R&R Games is taking the board—and bored—out of games this year.
Cup-a-Cup, a brand new tactile game, challenges two to eight players to think quickly and act fast. The game includes nine plastic cups, each featuring one of three shapes (square, circle, or triangle) in one of three colors (red, blue, or yellow). The game also includes two dice featuring the same colors and shapes.
Players take turns rolling the two dice and must find the cup that completes the set. A set is composed of either three like shapes of the same color, three like shapes of different colors, three like colors of different shapes, or three different shapes and colors. For example, if a player rolls two yellow triangles, players race to snatch the cup with the yellow triangle. If a player rolls a red triangle and a blue circle, players try to grab the cup with the yellow square.
The first player to collect three cups is the winner. Playtime easily takes less than 15 minutes, which makes it perfect for kids who have attention issues, or adults who don’t have too much time for games.
This game greatly helps with some serious brain training. Kids will learn colors, shapes, matching, and association skills, while practicing their hand-eye coordination. Even as an adult, it’s tricky to try and figure out what shape completes a set. I can practically feel my brain working as quickly as possible to separate the different shapes and colors. The fact that players have to grab hold of physical cups, rather than slap playing cards or move pieces on a game board brings a new and exciting layer to the gameplay.
Though designed for players ages 6 and up, older kids and adults will absolutely have a blast playing this game—especially those who are more competitive (just ask Ali Mierzejewski—we practically smack each other’s hands out of the way trying to grab at the cups. Full disclosure: We’ve agreed it’s best for our friendship if we don’t play this game together anymore). It’s even fun to play by yourself and give your brain a little workout—which may be necessary, if all of your friends refuse to play with you anymore, not that I’m speaking from experience…