Piranha Panic product reviews

If you have little ones who enjoy being part of the weekend 'boardgames' session, then this could be worth a look at. With basic rules, easy to assemble and rated for ages 5 and up, this game is actually quite suitable for kids of all ages.

A little adult supervision is required during the first couple of times the board is assembled, simply because the connections are a little stiff until they have been 'worn in'... in particulr the backboard is a little difficult for tiny hands.

A simple 2-player game, with each player only dealing with a single shoal of fish, can take as little as 6 minutes to play, so great for dealing with those brief patches where you are waiting for household chef to finish cooking dinner, or can be extended out to a vigorous 20 minute game if you each play 2 shoals. A 3-player game is also fun, but the most taxing games is a 4-player head-to-head battle for dominion of the waterway! The gloves are off, no more Mr Nice Fish!

Personally, I was most impressed by the construction and design of the game. Simple, easy to manufacture, but oh-so-wonderfully effective. With an array of pins inside the run that scatters the 'pirahna' marbles so that they are semi-random, the way the flip-over fish are built so that only ones holding a fish marble will actually flip over to 'eat', and the simple lever-release mechanism at the top for releasing the 'piranhas' at the same time... amazingly great use of some simple design ideas to come up with a very clever game.

Overall, my 8 year old son loved it, his 6 and 7 year old mates loved it, and a visiting 3 year old adored it! It kept them happy and quiet (excepting the occasional groan of defeat or whoop of victory) for well over 2 hours... so that kept *me* happy too. Sure, it's not the fanciest game out there, but let's face it... fun doesn't always need flashy lights, batteries and a siren!