A clever game that isn’t made with plastic
In my quest to throw out as many plastic toys as possible, the Parent Bloggers Network enticed me with an offer to try out a new family game, Rapido, from the Discovery Channel Store. This game is made from 100% natural bamboo, and wood. Real stuff from the earth. Once my boys started to put their hands around Rapido’s soft bamboo cylinders, and started rolling the wooden balls around in their hands, they were sucked in, and found the game irresistible to put down.
You play the game with four people — four bamboo cylinders per player. Each player picks up their own bamboo strip, color coded in random order to match the wooden balls. Discovery Toys was ingenious in leveling the playing field with this game by making it possible for a 12-year-old and a 4-year-old to play together by creating 8 color-coded strips. Four are coded for beginners, and four are coded for advanced players. Following the colors on your strip, the object of the game is to “catch” the rolling balls with your cylinder… in the order of the colors on your strip. So the beginner strip has colors that repeat — two yellows, two reds, two blues, etc. in various order. The advanced strip has no repeats, rather a random pattern of the colors. Once you release the balls, they roll around inside the white string circle placed on the floor, and you race as fast as you can to catch the balls in your cylinder. A great way to develop fast eye-hand coordination, learning colors, and engaging fun, without the use of electricity!
The game is beatiful for not only its natural materials, but also with its elegant simplicity. The boys spent at least 40 minutes exploring the mechanics of the game, fascinated by how all the parts work, without the use of batteries, springs and plastic. A clever black rubber-band attached to the end of the cylinder lets the balls go in as you “punch” them on top of the wooden ball, and the rubber-band holds the balls inside, so they don’t tumble out during the game.
The game was created from people from 15 nations , working together to design toys for children made from bamboo, an abundant renewable resource. We love this as a family game, as so many ages can play this together. But, I know I will pick up a few more boxes of Rapido. It’s the kind of gift I’m proud to give to another family as a birthday present.
They don’t call it Rapido for Nothing…
[...] And check out my review on a great game, that we’re probably actually playing right now, here. Bookmark to: Hide [...]
[...] fact, one mother reported that her kids “spent at least 40 minutes exploring the mechanics of the game, fascinated by how all the parts work,…“ She went on to comment: “The game is beautiful for not only its natural materials, [...]