Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great for a rainy day, April 13, 2009
Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars
The previous reviewer summed up the game well. However, it's important to note that the game is played by all players SIMULTANEOUSLY - which does get the pace picked up quite a bit. You have to be pretty quick in "slamming" a card down to create your new word while the other players are all trying to do the same thing. Thus the four-letter word is ever-changing. I saw the commercial for this game on TV and being from a family that loves games about to head out on a family vacation, went to Target where I saw it for about $5. We played it with four adults, three adults and two adults and during each of those scenarios, had a blast. It was fun trying to stump each other with rare four-letter words. My mom has recommended it to several of her friends who have grandchildren. It's a great game for kids learning to spell and to challenge their word skills. Warning: After several rounds of this game, you'll find yourself on the lookout for four-letter words all the time!
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25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
If you like four letter words..., April 11, 2009
Durability:3.0 out of 5 stars Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars Educational:4.0 out of 5 stars
I very rarely play card games outside of Rummy and the occasional game of Poker. However, one Sunday morning I noticed a coupon in the USA Today insert which advertised a buy one get one free offer for Hasbro/Parker Brother's new card games. I picked up "Monopoly Deal" and this game, "Scrabble Slam".
As card games go this one is pretty simple. A four letter word is laid out on the table (CHUM, LUMP, GATE, etc) and the remaining cards are dealt out to each player. Not all letters are present in the "deck" of 55 cards. There are no Q's and no X's, although there are couple of Z's and several Blanks (which can assume the form of whatever letter you want them to take, just like the Scrabble board game). Each card has two letters on it, one on the front and one on the back, and this allows the player a lot of flexibility to change words that are on the board.
Each player then takes it in turn to lay down a single card anywhere on the 4 letter word. For instance, player 1 may spell GRIM and player two lays down a P to make it GRIP. Player 1 may respond with a T making it TRIP. As the game progresses it can become somewhat challenging to make words out and needless to say that you'll want to get rid of the harder letters as soon as possible (Z, J, K, etc.) because if that's all you have left at the end of the game you're going to be in a world of hurt. The person with the fewest cards at the end of the game wins. If one wants to up the difficulty a bit simply up the number of letters in the word. Just making it 5 letters long had a noticeable effect and made it much more challenging.
I rate this game at 3 1/2 stars. It's not really a great game but I've certainly played worse. It passes the time, which is what it was designed to do, and does so well enough.
Pros:
-Very, very easy game to learn
-Your kids will have fun and learn words along the way. Not a bad thing at all.
-At $5.00 at my local Wally World (do *not* pay the $20.00 they have listed here) this game is a great value.
-The game plays very quickly, clocking in at 20 minutes or less.
Cons:
-It's not exactly the most exciting game in the world
-Depending upon the number of players and the number of letters on the board some players may get more cards than others, and that makes it a bit unfair trying to determine who the winner will be.
-The Dealer is going to see what cards everyone is getting, although only a MENSA candidate with a photographic memory is going to be able to remember who has what.
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A reasonable card game but not great., April 17, 2009
Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars Educational:2.0 out of 5 stars
I have no idea why the Amazon price is so out of line with reality on this product. I bought this game at Target for less than $5.00.
It is fun to play and stimulates your brain somewhat, but not to the extent of the original Scrabble game. You can modify the rules and play it with younger players (we play it with our four year old).
Amazon also lists a bunch of choking hazard warnings with this product. Unless your kid can swallow a playing card there is no choking hazard that I can find.
It is worth $5.00 but not $16.00.
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