Roly Poly Goalie by Exploding Kittens

First of all, the Roly Poly are super cute, soft, squishy, expressive balls that my 4 year old daughter had fun playing with even without actually playing the actual game. The premise of the game is simple: collect the most cards/points. To acquire them you play a game of trump card but when you tie, epic battles happen in one of four different mini games using the Roly Poly balls. Of the four, Roly Poly Knock off was the only one that we didn't like as much due to having issues keeping the Roly Poly on the top of the box (it kept rolling off). Maybe can include a hole/groove or some sort of holder for the Roly Poly to make it easier to set off & a little more challenging to knock off.I love that there's also an option on how to play with special rules if adults play kids to level out the playing field.This is an amazingly fun game to play for hours of laughs and epic battles with your family and friends. Just make sure you have enough space around the house where things won't get broken =><=

Team Grandma vs Team Grandpa + Grandaughter "Jo" - and we had a lot of fun. Our grandaughter is 4.5 yrs old, so we went slowly so that she could be the one to "do the math" and discover who won each card draw. The colors on the cards helped her spot the ties quickly -- good design choice. Even though she was able to grasp the foam balls she did have some trouble with the aim. After the fireest play through we changed it so that when it was an Attack that the adult had to sit on the floor so that she wasn't looking up at us while throwing. She liked this play change. SHe also liked it when Grandma got me in the face with the foam ball (see pictures)!Grandparents aren't the best at laying on the floor and rolling a ball around. Fun, but took a while to get upright again.(Grandughter is not in the pictures - privacy concerns, sorry)

Played teens versus adults and thought it would be too simple at the start but it was a LOT of fun! We had an odd number and somehow it made it more fun as we rotated teammates playing against each other. We had big laughs when each of us missed or hit targets, and especially when the underdog won the goalie challenge!

Okay, I will admitat first I thought that a game geared towards not just kids, but LITTLE kids would not translate to adults. I was SO wrong!! Not saying you HAVE to add shots, but I'm not saying it's a bad thing lol. It basically starts out as the card game war, but when a tie occurs hilarity ensues! We added extra distance on all the battle games to both make it harder and more entertaining for spectators, in fact had we had more space we probably would have increased the distance even more! The "battles" are easy in theory but can prove quite tricky ( especially with the added distance) and absolutly nothing is as funny as seeing adults wiggling across the ground noseing a ball to the finish line! Make sure you have your phones out because trust me, you NEED to photograph this :)

We had a ton of fun with this game. Like all exploding kittens games it meant to be fast and funny. It takes a classic card game, WAR, and turns it into something that gets people moving (and dodging). It's become one of our favorite quick game night games.

Hot take -- I never really liked the game of War. Felt a bit like a playing card version of Monopoly. Endless swings of fortune and I never knew, short of total domination and possessing all of the cards, how to end the game.Roly Poly Goalie totally changes that! To start, the four action cards bring a physical element to this sedentary game. I always wished for ties -- for wars -- but with RPG we were all begging to tie so we could whip the squishy balls at each other, futilely try to knock the ball of the box, and strategically go through the wickets. Having a set end to the game (after completing all the action cards and then totaling up points) solved the endlessness of regular War.At first we were worried that with only four numbers we would be having wars all of the time. Shockingly, this wasn't the case -- but we do still wonder why there weren't at least a few more numbers (or just a regular set of cards -- perhaps the Jacks, Queens, Kings, and Aces could have triggered other ridiculous challenges! Of course, now that we have the basic structure of the game we can certainly use a standard deck and see how that plays out.That said, we plan to modify a few of the action challenges. Knocking the ball off the box proved to hard (when we only counted direct hits on the ball) -- so maybe we make this a bit more like Angry Birds and count when the ball knocks down the box -- or better yet, if we were to build a tower for the ball. And the final challenge we found a bit too easy (using our heads only to roll a ball over the final card). Instead, we might throw in a few obstacles or waypoints to also cross in sequence (or when we are playing as a team, make it a relay).We also found ourselves wishing for a few more of the action challenges -- they are far and away the best part of the game. The game would be better, in our opinion, with no repetition of the actions -- instead have a few more in total, but have each challenge be unique.But that's what is kind of perfect about the game -- there are so many ways to scale it up or down, to add more challenges, or to modify the existing challenges to fit our crowd. I'd have loved a few blank action cards to allow us to make up challenges and easily let them get shuffled in. This is a minor hiccup, though, and one that we can certain overcome.Overall, this game was a massive hit. I'm a teacher and we played during an activity period at school -- fifth grade through eighth graders loved played in mixed groups. We started as a group of four and before the period ended we had twelve active players and the rest of the class watching and cheering. Becareful where you play -- make sure you can have these missiles ricocheting around the room!

The core of this game is similar to "war", the main difference being that when there is a tie, there is a "battle" between teams that involves throwing the included balls. This is a great game for kids because the rules are simple, the game is quick, and it doesn't involve sitting for too long. It's also a good game for families because it is engaging enough to keep the adults entertained as well. We're going to a board game meetup tomorrow, and this is definitely going into our backpack. The only drawbacks of the game is that it might be difficult to play in a small space, and some of the "battles" might be difficult for people with limited mobility. For future editions, it would be nice to create variations for remaining seated that would both be easier to play in a small space and be more inclusive of those with disabilities that make it difficult to stand andl/or move quickly.

Good fun for the whole family! But this mama definitely felt old after getting off the floor, lol! Make sure you don't destroy the box when you open it, you'll need it when you play. And if you have long hair, put it in a ponytail before the final challenge. Otherwise, you may end up pulling your own hair with your knee!

Roly Poly Goalie is based on the common card game of “War” so it's super easy to pick up & learn. The war challenges are where it becomes different. When you get to that point, there are physical challenges you draw from a pile. Winner takes all cards. Coordination is helpful but not required so little kids can get as much fun out of it as adults. Definitely a fun one to add to the rotation. I received this game to test & give an honest review.

This is a fun and quick game for families with little kids. There are some directions that aren't perfectly clear but people should be capable of filling in those spots. The balls are cute and amazing to hold. It's nice that teams don't have to be even and if someone drops out it doesn't disturb the game. Overall, it's got a clear design & we liked its simplicity.