At Blogger Bash, Sweet Suite 2016 I was given two games from Twizmo Games. they were Emoji Wars and Tak Tak. Opinions of these games are 100% our own.

On Friday we had a nice quiet day to spend as a family. No one had to run off anywhere so we had time to finally give Emoji Wars a shot. The game is for ages 8+ but Andrew was able to play along with some help. It is a good game for him to play and work on his math skills. He also liked it because he got a ton of energy and was able to attack everyone.

Emoji Wars is based around the idea that Emojis have been around for thousands of years but they have been fighting a battle to find the one true ruler. The game is pretty easy to pick up and play. I may have messed up the directions as we went but we got the general idea down right. There are commander cards, ally cards, spell, weapon and energy cards. Each player creates a team with one commander and 3 allies. Commanders can wield spells and weapons but allies have an affinity for one or the other. So allies can either only use spells and shields of magic or weapons and shields of strength.

Cards like the ones above are very easy to read and it is easy to determine the current value of each of the allies or commanders. Each ally or commander has life points, that is the middle number of the card. You can increase those points by adding shields to the ally or commander (up to 2 on each). Other players can try and decrease your life points by playing either spells or weapons on the character. Players slide cards under their allies and commanders and can easily determine the value of each character. We had great moments of learning with both kids as they attempted to use the right weapons and spells to knock other players out of the game. Learning to figure out mathematical strategies in their heads as we went along was impressive. For a much better description of gameplay got to the Emjoi Wars site.

The second game that we played was tak-tak. This is a simple to play game but developing strategies on how to win. It incorporates elements of checkers and chess but is number and color based so it is very simple for younger players to pick up. While the recommended age is 8 and up, I have only played this with Andrew and he picked it up quickly.

Players move from their “safe zone” into the “War Zone” where they battle other players. players move across the board either straight or diagonally. When they encounter each other they can attack (stack their tak-tak piece on top of their opponent’s) if their color is the same or if their number is the same. When setting up the board players determine the layout of their pieces. There is certainly strategy involved in how the pieces are set up. While it is recommended for older kids it was enjoyable for Andrew and I to play together.