My children love board games. I have a love-hate relationship with most board games. While I used to adore some of the longer board games my kids love, I now prefer fast-paced games with shorter playing times. I also struggle with finding games that can be played by most of the children in our large family, without anyone bursting into tears.

Fast Flip is a fun game that our whole family can enjoy! Our living room is full of laughter when my college daughters have come home and played it with the younger children. Although it is labeled for ages seven and up, my five year-old can usually play along. Best of all, the game can be played with anywhere from two to eight players, so no one gets left out.

The game comes in a small metal tin that is great for storage and also for traveling. I love that it doesn’t take up a ton of space in our game closet, and the tin canister can’t rip apart like boxes often do. The game consists of 54 game cards and 10 tokens. Each game card has a number or a picture of a fruit on the back, and a mixture of fruits on the front. The tokens are each a single number or fruit picture.

There are three different ways to play this game, and my children have enjoyed all three variations. The first method just uses the cards alone. The cards are stacked with the single item facing up and the fruit salad mixture facing down. The top card is flipped over and the players compare the fruit salad pictures on the card with the single item on the other card. If a fruit shows, they have to be the first to shout out how many of that fruit are on the card. If a number shows on the top card, then the players race to be the first to shout out which fruit matches that number. Winners take the card for their point and the game ends when only one card is left. Whoever has the most cards at the end is the overall winner.

The second game variation has players grabbing for the matching token instead of yelling out an answer. The token is placed in front of the winner of that round, but can still be grabbed by other players in future rounds. The game is won when someone has four tokens in front of them.

The last game variation puts the tokens in a line. The tokens determine the match you’re seeking, rather than the top card on the stack. You work left to right, and the winner of the round takes that token as his point. The game is over when all ten tokens have been used and whoever has the most tokens is the winner.

Fast Flip helps develop focus, recognition speed, and reflexes. It’s fun, full of laughter and fast-grabbing hands. So far, every Fast Flip game in our home has ended in laughter and friendly rivalry. That is a small miracle, to be honest. Any game that can be enjoyed by all of my children, doesn’t take an hour to finish, and ends with positive feelings gets five stars from me!

-Product review by April Elstrom, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, September, 2016