With hours away from the house a few times a week for my daughter’s gymnastics lessons, my son is always looking for something fun to do with his time. From single-player games to travel friendly multi-player games, we’ve added quite a few games to our collection.

When I heard about the Top Trumps Card Games, I was intrigued. Card games that are easy to take with us, educational and fun. Yes, please!

When the Top Trumps Card Games arrived, the first thing I noticed was the sturdy packaging. It was compact in size and the case was made of a hard plastic that contained the cards well. Because it takes a bit to open the case, I knew there was less of a chance for them to spill out all over the bag (so far, we’ve had no loose cards).

The cards, themselves, feel like normal playing cards but are much bolder. Each card has a beautiful image and multiple statistics listed.

The game is quite easy to play, which makes it fun for kids and easy to add more players. After shuffling the cards, the cards are dealt to all the players. While looking at one card, the first player calls out their best statistic and the other players see if they can beat his statistic. The winner of that round takes the cards and places them on the bottom of his deck. Play continues around the group, until one player has all the cards, then the game has been won.

We were sent The Wonders of the World Card Game, North American Wildlife Card Game, and Countries of the World Card Game. My son brought them to the gym the day after they arrived and played for hours with his buddies. After playing a few rounds, you could tell the competition level was rising and soon you could see the joy in their eyes as they got deeper into the game.

On the ride home that afternoon, my son talked non-stop about how much fun he had playing with the Top Trumps Card Games. He was excited to teach other kids at the gym how to play the game, as well.

Sure enough, as the weeks went by, more and more kids were playing in their group. It has become their first choice in games at the gym and they are having a blast.

I love that not only are the kids having fun, but they are also learning while they play. With many educational themes, the Top Trump Card Games would be a great way to incorporate games into your homeschool as well. They are also great for family game night and parties. Because the cards are dealt differently each time, the games are never the same, and you are bound to learn something new each time you play.

I am sure we will be adding more of the many choices of Top Trump Card Games available. There are so many choices in card themes, from animals to comics, countries to presidents, there is a card game to fit almost any interest. With the cost of $9.99 per deck of cards they are affordable and considering how many times you will be playing the game they are worth every penny.

I would recommend the Top Trumps Card Games for anyone looking for a game that takes up little space, while being fun and easy to pull out almost anywhere. I could see these being used in restaurants, on plane trips, road trips, and more. They are compact, easy to play, fun, and can be played with only a few or many players.  With so many choices in themes, there is bound to be one for each child in your life.

- Product review by Alexis Bennett, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, November, 2017

Another Review:

Top Trumps Card Games:

North American Wildlife Card Game

Which is the fastest? Ultimate Military Jets Card Game

Who is the best hunter? Creatures of the Deep Card Game

Top Trumps USA Inc.

www.toptrumps.us

Sometimes our school days fall into such a monotonous pattern that both Lauren and I wake up dreading another day of history readings, grammar workbooks, and science texts. In order to break up that monotony, I’ve started adding games to our school days. Sometimes I just offer a brainteaser game before school starts or set up a board game to play after we get some of our regular work done. Other times I declare it a “gameschooling” day and replace all of our normal schoolwork with games.

I recently received three decks of Top Trumps Card Games to add to my collection – North American Wildlife Card Game, Which is the fastest? Ultimate Military Jets Card Game, and Who is the best hunter? Creatures of the Deep Card Game.

All three of the games play in a similar fashion. A deck of these cards contains 30 cards, each containing facts and statistics for a different animal or military jet. For instance, the Coyote card in North American Wildlife tells that there are 19 subspecies of coyotes and that they are colored differently according on where they live. It then lists numerical values for several categories including maximum speed, cuteness, size, etc. The dealer deals out all of the cards to the players, and the cards are left in stacks face-down. The player to the right of the dealer starts first and looks at the top card in his stack. He then picks one of the five categories to compare with the other players’ top cards. In the case of the coyote, he may pick that its max speed is 40 mph. The other players turn over their top cards and see which animal has the highest speed. The winner puts these cards at the bottom of their stack and the next player takes a turn with their top card. Play continues until one person has won all the cards.

One of our favorite things was reading the trivia facts on the cards. Did you know that an armadillo can hold their breath for up to six minutes? Can you tell which fighter/bomber airplane has a range of over 7000 miles? As we played, we enjoyed debating some of the numbers on the cards, especially the values given for nonspecific traits such as cuteness or freaky factor. We definitely did not agree with the decision that the American Red Squirrel deserved a cuteness score of 49 when the fox only got a 41!

From an educational standpoint, I was thrilled to include these card games in our school days. Obviously, we learned a lot of facts about the animals and planes. As we continued playing through a single deck of cards, we also stretched our memories to remember which cards were more valuable in which areas. For instance, in the American Wildlife game, it helps to remember that the Peregrine Falcon had the highest maximum speed (200 mph), that the Northern American Alligator had the highest temper score, or that the Gary Wolf had the highest Top Trumps rating.

For the Creatures of the Deep game, it gives numerical scores for size (in inches), defenses, under threat, depth, and freaky factor. It never explicitly explains these categories, but it seems that “defenses” refers to the creature’s ability to defend itself and that “under threat” refers to how much at risk this animal is of becoming extinct.

The Military Jets card game ranks airplanes on maximum speed, maximum height, range, maximum take-off weight, wing span, and Top Trumps firepower. This deck of cards also includes a small flag in the top corner to depict which country flies the plane. Of the thirty cards, roughly two-thirds were American planes. Determining the countries for the other planes could lead to interesting geography and political/historical research endeavors.

Our family enjoyed playing these games, but sometimes found that it stretched on for a long time waiting for a single player to win all the cards. It was more enjoyable when we made a house rule to set a time limit and count cards to determine the winner at the end of that time.

Each Top Trumps Card Game set costs $9.99, with free shipping on orders over $25. They also have an offer where you can collect 5 Top Trumps Decks, send in the barcode card from each with a self-addressed stamped bubble envelope, and receive a free pack of your choice. In addition to the cards that we played with, Top Trumps makes decks for all sorts of academic and fun areas. I would love to add their Explore Our World bundle which includes The Wonders of the World, Countries of the World, and The United States. The rest of my family is begging to play the Star Wars pack which includes character cards with such categories as Brains, Dark Side, Jedi Powers, and Battle Skills.

I know that whichever Top Trumps Card Game we decide to add to our school days, It’ll provide a welcome break from our sometimes boring homeschool routine.

-Product review by Cristi Schwamb, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, November, 2017