SculptaPalooza Review
Reviewed by David Savage
Everyone loves a good board or party game. They are great for spending some quality family time together, passing the time on a rainy day when it is just impossible to go out or just enjoying the evening as a couple. Board games are a much more social way to pass the time, and are far healthier than letting the children play in solitary on their electronic gadgets, such as phones, tablets, games consoles etc…
Games come in a plethora of guises, from ones where you move pieces around the board and the first to the finish line wins to ones where you answer a series of questions (either individually or as a team), to ones that are activity based or require interaction on your part.
We have plenty of board, table top and party games in our house and were very intrigued when a new one turned up from Learning Resources, who for over 30 years have been a leader in educational toys and games. SculptaPalooza is a combination of the above types of games and involves creativity on the players part – you need to sculpt your answer using Playfoam (think Pictionary, but in 3D).
SculptaPalooza is described as “the squishy, squashy sculpting party game! Perfect for family games nights and parties, this fast-paced sculpting battle combines the creativity of Playfoam® with engaging, imaginative game play!”
So, SculptaPalooza is a game for 4 or more players and is played in teams. It has a suitable age range of 10 to Adult. The box consists of:
- Playfoam
- Sculpting Mat
- 200 Challenge Cards
- 20 Blank Challenge Cards
- Scorecard
- Die
- Timer
- 7 Tokens (Scorecard markers)
SculptaPalooza is very easy to set up, fast paced and hilarious to play, for both adults and children. The object of the game is sculpt item named on the card, and for your playing partner to guess it (quite similar to drawing and playdough based games), each correct guess wins a point and the first to twenty points wins.
To start, you split into teams – we had one adult with each child. Each team takes a token and places it on the start of the scorecard. Roll the die and the team with the highest number gets the privilege (or horror) of being the team to sculpt first. Within your team, choose who will sculpt first, once decided this will remain the order throughout the entire game.
Roll the die. If number 1 to 5 is thrown the sculptor draws a matching clue card, if the lightning symbol is thrown the sculptor draws a Tag Team Lightning Round card. Clue cards are just for the sculptor’s playing partner to try and guess the answer, the lightning cards are open to everyone to answer.
The Clue Cards are split into five categories:
- Straight Up Sculpt (you sculpt on the mat)
- Put It On Your Face (you stick the Playfoam to your body)
- Just Close Your Eyes (sculpt with your eyes closed)
- Playfoam Props (you have to sculpt a prop and act it out)
- Sculptor’s Choice (you can choice any category to play)
If the answer is guessed correctly before the timer runs out, that team is awarded one point. If the time runs out without correctly guessing the answer, the opposing team gets ONE guess and can steal the point.
The Lightning Round Cards have one answer on each side of the card. The sculptor has 60 seconds to act out as many as possible sculpting props, attaching Playfoam to your body. Whoever guesses correctly then picks a card and continues until the 60 seconds expire. Each team is awarded one point for each correctly guessed answer.
Awarded points sees the token move one space on the board, first to twenty wins!
Overall, we had mixed feeling over this game. It is fast-paced, energetic and fun and is great for keeping the kids creative and using their imagination. We found that some of the questions were just too Americanised and most non-American 10 year olds won’t know the answer (i.e. how many 10 year olds know who Abraham Lincoln was, and what he looked like?).
While I was vaguely aware of Playfoam before playing this game, I wasn’t sure it would be the best medium but it works quite well as it is very pliable and doesn’t dry out.
With the questions that were suitable for the children it was fun and we enjoyed it (even if the kids were better at the sculpting, as the adults wanted to take more time over their masterpieces). With the school summer holidays coming up it would pass the time quite well.
Rating: 4.5/5
RRP: £19
For more information or to buy visit www.learningresources.co.uk.
