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Hāpy Families by Loki Kids and Coiledspring Games is a fun twist on the familiar “have you got an X?” gameplay, and it might just have pipped the traditional Happy Families to the post!
The main objective of the traditional gameplay hasn’t changed. You are still trying to collect sets (“families”) of characters that match. And here the families are adorable looking little Egyptian Gods that are linked by colour and species type. But rather than just having a hand of cards each and a common deck, all the cards are arranged in an alternating face up/face down pyramid.
Pyramid Of Cards
So, on your turn, you pick a card from the pyramid. If it’s face-up, everybody knows what you’re starting to collect in your hand. If it’s face down, it remains a secret within your collection. You may also ask another player for a specific card (so long as it hasn’t been requested on the previous turn), but you don’t have to. And if you form a set of 3 cards on your go then you must lay them down in front of you.
The winner is the first player to lay down one complete family of 6 matching cards or 5/4/3 sets of 3 in a 2/3/4 player game.
Sandy Secrets
Hāpy Families hasn’t reinvented the wheel when it comes to the gameplay. But the addition of a pyramid containing a mixture of face up and face down cards does bring a fun new dynamic to the familiar race. Knowing what cards others are picking up is also a good way to introduce younger gamers to set collection (and encourages us oldies to perhaps mess with each other a little! Haha).
Final Thoughts
The illustrations on the cards are absolutely lovely. And even the card backs are wonderfully detailed. Given that the cards are laid out in a pyramid, the tie in with the Egyptian setting is obviously there, and even the inside of the box hasn’t been forgotten.
This is a sweet, portable, little game that can be easily played in under 10 minutes. The rules are simple and set up is done as soon as the cards are laid out. Although the pyramid takes up a little more table space that the usual single deck, it’s definitely worth finding a flat surface to see all those lovely card fronts and backs!
If you’re looking for a fun, colourful, budget friendly card game for young gamers then I would definitely recommend Hāpy Families. And if you like this one, Loki Kids have another two new games in their small box range to check out; Tentacolor and Farm & Furious
