Strange things are happening at the Wonderland amusement park.

That can mean only one thing – Finley has struck again.

It’s up to you to stop all the madness. You must Find Finley!

Find Finley is a new family board game from Fat Brain Toy Co. that will have your kids exercising their deduction and reasoning skills.

Read on to discover more about this new family board game and get a chance to win a copy for your family!

 

How to play Find Finley

Our first glance at the box cover of Find Finley had us remembering all the fun our kids had trying to find Waldo. They loved those puzzle books of trying to find Waldo amongst all the craziness. So much of the fun was seeing the details in all the rest of the image.

Well, Find Finley is different from Waldo in that Finley isn’t pictured in the park map at all!

That’s because his location changes based on the challenge puzzle you’re playing.

The goal of the game is to be the first player to find Finley from the clues presented for that challenge. The catch is that each player starts with only a few of the clues.

To begin, players spread out the massive 30 x 30 inch map of the Wonderland amusement park on the table. Then each player takes a personal notepad sheet which includes a smaller version of the park map.

Players choose a Challenge card from the deck of 12 without looking at the solution side. They then take the Clue cards listed on the Challenge card and shuffle them together. The Clue cards are divided evenly among the players. Depending on the number of players, some of the Clues will be placed face down on the table.

Players look at the Clues they have and make notes on their sheet. Then play begins.

On their turn, a player can trade one of their cards for another player’s card or for a card from the table.

Little by little, players will amass more information to deduce where Finley is hiding. Finley must follow the paths and prefers to hide in attractions and park buildings.

Once a player believes they know where Finley is hiding, they announce it. Then they secretly look at the back side of the Challenge card to see if they’re correct.

If they’re correct, they win the game!

If they’re not correct, they’re out of the game but other players may still swap cards with them.

Another option is playing the game cooperatively. Rather than trying to be the first to find Finley, players lay out the Clue cards for the Challenge on the table and work together to piece together the clues and find Finley.

 

Can the whole family enjoy Find Finley?

Find Finley is well-suited for families with kids. The theme, design, visuals, and simple game play hit right on that target audience.

As you can see from the How to Play section, the game play and flow is very simple and straight forward. The challenge comes in piecing together the various clues to circle in on where Finley could be.

That’s why if you’re going to play with younger kids, we recommend playing cooperatively.

We had an elementary school teacher friend of ours play the game and she’d recommend ages 10+ if you plan to play competitively. The age on the box says 8+, and that works for reading the Clue cards. However, deducing information from the clue cards is more of a challenge for those under 10.

We really like the huge map of the park. It’s even fun just spending time examining the various details sprinkled throughout the park.

The back of the rulebook has a Building Key that shows what the 16 structures (that aren’t attractions) look like and how many of them there are in the park. For example, there are 5 Gift Shops, 2 Candy Shops, and 3 First Aid stations. It’s also helpful to see what the ATM machines look like because those can be tricky to spot on the map if you don’t know what you’re looking for.

We also like that there are 12 different challenges in the game. They each present something new even though some of the challenges may share a Clue card or two from other challenges. There are 118 Clue cards in the game which lends itself to a lot of variety in where Finley may be.

We did run into a couple of minor issues with the game. We love that each player gets a mini-map in the form of a notepad sheet. And that the game includes pencils. However, we found that our pencil markings on the map were hard to see. So we started using colored pens instead.

Another issue we ran into was the interchangeable use of the word “gondola” and “Skyline”. The “Skyline” is the name of the tram that goes around the park. But on some clue cards, it’s also referenced as “gondola”. So that was a bit confusing the first time we encountered it.

What we love the most though is how the game encourages logic skills, problem-solving, and critical thinking.

Playing board games are a great way for kids to develop so many mental and social interaction skills. And in particular, Find Finley requires kids to work on their deductive reasoning. Very nice.

We tip our hats to Fat Brain Toy Co. with their wide range of specialty toys and games that get kids thinking. Or as is stated on their website, “Toys that Matter to their Grey Matter”.

 

How does Find Finley score on our “Let’s Play Again” game meter?

Once kids’ brains get clicking on finding Finley, they like to keep going. We can’t imagine playing just one Challenge in Find Finley. Inevitably, you’ll want to play through 3 or 4 Challenges in an evening.

As such, we give Find Finley a high score on our “let’s play again” game meter.

If you’re looking for a fun themed game for your kids working on their mental skills, then we’d recommend Find Finley.

Or even better – how about trying to win a copy for your family!

 

Win a copy of Find Finley!

That’s right – you have the chance to win a copy of Find Finley for your family.

Entering is easy. And the more ways you enter, the better chance you have of winning.

What are your waiting for?

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The Board Game Family would like to thank Fat Brain Toy Co. for the review copy of Find Finley.

 
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