Customer Reviews

Winning Moves - Have You Herd?

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"HAVE YOU HERD?" is a great dice,trading game with a fascinating history. It was created in Warsaw,Poland in 1943 by an outstanding mathematician named Karol Borsuk. When the Nazis shut down Warsaw University,the Professor lost his job. He had no income and had to find some way to earn his living. The Professor's idea was to sell this math/animal game. Sets were made at home by the Professor's wife. The game became very popular among the family's friends, and quickly throughout the whole area. The telephone in the flat of Mr. and Mrs. Borsuk would not stop ringing, and when they answered almost every time they heard: "Is that Little Animal Farm game available?" Many orders came and many copies of the game were sold to shops. The game was enjoyed not only by children, but it also helped adults to survive the hard and sad evenings of the Nazi occupation. Most original copies of the game were destroyed, along with the city of Warsaw, during the uprising in August 1944. Fortunately, one of the original sets survived outside Warsaw, and many years after the war it was given back to the Borsuk family. And now, after all those years, Winning Moves has recreated the game exactly as it was first created. The object of the game is to "multiply" one Rabbit into an entire Herd of five different animals: a Rabbit, a Sheep, a Pig, a Cow, and a Horse.On each turn, you roll the unique 12-sided dice to determine what animals you are entitled to multiply, or what hazards/rewards come your way. A fun aspect of the game is how you trade one type of animal to get another. As you roll your way into getting a certain amount of one kind of animal, you can trade it for one of another kind of animal, and so forth, down the line to get one of the rare horses, which can only be obtained by trading, not by rolling the dice. So you always have to backtrack and re-roll to get some of the more easier animals by rolling dice, such as the rabbit, sheep, and pig. The rules are very clearly laid out, and although the game is quite simple to learn, it takes perseverence and a little luck to get all five animals in order to win the game. Sometimes you roll a Wolf or a Fox, which can make a meal out of your Herd, unless you have rolled a Guard Dog, which protects your Herd from being taken away. You may even roll a skunk, which causes you to lose a turn! This game is deceptively ingenious, and having survived over 60 years, is the most popular dice game in Europe. Very Highly recommended and not like any other dice game on the market.

This is a great game. Our kids (6, 11, and 14) all really like it, as do my husband and I. It doesn't take terribly long, there's a bit of strategy (but not too brain-taxing), and it's a simple idea. It all fits in the little silo, so it's extremely portable. We've enjoyed it so much that we've purchased four more for family. The cardboard animal pieces are holding up fine, although the pics on the dice are starting to wear off (nothing a Sharpie won't fix).

There's enough to make it engaging but not too much that you can't have a completely unrelated discussion while you're playing, at least after you figure out how to play. As a bonus, the instructions include a very interesting history of the game when it was invented during World War II.

I totally recommend this game. Enjoy!

I bought this game not knowing what to expect. We played the game with 2 people and we were hooked after the first game. It takes 10-20 min per game with 2 people. I can't wait to try it out with more. This game would also be great for travel since it comes in a small container. The only thing that could possibly be negative about this game are the cardboard tiles. They could get easily worn out and bent over time.