Duck Duck Bruce

I've recently been playing a lot of Gamewright games. Gamewright publishes games that are mainly focused toward kids. I've played a few of them with my 3 year old daughter and she has loved them. What's surprised me most though is that I've had a ton of fun playing them as well. One of the games that I've had the most fun with is Duck Duck Bruce.

Duck Duck Bruce is for kids 6 and up. I played it with my daughter, but she didn't quite grasp the concepts. She really like the fun art though. I played it with my wife a little later in the day and luckily she picked up on it really quick. :)

Gamewright says this about the game: "A flock of ducks waddling through bizarre locations and a rambunctious dog named Bruce. If this sounds like a strange combination for a card game, wait until you give it a try! After just one round, we guarantee you'll be barking (or quacking) for more. Remember to say "Duck!" every time you reveal a duck card and do your best to resist the temptation of turning over more cards than you should. Oh, and Bruce loves to be scratched behind his ears, and on his belly, and well - just about everywhere else!"

The object of the game is to score the most points by collect numbered cards in a variety of different suits. A suit of duck cards could be: ducks at a pond, ducks on a log, or ducks on a treadmill for example. Cards are numbered from 1 to 4 but only the highest number in each collected suit counts at the end of the game.

To start the game all of the cards are shuffled and put in the middle of the table. The starting player turns over the top card of the deck and starts a row of face up cards next to the draw pile. If the card is a duck the player says "Duck!". The player can then either take the card or draw another card and place it next to the first. Play continues and the player either takes the card/cards or keeps drawing cards. If two cards of the same suit are drawn it's called a "double duck". If you get a double duck you must discard all cards in between and including the two cards that match. The remaining cards are then place into your nest for scoring at the end of the game. Play then passes to the left.

If a Bruce card is turned over all players shout "Bruce!". Your turn ends immediately and you lose all of the face up cards in the row. You now have the opportunity to steal cards from another player. The player says 1 to 3 indicating how many cards they are trying to steal. The player then rolls the dice and if the number on the dice is equal to or higher than the number of cards they want, they get to randomly take those cards from another players nest and add then to their own nest. If the roll is a -1 the person they are trying to steal from gets one of their cards.

The round ends when the draw deck is gone. Players then sort all of the cards in their nest by suit and count only the highest numbered cards in each suit. The person with the highest total is the winner for the round. You can play for a set number rounds, a specific length of time, or play until one player reaches a set point value.

Duck Duck Bruce is a lot of fun. I really enjoy press your luck type games. The game kind of reminds me of Incan Gold, but has a different feel and is definitely geared more toward kids. The art is great. The cards are high quality and should last through hours and hours of fun. This is a great game to help teach and reinforce counting and matching skills for kids. Games can be great teaching tool and this game is no exception. So if you're looking for a fun press your luck type card game with a fun theme this one might be for you. Thanks for reading and happy gaming!