Garden Maze Genius Review

Reviewed by Alice Dixon

Summer is here along with the long school holidays coming up but unfortunately that doesn’t necessarily equate to sunshine and warm days. As much as I am hoping to make lovely memories exploring the outdoors, having beach days and adventures, I’m sure there will be plenty of wet days too. I will most likely need to find some indoor activities to keep the kids entertained.

We have been trying out a game this week that is ideal for summer fun especially when you need to be inside and it also gets children’s brains thinking.

Garden Maze Genius from the Happy Puzzle Company is a single player game suitable for ages 5 to 10 years in which the player needs to build a maze using little houses to get a small ball from the start to the finish. The game is played on a plastic board in the shape of a house with a grid and numbers and letters running up the sides. First you must roll four dice. Two with a number and letter corresponding to a grid reference and two with a number corresponding to a small plastic house. This gives a starting point for the first two houses to be placed on the grid. Once this is done the child needs to use the other houses to create a maze which connects the start and finish. Finally test out your maze by picking up the board by the grips and using a small ball to tilt through the maze.

My son, who is eight, got stuck into this straight away. He found the setup and instructions very easy to follow and quickly got playing. I thought he might lose interest after a while but with a total of 4096 possible puzzles to attempt it’s a different challenge each time he plays.

I like how good quality yet simple the game is. There are only a few components that neatly fit into a cardboard box. I think the little houses are especially well made with good detail. The metal balls for the maze are very small therefore this really isn’t suitable for under fives. Luckily there is a spare included too. I can imagine my son will easily lose the tiny ball!

The game retails at £19.99 which I think is a little expensive for how simple the toy is with few pieces but I do believe this will get a lot of use for the money.

What I like most about this game is that whilst it will certainly keep my son occupied over the summer it is also getting his brain thinking. The game helps develop spatial awareness, thinking skills and strategic planning. Also, although it is a single player game, Garden Maze could easily be enjoyed with two or three children working and playing together. This is a really fun game even us adults and my older son really enjoyed having a try and seeing if we could solve the puzzle.

Rating: 5/5

RRP: £19.99

This product can be purchased from the Happy Puzzle Company website here.