(Gifted) Described as “The magnetic game that clacks when you stack!” Clack! Game is a fast paced fun game for 2 to 6 players. It is recommended for age 5 and upwards but there is a suggested adaptation for younger children and my 3 year old was able to play this way. Read this review to find out why we think this is a great game to play with family and friends and would make a good gift.
We received Clack! Game to review |
Clack! Game Review
How To Play Clack! Game
Clack! is one of those games that are super easy to understand the rules of so you can get started straight away. The box contains 36 magnetic discs and 2 dice. Each of the discs have 3 shapes on them, each of which can be any of a possible 5 different ones (footprint, flower, star, arrow or jigsaw piece). Each of the shapes is coloured either red, green, blue, yellow or purple. One of the dice has the 5 colours on and a white side, the other dice has the shapes on and a white side.
First you lay out all the magnetic pieces on a table then the first player (the oldest) rolls the 2 dice. All players race to grab the discs which match the dice eg if the shape dice had an arrow and the colour dice lands purple side up then all the discs with a purple arrow need to be picked up.
As an extra twist if either dice lands white side up then you have to race to get all the pieces that match the other dice eg if one dice is red and the shape dice is blank then all discs with any red shape can be picked up. If both dice land white side up it’s a crazy rush to pick up all the discs.
Each player can only have one stack of discs so after your first one is collected you use your existing stack to pick the next piece up. This is easy to do because they are magnetic so if you put your stack on top of another disc it will pick it up.
There are different numbers of each shape/ colour combination so sometimes there are only 3 matching discs in the whole pack and sometimes 6 or so. As the game continues it’s obviously harder to get to the pieces first as there are less possible matches. There are also rounds where no pieces will match the dice combination, however due to the blank and white side you don’t end up rolling the dice endlessly.
When there are no discs left to collect the game is over and you can really quickly see who has won by comparing the size of the stacks: the tallest tower wins. You don’t even need to count. As the games can finish pretty quickly you might want to keep a running score of how many games each person has won or do first to win 5 rounds.
Clack! is easy to pick up and a fun game for families |
Quickly reveal who has won by comparing the height of the stacks |
Playing Clack! Game With Children Under 5
The rules suggest adapting the game for children under 5. Instead of all players racing against each other to pick up the pieces they suggest on each roll of the dice just one player picks up the matching pieces. I don't think this version of the game is as fun, but it does work better for younger children. If they are confident playing games like Orchard Toys Dirty Dinos then it would be a good progression into a more complicated game.
Those with smaller hands will find it slightly harder to manage their stack as it gets bigger, however the magnets are fairly strong so unless they have a huge stack it should still stay together. The rules say you can only use one hand to manage your stack and pick pieces up, but if younger players are struggling I would let them use 2 hands to manage their stack.
Roll the dice and race to get the matching discs before the other players |
How Do We Rate Clack! Game?
Clack! is a similar concept to lots of games we love in that you are competing with other players to find a matching card or piece. Having said that this game is original enough that it feels fresh so it is a game to add to your collection rather than to replace similar games. It is really easy to pick up and can be played with children right through to grandparents making it a proper family game. The only people that this game won’t work for is those with red/ green colour blindness because they may struggle to differentiate the 2 colours on the dice and game pieces.
Clack! Game also gets a thumbs up from me because it is quick to tidy and all the pieces easily go back into the compact box. The small box is perfect to fit into an already busy games cupboard or to pop into a bag for holidays. Another bonus is that if you lose a piece or 2 the game is still playable, it’s only the dice that are essential.
There is nothing complicated about this game and just like in Dobble and Grabolo the challenge is spotting the matching pieces. Sometimes you can look and look and not see a match, other times you can see lots quickly.
The only challenge we had was when someone rolled the dice where not everyone could see as this gave some people an unfair advantage so we changed it to throwing the dice into the box lid which was kept centrally.
Clack! Game was invented by Him Shafir and Koby Ben Aroush. The game is produced by Amigo and distributed by VR Distribution. It is available to buy from Amazon and a number of smaller retailers including Travelling Man and Zatu games
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