FoxMind Games: Racing Hedgehogs, a Family Betting Race Game from Dr. Reiner Knizia, up to 5 Players, Ages 6 and up.

The Foxmind Games: Racing Hedgehogs Game is clever and unique!I appreciate that this game works toward getting kid to do more than just role a dice or draw a single card to move forward. There is betting involved and hand management. It's a game of bluffing a bit to get ahead. These sorts of strategy's push a child toward more involved games later on as they get older.This game takes very little setup. Note if playing with a full party of people, chances are you will run out of tokens and have to figure out how to deal with that on your own.The betting feature is teaching kids to plan ahead which can be a very good thing to learn.The colorful board, pieces, and parts draw kids in and that less complexity though small challenge is sure to keep one hooked.I say it is a game worth giving a shot especially if you are looking to expand gaming skills.

Reiner Knizia is the closest thing to a celebrity in the board game community. He has developed or co-developed hundreds of board games over a multi-decade career, and is frequently recognized at the annual Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year) awards.Prior to receiving Racing Hedgehogs I was mostly familiar with Dr. Knizia's games targeted for older players. He's received many, many awards for his children's games as well, but this was the first I had played.And I wasn't disappointed. This is an excellent game for players of any age. The rules are simple - the strategy is anything but. It took longer to shuffle the cards than it did for us to learn the rules, and by the second or third round we were hooked. While the rules may be accessible to players six and up, there's an element of strategy that makes this perhaps better suited to older players.The product description describes this as a "family betting game", but it's not gambling in the traditional sense. 3-5 players are spectators in a race between four hedgehogs. Players can move any of the hedgehogs by playing a card of a corresponding color. Hedgehogs that progress further are worth more points at the end of the round - every card you play works both for and against you. You need to play enough cards to advance your 'favorite' hedgehog, while keeping enough cards in your hand to increase your score.Quality and design are fabulous with adorable illustrations. Pieces are chunky for small hands, and cards are brightly colored and easy to interpret. We found that for a five player game there weren't enough tokens to keep score - we kept score with pen and paper instead.But overall a solid game - easy to explain and a lot of replay value. Highly recommended.

as described

I acquired this game through Amazon Vine. I was interested in the product as a family game for the summer.The only drawback to this game is that it is limited to 3-5 players.But once you get playing, it is pretty fun.It's different in that each player is not given a hedgehog. All four hedgehogs are always in play and any player can move any hedgehog.Basically, you're dealt cards and, in looking at your hand, you take turns playing one card at a time to move one of the hedgehogs either 1 or 2 spaces. You continue taking turns until a player moves a hedgehog across the finish line, ending the race. From there, points are awarded based on the cards remaining in each player's hand and the location of the hedgehogs on the board.It's different for sure. After playing four total races (one practice and then one full three-player game), I haven't figured out much of a strategy. You can't play all of your blue cards and try to have the blue hedgehog win because a) you won't have any blue cards left to earn points and b) the other hedgehogs could be on spaces worth negative points and subtract from your score for the race. You pretty much have to hedge your bets... hence, I guess... hedgehogs!

___ The Good: ____* Cute theme* Easy to teach, this is clearly targeted at children.* Somewhat deeper than it first looks. This is at the core a hand management game with a small bluffing element.___ The Bad ____* Not enough point tokens are included. Every time I play we run short of 1s and sometimes we run out of all tokens in the final round.* This really strains at a player count of 5, the token issues are worse and the reduced information of each player makes strategy decisions difficult. So this is really only a game for 3 or 4 players.____ Overall: ____* Personally, for animal racing games I think I'd rather play Camel Up or Long Shot the Dice Game, but if you have young kids, this is a lot more accessible than those.

An easy game to learn but with layers of strategy that keep it compelling, Racing Hedgehogs is a solid game for families with younger kids. The mechanics are straightforward for moving the hedgehog pieces back and forth; betting was harder for our younger players to understand but the older players liked the extra strategy it introduced to the game.The art is not particularly attractive; the bug-eyed hedgehog pieces are very strange in person and the card art is underwhelming. It’s a shame that the game isn’t beautiful as well as fun to play, but I understand that budgets can be limited and of course the main focus is always on the game play.

This is the most stupidest game I ever got. The rules did not make sense. There are pieces of the game that are not in the rules. Thought it was going to be a fun family night with a new game turned out to be not fun at all. The creator of the game must did not think it all the way through.