Orchard Toys Times Tables Heroes Review

Reviewed by Joanne Robbins

I recently read that Multiplication Tables Checks are going to become compulsory for primary school children in Year 4 so I thought with this extra time we have at home it was the perfect opportunity for my children to start learning and practicing their times tables more.  This suggestion was not very exciting to them at first but Orchard Toys have a fantastic game to make learning multiplication tables at home both educational and fun with Times Tables Heroes.  

Times Tables Heroes is a board game perfect for children age 6-9 and can be played by 2-4 players. I found this game to be a really great value product because you actually get 2 games in 1.

The first game we played is called Hero City. To play this game you assemble the jigsaw shaped pieces to create the city board. You then get to pick a superhero reference card and matching character play piece.

Superheroes are really popular with my children and these superheroes are also animals which make them even more appealing to children of all ages.  An example of one of our favourite characters is Smart Llama who has amazing bright, colourful rainbow hair and three special powers. 

There are different levels of difficulty in this game so children of various mathematical abilities and ages are still able to play together by choosing the spinner that suits them best.  The green spinner helps to practice the 2, 5 and 10 times tables or you can use the red spinner to practice up to 12. 

Once you have decided on a spinner the fun really begins. You spin the square spinner and your chosen spinner and then work out what the answer to the two numbers multiplied together would be. 

The children really enjoyed shouting out their answers and then they were able to use the times table checker board to see if their answer was correct.

The instruction booklet provided in the game box explains everything in clear and easy to follow stages so that everyone can learn and understand how to play. 

You all start on the bright yellow star space and the winner of the game is the first player to make their way around the board and reach the evil robot first.

As you move your player around the board you may find yourself landing on a shield space. This adds a great new aspect to the game as you get to pick up a shield card from the top of the pile and describe a disaster that is happening to the city, for example an angry dinosaur on the loose.  You then refer to your superhero character and their special powers to think of a way they might be able to save the city.  This really helps your child to use their imagination and creative thinking and to share their ideas with the family.  The number on the shield card also allows you to move that amount of bonuses spaces so there was great excitement from any player lucky enough to land on one of these special spaces. 

This game has something all children will enjoy whether that’s the mention of superheroes or saving the city from unicorns, slime and monsters. All this fun happens at the same time as learning their multiplications.

The second game you can play is Three in a Row Bingo. The reverse side of the Hero City board now becomes the individual bingo cards. You use the spinners to create the multiplication and again shout out the answer.  Everyone who is playing gets to check their bingo card to see if they have that number just like you would in a normal bingo game.  If you are lucky enough to have the answer called out on your board then you can place a shield card over that number.  The first player to get 3 shield cards in a row in any direction shouts “Three in a Row” and wins. A great idea given on the instruction booklet is to again use the shield card to also make up little stories of how you would solve that particular disaster.

Times Tables Heroes is such a great way to make learning at home more fun. Both games provide a really enjoyable way for all the family to spend time together or children to have fun learning together. It never becomes boring or repetitive for them to play because they can always choose a new brightly coloured superhero character to help get around the board, save the city from various disasters and create new challenging multiplications with the spinners.  

You can even use the times table checker on its own as a tool for helping with homework or your own quick fire multiplication questions so there really is so many educational and fun ways to use this game. 

Rating: 5/5

Price: £10.50 

Available to buy from Orchard Toys here.