GNOMES vs TROLLS

Easy to understand. Grandkids 5 and 7 like playing independently. Fun for family time.

Ok this game is pretty great… once you figure it out. I gave 4 stars instead of 5 because it took some time figuring out. The game maker could easy fix this with a demonstration video of people actually playing instead of someone just reading the instructions. I played this with 3 people (including myself) but box says it’s for 2-4 people. Game goes pretty fast once you get it. I think our fastest round was 6minutes, and our longest was around 20minutes. There is just enough strategy involved to create rivalries between players, and my almost 5yr old could play once we knew the rules. 😂 Here’s a summary of the rules- hopefully it helps you if you get this game… Tip: Make sure to shuffle the cards after each game REALLY well. The goal is to collect treasure, each treasure card is worth 1 point. Shuffle cards well, and put cards face down in an easy to reach spot. No need to deal cards - players take turns pulling the top card to play. Player places the cards they draw in front of them, face up, as they come into play. Once the player is able to fully “protect” a treasure card by placing 3 gnome cards around it, those three gnome cards and the treasure card is set aside (taken out of play) and cannot be stolen by another player. If you draw a sleepy gnome, you can still use it to “protect” a treasure card, but you lose your next turn. If you draw a sneaky gnome card, you can steal a card from your opponent. You can take an any gnome or treasure card that has not already been set aside as a point. Your goal is to collect the cards required to fully “protect” a treasure (3 gnomes of any type & 1 treasure) so you can then set aside those cards and make a point. Remember- sneaky gnomes and sleepy gnomes count as guards too. So if you start your turn with a gnome and a treasure card, and then you pull a sneaky gnome card from the pile, you can then steal another gnome from your opponent- and you now have 3 gnomes, which is enough gnomes to protect your treasure. You can then move all 4 of these cards aside to take them out of play and make a point. Now the trolls. This is the part I was really confused about at first. There are 9 trolls. Once all 9 trolls are pulled, the game is over, and winner is the person with the most treasure at that point (protected points AND treasure still on the table - at least this is how we played) If you pull a troll card - that troll “steals” one of YOUR cards - either a gnome or treasure, your choice. Place the troll card on top of the card you are forfeiting- and move those 2 cards to a central location. Rules say to create a pyramid with the troll cards… I couldn’t visualize that, so we just made a row of the trolls in a central spot. Keep taking turns pulling cards until all 9 trolls are in play. Then count your points. I think the price is reasonable for this game (I think I spent $9?) and I probably would buy again at that price point if I were gifting this. It’s essentially a deck of triangle shaped cards, in a square box that is small enough to pack in a travel bag. The box is thin cardboard and a little taller than necessary, but that was probably for easy manufacturing purposes. I wish the box was sturdier and more compact so that it would be better protected during travel… if you’re trying to same space you could wrap a rubber band around the cards and ditch the box entirely. Corners of the cards are rounded, which is nice. I included a picture of the card next to a regular playing card for a size reference. Overall - instructions are meh…. It took 3 grown adults with multiple advanced degrees to figure it out. (Admittedly, The 3 of us are very logical and probably over complicated it at first) But actual game play is 5/5 once you learn the rules.

Game is easy to learn and goes quickly to capture his 4 yr old attention span

My 5yo and 10yo loved playing this with me. Easy to learn and fun to play on repeat.

These come in a small envelope, which makes sense as they are quite thin. The string to hang them on the tree needs to be threaded through each ornament. Instead, I just used a regular ornament hook. They are somewhat hard to see on a tree, although they are colorful.

Cute and simple game for young kids. My six year old likes it and requests to play it.