Mama mia! It’s up to kids to save the Super Mario squad from a topsy-turvy tower!
Super Mario Blow Up! Shaky Tower is the newest tabletop game from Epoch Everlasting Play. A mix of strategy and a bit of luck, kids ages 4 and up will take turns balancing Super Mario characters throughout the tower to avoid being the first one to knock Bowser’s red wrecking ball off of its perch.
The game requires a one-time assembly of the tower and comes with a die and seven Super Mario figures: Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Red Toad, Yellow Toad, a Goomba, and Boo. Each character has a different height and weight, which will become critical during gameplay as the figure distribution and placement will greatly determine the outcome of the game. The tower features a curved base making the structure totally unstable.
Players will take turns rolling the die, which will indicate how many characters to place on or take off of the tower’s open ledges. The first player to make the ball drop and shake the characters off their spots loses!Â
The suspense is REAL. Rounds can last anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes, depending on how careful players are with placing the characters on the ledges. I even played a round in which we went back and forth for a while, taking characters on and off ledges and moving them around the supremely wobbly tower until the game was over. The game requires focus, and I love that gameplay is simple enough that anyone can join in. The youngest players will even develop hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, and dexterity.
Each of these figures are unique to the set, but thanks to the Epoch Games Link System, kids can mix and match the figures with other Super Mario games, such as Balancing Games (including underground, castle, and ground stages) and Piranha Plant Escape to try out different combos.
Super Mario Blow Up! Shaky Tower is fun for the whole family, or kids can play by themselves in single-player mode. The verdict is in: This balancing game is fun for everyone.
