Plyt WhotChilli Review
Reviewed by Angela Paull
Plyt’s mission is simple – to encourage people to spend time with each other playing fun and stimulating face to face games.
We were sent the intriguingly titled “WhotChilli” to try out and I think they’ve pretty much achieved their mission! Firstly, the game is small, perfect for taking on your holidays or even chucking in your handbag and playing on train journeys or whilst waiting for food if you pop out for something to eat (all games last between 10-30 minutes).
In the pack are 36 “Chilli” cards and a dice (which my 6-year-old was super excited by as its 12 sided and he loves a dodecahedron!). The cards range from cool green chillis, numbered 1, to super hot red chillis, numbered 6. Each chilli has its own personality and they are illustrated fabulously. Green looks chilled out and relaxed whilst red hot number 6 looks ready to cause all sorts of mischief!
The best thing though is how multipurpose “WhotChilli” is. Enclosed within the pack are rules for three games whilst there are a further two online at www.plyt.co.uk.
All of the games are for 2-6 players and for ages 6+. In the pack are instructions for “Lookin’ Hot”, “Salsa” and “Chilly Chilli” whilst online the additional games are “Holy Moly” and “Scorchio”.
They provide a variety of game play at different levels. “Lookin’ Hot” is a tricky one where you have to try and read your opponents’ minds. Meanwhile “Salsa” is a card version of that 70’s classic Mastermind.
My personal favourite was “Scorchio” which had some similarity to Whist, in so much as that you have to score tricks, but the value of your cards is altered by throwing the dice on each turn and multiplying your result by the number on your chosen card. Added to that is the fact that you have to predict how successful you’ll be before the game begins, to boost your score, so you can see that there is lots of opportunity to use your brain and practice multiplication!
Most of the games have a familiarity about them and are reasonably straightforward to learn and play. To give additional help there is a video tutorial of each game on Plyt’s website. Some were a bit beyond our 6-year-old but he quite enjoyed using the cards to play a simple game of pairs and to use for maths practice (with 6 cards of each colour it gave lots of opportunity to use them for times table practice for numbers 1 to 6).
Plyt are continually developing their games so there will probably be more ways to play with these cards in due course and it would be worth checking back on their website from time to time.
To quote them “Playing games is a brilliant way to encourage children to learn, practice and enjoy numbers from an early age. Players get so involved with the games that they almost forget they are even doing maths – it’s maths by stealth!”
That’s surely got to be a good thing not just for the kids but the adults too! I know my brain always benefits from a mental workout and if you can have fun whilst you’re doing it then so much the better.
For the sheer variety of games, ease of use, convenience and educational value “WhotChilli” has to score 5/5!
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £9.99
Available to buy from Amazon here. For more information visit www.plyt.co.uk.
