Thanks to University Games, kids can experience the magic of transporting between Genie World and Leah’s World, just like their favorite characters from Shimmer and Shine.
The Shimmer and Shine Genie Friends Forever Game, part of the Briarpatch line, is a new cooperative game based on the popular Nickelodeon TV show. Kids play as Shimmer, Shine, or their adorable pets Tala and Nahal, to work together to gather enough special jewels to make a genie bottle as a gift for Leah.
The game comes with the game board, jewels, magic carpet cards, a spinner, a flip token, and four playing pieces. My favorite detail is that the jewels really do shimmer and shine! The game board itself is bright, colorful, and really engaging. It is divided up into two parts: Genie World and Leah’s World. Before players can venture on over to Leah’s World, they must first complete the objective of Genie World, where all players must work together to collect four different jewels, one of each shape, on their magic carpet cards.
To help make this happen, players can land on one of three spaces: Jewel Space, Genie Space, and Wish Space. On a Jewel Space, players collect a jewel for him or herself; on a Genie Space, players give a jewel to another player; and on a Wish Space, players flip the token and toss it in the air. If the token lands on “Boom Zahramay!,” the player take a jewel, but if it lands on “Oops,” he or she must return a jewel to the pile.
The Genie Space is where the cooperative strategy of the game comes in. Players should give jewels to players that need them to help fill up their cards, and if not, they are at the expense of looking very cruel. (When we played in the office, one of our editors made a joke to, “choose your allies wisely”). If someone has his or her card filled up, that player can pass their jewels to teammates who need them.
Once all players’ cards are full, they can fly over to Leah’s World. This is where players use their jewels that they just collected to decorate the genie bottle for Leah. The genie bottle only needs one of each jewel, so at this point, gameplay is mostly all about luck. Players continue to spin and move around the game board. But now, if they land on a Jewel Space, they take a jewel for themselves; if they land on a Genie Space, they take one of their own jewels and give it to another player; and toss the token if they land on a Wish Space. Now, if the token lands on “Boom Zahramay!,”players can put a jewel on the genie bottle, and if the token lands on “Oops,” then they need to put a jewel on one of six “Oops” spaces on the board.
Players again must use teamwork and strategy to replenish any lost jewels to ultimately make sure the genie bottle gets filled up. If players successfully place one of each colored jewel on the genie bottle before five “Oops” spaces are filled, then everyone wins!
With the Shimmer and Shine Genie Friends Forever game, kids will learn that winning together means working together. This theme shines throughout the game, where even the overall goal is to make a gift for their friend. Younger kids may need help having the rules explained to them, but this is a great activity for the whole family to enjoy. Kids will learn cooperative play while having fun, discover the feel-good nature of sharing, and most importantly, see how great it is to work together as a team.
You couldn’t wish for a better time playing this game!
