Shake Off Game Review

Reviewed by David Savage

When I was a lot younger, we didn’t have smartphones and portable game consoles, if we used a computer, we had to wait for games to load from tape, which took forever, so we played lots of board and other games. Then technology took over and everything had to have a screen. While screens have their place, I feel children need to play with other toys and games.

Now the focus is changing again with people realising too much screen time isn’t a good thing. It can lead to bad social skills, weight gain and unfit children so old-fashioned style games are becoming much more popular, and as kids are finding out, so much fun!

We were sent Ideal’s Shake Off to review and while it is a fun game, it also gets kids (and adults that want to play) moving around. With twins who love to just around and dance (if you can call it dancing), we couldn’t wait to try it out.

Shake Off is a fun and frantic fitness game, that not only helps with fitness but will have you falling over with laughter. It is a game for 2+ players, aged 4 years plus and takes approx. 10 minutes to play each game.

In the box are:

• 2x Shake-o-meters (requires 2x LR44 batteries which are included)
• 2x Sweatbands (1x red, 1x blue)
• 1x Spinner
• 1x Electronic timer (requires 2x AAA batteries which are NOT included)
• 1x Instructions (glued to inside lid of the box)

When you want to play, make sure that you have a fairly large area free from anything that can be knocked over.

The idea of the game is simple, you basically wear the Shake-o-meter and jump around clocking up a score on the meter that registers movement. To play you spin the wheel and when it stops it will point to a section telling you wear to wear the Shake-o-meter and how to use it.

There are four quarters on the board that tell you wear to wear the Shak-o-meter:

• Sweatband on the wrist
• Front waistband
• Back waistband
• Sweatband on the ankle

These quarters are then split into four sections that tell you how to move:

• Freestyle
• Jump
• Run
• Target Play

So if the spinner lands on Sweatband on the wrist and the jump symbol, each player puts the sweatband on their wrist and attach the Shake-o-meter, then the timer is started (you can select 15 or 30 seconds) and then each jump about until the timer goes off – the player (or team) with the highest number of their Shake-o-meter receives a point. Points are register their point on the sliding scorer on the edge of the Shake-o-meter – the first to get 5 notches (points) on their sliding slider is the winner.

The kids absolutely loved playing this. It really is fun and very energetic – I was persuaded to join in and was exhausted after 2 rounds, so definitely one for the kids to play. It is a very simple idea and gets the kids running (on the spot or around the room), jumping about and getting some exercise. It is a fast game with gameplay of around 10 minutes but as it is quite energetic a 10-minute game is quite enough before having a break.

The Shake-o-meter is excellent as it registers movement and displays a number on the LCD panel. The sliding scorer is easy to move up and down to keep track of the score. The sweatbands are small enough to fit the children and stretch enough to fit an adult wrist.

This is a fantastic game to get the kids off their phones and tablets. It is great for social interaction, is a lot of fun and is certainly great exercise.

Rating: 5/5

RRP: £19.99

Available to buy from Amazon here.