Snow Problem By The Happy Puzzle Company Review

DISCLOSURE – THIS ITEM WAS GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW. ALL THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS ARE THE REVIEWER’S OWN.

Reviewed by Alison Rood

As a family, we love playing games, especially problem solving ones.  So I was thrilled to be asked to review Snow Problem.

Snow Problem is a Christmassy/Winter themed problem solving game from the Happy Puzzle Company.

The Happy Puzzle Company manufactures and stocks puzzles and games for all the family.  The company boasts an impressive 300 award-winning puzzles, games and puzzle books.  We have had games from them before, a lot of their games are STEM based so they are always a hit with us as we believe that learning is better when it is fun!

And Snow Problem was a lot of fun……although also slightly frustrating (in a fun way!) the further up the difficulty scale you went.

The packaging of the game is a pretty standard, but sturdy, box. It is well illustrated and this gives you an idea of what is inside and what the game is about.  It also displayed the STEM logo, advises that the game is for 1 player and that it is aged at 8 plus.

Inside the box itself is the “board”, which is a white, plastic, snowy shaped rectangle with holes cut out to place your pieces.  The pieces consist of large snowballs, medium snowballs, snowman heads and trees.

You also get an instruction booklet which details the rules/aim of the game and also includes picture instructions of where to place your items for the 80 different multi level challenges.  These levels include starter, junior, expert, master and wizard.

The aim of the game is to stack your snowballs and build your snowmen/men by moving the snowy items around the snowboard.

A bit like chess, there are some rules in regards to how you can move the pieces around the board.  For example, snowballs can move horizontally and vertically, but only if there is an obstacle somewhere along the same path to stop the snowballs rolling off the edge.  The snowman’s head can only be stacked – so you have to have his body built and next to him in order to complete him.

We actually took this on a glamping holiday with us which was easy to do thanks to the box not being huge or flimsy. Due to the fun looking graphics on the box, our 5 year old son instantly wanted to be involved.  He is old enough not to have to worry about small parts now, so we let him in on the fun.  He loved helping set it up – positioning all the playing pieces.

He definitely needed the rules explaining a few times and also needed our help at some points, but that made it all the more enjoyable, as despite it being aimed as a 1 player game, all 3 of us huddled together to play.  So I would say not to let the advised number of players or the “”suitable for ages put you off.

He did the first 2 beginner games and then it was the grown ups turn!  My husband skipped the starter and junior challenges and went straight to expert.  This suited him as he is a really logical thinker who enjoys taking his time to weigh up his options before making a move.  He came to conclusions pretty quickly though and moved up to the next level after a couple of turns.  I am a bit impatient and give up easily, so I stuck to the expert level for quite a while.

If you are someone who gets to the “I give up point” – the quickest way to solve the puzzle is detailed in the back of the instruction book.  I did resort to it at least once, and quickly kicked myself when I saw the way to do it!

Snow Problem would make a great gift.  I know the in thing to do now is “December boxes” and “Christmas Eve boxes” – this game would make a lovely addition to one of those as it is something of quality that can be brought out year after year.

For us, it will be packed in the loft at the end of December and will definitely be brought out again next year.  It will be a lovely new tradition for us to do during December.  And it will be intriguing to see how our son advances up the levels as the years go by.

Snow Problem is a brand new game which is available as a ‘special limited first edition’.  Only 3000 copies have been made world-wide, so if you buy this, you may be in on a future collectors item!

Rating: 4.5/5 (I do think the price point is a little steep and would have had it at around £19.99)

RRP: £22.99

For more information or to buy, visit www.happypuzzle.co.uk.