As a child, I was constantly getting little five by five grid puzzles with one piece taken out, which you rearranged to get a picture. These were fun for me, as I was a big fan of puzzles; but they weren't really that difficult - almost like a simplified Rubik's Cube. Maya and Miguel Word Scramble (Briarpatch, 2005 - Uncredited) looks like a large version of one of these puzzles - but with forty-eight letters in it, making it quite a bit larger. The object of the game is to make words, either in English or Spanish, by rearranging the letters as quickly as possible.
As a solitaire puzzle, this might be an interesting activity - something that could easily be used as a teaching tool. But frankly, as a game, this just doesn't add up. Every time that I've brought it out with more than one kid (obviously the age group that it's targeted at), they've gotten bored and disinterested quickly. I think that as a tool to keep a bright child interested on a long car trip, Word Scramble might be just the ticket. It simply isn't engaging enough to be a good game.
A pile of cards with words on them - both in English and Spanish - is shuffled and placed on the table. The Word Scramble board has the letters that are on it mixed up and handed to the first player. A timer and a paper to keep score are prepared, and the game begins.
On a player's turn, they draw the top card and flip the two-minute timer. They then attempt to slide the tiles around until they spell out one of the words on the card. Words can be formed either vertically or horizontally. Once a player has gotten a word, they may go on to another word on the card. When time has run out, a player scores points equal to the number of letters in the word(s) that they have spelled. Bonus points are given for words with five or more letters. The next player then takes their turn, with play passing around the table three times to complete a game. The player with the most points is the winner!
In the advanced rules, the player looks at the back of the card (which has pictures, but no words) and spells a word that has to do with the picture (for example, if there is a picture of a pig, I could put "pig", or "pork", or "oink", etc.) After that, the player must then flip the card and spell out the same word in Spanish. Completing the Spanish part will double the player's points for both words.
Some comments on the game…
1.) Components: The large plastic puzzle board is fairly well done, with the letters sliding around easily. The letter selection is a typical English mixture - multiple vowels, etc. The cards are also rather nice with colorful pictures on one side and then the words printed across a silhouette of the picture on the other. They are of good quality and match that of the timer and board. Everything fits inside a nice plastic insert inside a box which is WAY too big for the game (at least quadruple in size). One thing that I did not enjoy was how the lid of the box has a hole in it, so that prospective buyers can see the puzzle board before buying. This may be nice for storeowners, but it's an annoyance; since if the box is moved around in anyway, it's possible for the rules or other pieces to slide out.
2.) Rules: The rulebook is simply two pages, which is really all that is needed; as you can see that I clearly explained it in less time than that. The game is actually quite self-explanatory to anyone who has ever done one of these types of puzzles before. Even my five year old daughter was able to grasp what to do, although she did it a bit slower than I.
3.) Maya and Miguel: Perhaps I'm not attuned to popular culture as much as I should be, but I've never heard of this PBS children's cartoon. I did some searching on the internet and found the website, but the only thing that ties this game to the show is the pictures on the box and board (and possibly the bilingual aspect of the game.)
4.) Puzzle: I'll admit; I was a bit intrigued to see how fast I could spell some of the words, frantically sliding tiles around to see how fast I could do it. And that certainly does make for an interesting exercise, although it would look a bit silly if I did it in public (it screams "kid's game") on it. However, some people are much better at this kind of sorting and puzzle solving than others, and they will do tremendously better in a game.
5.) Educational: The game has educational merit, I will grant. Not only is there the bilingual aspect of the game (both English and Spanish), but it also teaches kids puzzle skills, thinking skills, and in the advanced version - word (palabra) skills. I find that it's a useful thing to give my daughter to do when she is seeking something to keep her occupied.
6.) Fun Factor: But note that I said I would give it to her to keep her occupied, not actually play the game with her. That's because on another player's turn in this game, you simply sit there and do nothing (nada). While this is tolerable in games in which you might sit and concentrate on your future turns, it's really intolerable in a kid's game in which they have nothing to do. Every time I've brought this into a group of two or more kids, it has failed miserably - simply just being too boring.
And really, that's a death knell for the game. Any game that is boring is not worth playing, no matter how educational it might be. The only reason I can think of to purchase the game is as an activity for your child, and a puzzle book is cheaper and probably has better long term rewards. Maya and Miguel: Word Scramble looks nice and will probably be purchased by those who are fans of the cartoon, but I don't think the game will bring fun to many at all. And games must be fun.
Tom Vasel
"Real men play board games"
www.tomvasel.com
