Sleeping Queens

by Gamewright

• Ages 8 and up

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 5.7 x 4.8 x 1.5 inches ; 8 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0009XBY3A
• Item model number: 230
• Our recommended age: 8 years and up
• Manufacturer recommended age: 8 years and up
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #460 in Toys & Games (See Top 100 in Toys & Games)
  • #18 in Toys & Games > Games > Card Games
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (266 customer reviews)

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

A Royalty rousing Card Game. Rise and Shine! The Pancake Queen, The Ladybug Queen and ten of their closest friends have fallen under under a sleeping spell and it's your job to wake them up. Use strategy, quick thinking and a little luck to wake these napping nobles from their royal slumbers. Play a knight to steal a queen or take a chance on a juggling jester. But watch out or wicked potions and dastardly dragon! The player who wakes the most queens wins. Ages 8 . 2-5 layers can play this game in approx.. 15 minutes. Contains 79 playing cards and rules of play in English.

Product Description

Imagine a place where there?s a queen of all pancakes, a king of cookies and a pack of over-protective dragons? If this sounds like something out of a dream, it actually is! Sleeping Queens was invented by 6-year-old Miranda Evarts, who thought up the game one night when she couldn?t fall asleep. She awoke the next morning and with help from her older sister, Madeleine and her parents, Denise and Max created this wonderfully whimsical world of napping nobles. As you immerse yourself in the Evarts? fantasyland, you will find a game that helps develop memory, strategy, and elementary arithmetic skills. Just be careful when playing potion cards or you could wind up putting all the players to sleep! HOW TO PLAY: Rise and Shine! The Pancake Queen, the Ladybug Queen and ten of their closest friends have fallen under a sleeping spell and it's your job to wake them up. Use strategy, quick thinking and a little luck to rouse these napping nobles from their royal slumbers. Play a knight to steal a queen or take a chance on a juggling jester. But watch out for wicked potions and dastardly dragons! The player who wakes the most queens wins.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

117 of 123 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Suprisingly fun January 29, 2006

By Patty

Durability: 4.0 out of 5 stars    Educational: 4.0 out of 5 stars    Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

Santa brought this for my nearly 7 year old daugther, and it was her favourite toy, and you know how kids can be drowned in toys at Xmas. Her 4 year old brother is still to young to play it, but he likes to play on mom's "team" and play all the "good cards" out of mom's hand. It is great for a family that has little prince and princesses in their house. Mom enjoys the fact that there is a bit of math involved and is still is very fun. What amazed me was the fact that a non-electronic toy holds their attention for so long. The kids even chase each other around the house with knight/dragon or spell/wand king/queen cards acting out pretend play. I think another reason why this game is so popular in our house is that there is one-on-one time with Mom - I use it as "bribery/incentive" for many occasions...."clean up your toys, make your bed, help your brother, be brave in swimming lessons... and mom will play sleeping queens with you!"

This toy has paid iteself back 10 fold. I would highly reccomend this card game. Another card game, Rat-a-tat-cat was also a winner in this house too.

108 of 114 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Sleeping Queens January 18, 2007

By S. Phillips

This is one of the funnest card games - we are hooked! It seems that every time we have a moment it is playing sleeping queens. The only problem we have found is that in playing with more than 3 people it ends up that no one can win and still play by the rules of the game. There needed to be more cards - 3 or 2 people playing it works great - add more than 3 and you end up in a fix. We do enjoy this game. The other thing is in just a few weeks we have worn the cards out - maybe if the materials used did not scar so easily. It is not that we are not taking care of the cards it is just that they start to lose the print around the edges on the tops so then you can start to identify cards. Otherwise, again I say we really have a lot of fun playing this game.

41 of 41 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars It's fun, but only if you're a certain kind of person. November 28, 2008

By Anne & Brooke

Durability: 3.0 out of 5 stars    Educational: 3.0 out of 5 stars    Fun: 4.0 out of 5 stars   

What I mean by that is that some people will look at this game and consider it the stupidest thing ever. Others, such as myself, will love it. I think the crazier you are, the more you will enjoy it. It only gets a 3 star duribility rating because the cards don't stay in mint condition very long, but they'll still be playable.

Game play is relatively simple after you learn it. It's kind of tricky at first to remember what each card does, but after a few games you'll get it. The object is to collect queens. Each queen has a number of points ranging anywhere from 5 to 20. You're trying to get to a certain number of points or queens and the number changes depending on how many people are playing. If you run out of queens before someone reaches the magic number then whoever has the most points wins. Certain queens have special powers: the Rose Queen, while only worth the minimum 5 points, allows you to draw an extra queen whenever you wake her up. The Cat Queen and the Dog Queen are worth 15 points each, but cannot be possesed by the same player at once. If you draw one, but already have the other, you put it back and your turn is over. To wake up a queen, you simply have to play a king card. A knight card allows you to steal a queen from an opponent but can be blocked if your victim has a dragon card. The sleeping potion card allows you to put a queen back to sleep and can be blocked by a magic wand card. You use the number cards to get more cards, either by making addition facts or by playing matching pairs. That's what makes the game educational. Anyway, that's how the game is played, but if you're creative enough you can invent other games, or go through the deck and name all the kings, queens, knights, and dragons as Brooke (I'm Anne) and I have.... (Like I said the crazier you are, the more enjoyment you will get.) If the whimsicality sounds too out there for you, don't buy it.

This game is great for little kids, which makes sense because a 6-year-old made it up. Unlike most card games, a 5-year-old can play without being on someone's team or having someone older come read over their shoulder every turn, assuming they know how to add on thier fingers. If you are playing with someone that young, be prepared to ask questions like "Do you have a dragon card?" Or answer questions such as "What does this card do?" For older people (anyone over 10): You will only get the most out of Sleeping Queens if you're willing to make a total moron of yourself while playing. For example, Brooke has gotten into the habbit of calling me Fungor when we play. When I play with the little kids in my neighborhood we always yell "OH NO YOU DI-INT!" whenever we can stop someone from stealing a queen or putting one back to sleep. If we can't, we'll scowl at our attacker, and say "You win this round" in an overly dramatic fashion as we hand over the queen. If this sounds like fun to you and you know other crazy people who will play with you, buy this game and knock yourself out. Personally I consider a mundane game of Sleeping Queens to be flat out boring, but if that's more you're style, that's fine too. I've given you my opinion, it's all up to you now. Read more ›

56 of 60 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars boys love it! August 1, 2006

By Jane Bailey

I bought this card game as a good travel game, and also because of the theme! However, before I could even read the directions, my boys 8 and 6 grabbed the deck, picked out their "favorite" queens, married them off to their favorite kings, and began acting out voices, characters, and battle scenes! They had a fit when I asked them to put the cards away(now all over the house in strategic positions). Great story of the little girl who "dreamed" the game up with her family! We should all do more of that! I'm buying more for Christmas gifts for all the cousins - mostly boys!

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars fun new game August 11, 2011

By Joe'sMom TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Amazon Verified Purchase

Durability: 5.0 out of 5 stars    Educational: 4.0 out of 5 stars    Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

I love everything about this game. The cards are colorful and durable. The game is easy enough for kids to follow, but interesting enough to entertain adults as well. We first saw this at a game night at school. What attracted me to it then is that it didn't have all the electronic bells and whistles of some of the other games, and it looked like it would travel well.

Here is how you play: There are 12 Queen cards. Each Queen is worth a different point value. You spread out all the Queen cards face down (so that they are sleeping). Then you take the rest of the deck and deal out 5 cards per person. The remaining cards are placed face down into the draw pile. On your turn you must choose from the cards in your hand and decide which action to take.
There are 3 different "Action" cards. The King card can be used to wake a Sleeping Queen and place it face up in front of you. A Knight Card can be played to capture someone else's Queen. Or a Sleeping Potion Card will put someone else's Queen back to sleep (meaning they lose their Queen and must put her face down back in with the other Sleeping Queens).
There are also "Defense" Cards. A Dragon card will prevent a Knight from stealing a Queen. A Magic Wand card will block against the Sleeping Potion. There are also number cards that don't really have any value and can be traded/discarded for better cards if you have no other options.
There are a few other rules and options, but that is the general gist of the game. The Object of the game can vary as well. You can either play by tallying points (the one with the most points wins), or you can play by tallying Queens (the one with the most Queens once the Queens are all awakened).

Each game takes maybe 20 minutes, so not too long for little ones to lose interest....

I love that this game was invented by a 6 year old! I will say that if you have the instructions, you could recreate this game with a regular deck of cards. But you'd miss out on the beautiful illustrations and funny names of the Kings and Queens (characters like "Pancake Queen" and "Tie-Dye King"). Love this game, and so happy we took a chance on it. Read more ›