing a moose entering the house is played, no cards showing moose inside these rooms can be played.

On each turn, a player will draw one card and take one of the following actions:

• Play the There's a Moose in the House card (moose entering the house) on any other player. Once all players have this initial card, anyone holding this card can discard it and replace it with another card from the deck. Any future Moose in the House cards that are picked from the deck are taken out of play.
• Play an Empty Room card on any player that has less than three empty rooms. A player can have more than one of the same room in their house, but no more than three empty rooms at one time.
• Play a matching Moose in the Room card on top of any other player's empty room already in play.
• Play a Shut Door card on one of your empty rooms. Once this card is played, no moose can be added to this room.

If you can't play any of your cards, discard one and your turn is over. If a player tries to add a moose to one of your rooms, you can immediately play the Moose Trap card. This stops the moose from coming into your room. Take the Moose in the Room card and the Moose Trap cards and put them both in the discard pile. Take a card from the deck to bring the cards in your hand back up to four. 

Play until all the cards have been played or until no more cards are playable. Each player then counts the number of moose in their house and in their hand. The player with the fewest moose is the winner. If there is a tie, the person with the most closed doors in his house is the winner.
 

Try this:

• Work on visual discrimination, shuffling/dealing/fanning cards, in-hand manipulation, logic, problem solving, manual dexterity, executive functioning skills, process skills, socialization skills, play and leisure exploration and participation

In the box: 20 empty room cards, 20 moose in the room cards, 10 There's a Moose in the House cards, 5 door cards, 3 Moose Trap cards

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

Exago

Exago - Think strategically to get four in a row and win.

The object of Exago is straightforward: Be the first player to place four tiles of your color in a straight line on the board. As you are placing your tiles to win, you must also be aware of what your opponent is doing and block him from doing the same. While the rules are simple, the play will be more complicated.

The game board comes in two pieces and easily snaps together for play and unsnaps for storage. The hexagonal pieces are brightly colored, transparent plastic and come in six colors: red, green, blue, yellow, purple and orange. The shapes on the board are grooved so the tiles stay in place after play. To easily pick up a tile off the board, simply push down on any edge and the opposite edge will pop up.

Object:
Be the first to place four of your hexagonal tiles in a straight line to win.

Set up:
Snap the board together and place it between the players. Each player chooses a color and takes six tiles of that color. If only two people are playing, each player gets 12 tiles of his color. 

Play:
The first player will place one tile in the very center of the board (that space is marked "start"). The next player will place one tile on the board and it must touch at least one side of the first tile that was played. Players take turns placing one tile at a time, always making sure that their tile touches at least one side of one other tile already on the board. Work to get four of your tiles in a straight line in any direction while blocking your opponent from doing it first.

If players have played all their tiles with no winner, the players will then take turns picking up one of their tiles that have already been played and moving it to another location on the board (always making sure it touches at least one side of one tile already on the board). If when a player picks up and moves a tile he leaves any tiles disconnected from the group (no other tiles touching them), the disconnected tiles will be returned to their owner(s) and then re-played during future turns. Play until someone gets four tiles in a row and wins the game.

Try this:

• Sort the colored tiles into piles by color be starting the game. Hold several in-hand and bring them one at a time to the fingertips to sort and drop.
• Stack the tiles for fun. How many can you stack before the tower topples?
• Play to get three or five in a row.
• Hold two or three tiles in your hand as you play. Push them to the fingertips one at a time to play.
• Skip the game. Use the tiles to make a symmetrical design on the board. 
• Work on visual discrimination, figure ground, visual closure, eye-hand coordination, manual dexterity, problem solving, planning ahead, logic, executive functioning skills, process skills, socialization skills, play and leisure exploration and participation

In the box: Game base, 48 hexagonal tiles
 
If you are interested in purchasing this game or just want more information, click on the image below.