Rory’s Story Cubes Review

Reviewed by Melody Floyde

As we are currently on lockdown and juggling home-schooling with home-working alongside keeping our boys entertained, I am constantly looking for new ideas of fun and educational activities for us to do together. I was therefore delighted to be asked to review Rory’s Story Cubes which sounded like they would fit the bill perfectly.  The idea behind the story cubes is that there are nine dice, each with different pictures on their faces and essentially you roll the cubes to make a story. I had heard my youngest son (aged 5) mention Story Cubes as he has played with them at school and said he enjoyed them so I was optimistic they would be a hit, and I was right, he was so excited when the cubes arrived and couldn’t wait to play with them. In fact he ran off with them and sat down playing quietly by himself for about 30 minutes (virtually unheard of for him!).

My initial impression of the Story Cubes were that they were a lot smaller than I had anticipated, but as the cubes are only the size of dice it means that they are nice and compact, so can easily be stored without taking up too much space (very important in our house) and would also be great for taking on holiday or trips as they could easily be slipped in a bag. For those who are interested the box measures 7.5cm x 7.5cm x 2.5cm.  I was really impressed with the quality of the Story Cubes, they come in a very sturdy box which closes magnetically and has a matching sleeve. The dice themselves are also really good quality, they are of a good weight and the pictures are engraved into the faces so I imagine they will last really well with no danger of the images rubbing off with being used. There is also a small instruction leaflet in the box which was very handy and gave hints and tips on ways to play and variations of the game. We were sent the classic Story Cubes to try which had all kinds of totally random pictures from lightning to parachutes and magic wands to sheep – not necessarily items you would think of as being in the same story.

We have enjoyed playing the classic game, taking it in turns to be the storyteller. To play the game all nine dice are rolled, then the storyteller has to tell a story to the other players (or themselves if they are playing alone) that incorporates all of the face-up pictures. The instructions luckily give some hints of how to do this successfully and we have all managed to make up some great (and not-so great) stories so far. There are also a couple of variations on the basic game suggested which we haven’t tried yet but will definitely be trying in the days to come. I really like the fact that the instructions are encouraging and give ideas on what to do if you are stuck for ideas – which I very often am. And most importantly with two very competitive boys and equally competitive dad the only rule of the game is that there are no wrong answers so we have avoided any arguments whilst playing!

I think that Rory’s Story Cubes are brilliant. They are fun but also educational and are great from both a fun at home and a learning at home point of view. Creating the stories really helps my sons to develop their creativity. My oldest son (8 years) struggles at school with creative writing and coming up with ideas and it is definitely his least favourite subject, but even he has enjoyed playing with the Story Cubes and they are really helping to develop his imagination and give him confidence in doing this. My youngest son (5 years) is slightly younger than the suggested age of 6+ for the game but he loves it and comes up with some great stories – probably the best of us all if I’m honest. He will very often go off to his bedroom with the cubes and I’ll find him sitting quietly playing with them. These are just what we need at the moment and I would highly recommend them to anyone looking for a quick and fun, but still educational game for their family.

We were sent the Classic Story Cubes but there are also other sets of cubes available to buy – Voyages, Actions and Fantasia which I would definitely consider buying in the future. Although, we are unlikely to run out of different stories to tell anytime soon as there are infinite possibilities using these cubes.

Rating: 5/5

RRP: £9.99

For more information please visit the Story Cubes website here.

This product can be purchased from Amazon here.