Cowabunga

by Playroom Entertainment

Product Features

• Catch a wave in Cowabunga, the brand new card game of ups and downs
• Ride high on the wave, dodging obstacles as you play number cards to raise or lower the water
• If you crash on someone else's obstacle, it's wipeout city for you, dude
• If you can finish the game with the least amount of wipeouts, you'll be the big Cow-huna
• Includes 58 wave cards, 21 obstacle cards, 17 cow pawns and instructions

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7.8 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000S0LCI6
• Item model number: 697421
• Manufacturer recommended age: 8 months and up
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #222,009 in Toys & Games (See Top 100 in Toys & Games)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

Product Description

Catch a wave in Cowabunga, the brand new game of ups and downs! Ride high on the wave, dodging obstacles as you play number cards to raise or lower the water level. Once the tide gets too high, it starts dropping. Too low, and it goes back up again. Each time the changes, somebody gets an obstacle card. If you crash on someone else's obstacle, it's wipeout city for you dude! If you finish the game with the least amount of wipeouts, you'll be the big Cow-huna! Game Contents: 58 Wave Cards, 21 Obstacle Cards, 17 Cow Pawns, and Instructions in English, Spanish, and French. For 2-5 players, Ages 8+, and playing time: 30 mins

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Let's Go Surfin' Now..., June 12, 2008

By 

PMcOuntry "PMcOuntry" (Pennsylvania, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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

This review is from: Cowabunga (Toy)

I bought this game for my nephew for Christmas and he/we love it!

The game is very educational in both math and strategy skills. The cows are adorable and the illustrations on the cards got more than a few giggles out of both kids and adults.

In a time where video games seem to overpower educational toys, it is my job as the "cool Aunt" to provide board games, something lost I'm afraid to today's youth. However, my nephew wanted to play this one, over and over and over, forgetting about video games for awhile.

The game basics are pretty simple, you have to lay down cards until a wave crests (addition) and then bring the wave back down to shore (subtraction). When the wave hits a certain number, you or an opponent get a special wipeout card. If you lay a card and the total of the wave (someone has to keep track throughout) equals the number on their wipeout card... WIPEOUT, you have to grab a cow. The object is to have the least amount of cows at the end of the game.

I highly recommend this game to everyone, you won't be disappointed! This game is fun for both kids and adults!

Cowabunga dude!

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun game of Memory, Adding, and Subtracting, April 9, 2010

By 

E. Lambeth (Paso Robles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cowabunga (Toy)

My son just turned 7, and this is one of the games I bought him for his birthday. In addition to being kind of fun, it gets the gears moving because you have to remember numbers that you want to avoid when you're adding and subtracting. That's really the gist of the game.

Everybody takes an Obstacle Card. This card is a cute picture of a surfing obstacle (shark, rock, lochness monster, etc) with a number on it. Obstacle card numbers range from 10 to 30, and when somebody's holding an obstacle card in their hand, you don't want to be the person who puts down a Wave card that ends up totaling the number on one of those obstacle cards.

It's the wave cards you play throughout the game in a play-a-card-draw-a-card mechanic. Start out the game with a number...say, 10. You discard a Wave card that has the number 5 on it. Now you're at 15. Next person discards a 6. Now you're at 21. Next person discards a 7. Now you're at 28. Whoever plays a card that puts the total over 30 has to give an Obstacle card (the card with the number you want to avoid) to the player to their left (or right...I forget). When you pass 30, you have to go back down again, so now it's time to subtract. So if it's on 32, you play a 6 and it's down to 26. Woops! Somebody has an obstacle card with the number 26! You get a Cowabunga cow (a little figure of a cow holding a surf board). As soon as somebody collects four of these cows, the game is over.

The one with the fewest cows by game's end wins.
If there's a tie, the one with the most obstacle cards wins.

So you have adding...as cards are played, you lay down a card on the discard pile and shout out the number of the running total.

You have subtracting...depending on the Arrow card that points up when you're counting up or down when you're counting down you'll either be adding or subtracting. Discard pile has 22 and you play a 5. Now there's 17. Billy plays a 3. Now it's at 14. Sue plays a 4. Now it's at 10. She's safe! Joey plays a 0 so it's still at 10, and now you have to play a 0 otherwise you have to give somebody an obstacle card and now there's another number introduced in the game that you have to avoid.

You have Memory...26, 15, and 30 are the current obstacle cards. Whoops! Sue just got a 20. Now it's 20, 30, 16...what was the first one? Oh yeah, 26. Eventually, you'll forget and just take your chances on the cards you drop down. You always have a selection of cards in your hand to play, which eliminates some of the luck in the game.

Overall this is pretty fun, and this will get your kids practicing fast adding and fast subtracting (as well as memorization), making it time well spent!

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Surfin' Cows, August 5, 2009

By 

Shirley K. Davis (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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

This review is from: Cowabunga (Toy)

Cowabunga is a fun card game for all ages. Not only is it fun to try to make everyone else wipe out, but it reinforces adding and subtracting skills as well. I knew very little about the game before I bought it. [...]. After reading the brief description, I decided I had to have it. It was very easy to learn and we caught on quickly.