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Amazon.com Search | |  | Action / Dexterity Games | Home » » » Gulo Gulo - German Childrens Game by Rio Grande | | | | | | | Description: | | The wolverine Gulo Gulo is always hungry, especially when near a nest of fresh eggs. Young wolverines love swamp eggs just as much as adults, but are not as careful. Thus, junior is caught and the family has to rescue him, while getting eggs for themselves! Whoever can move along the path the fastest will collect the most eggs and rescue junior! | | | Features: | |
• GAMES Magazine Best Family Game Runner Up 2005
• German Children's Game
• 2 - 6 Players
• Ages 5 and Up
| | | Product Details: | | | Product Weight:
| 3.5 pounds | | Package Length:
| 11.9 inches | | Package Width:
| 11.7 inches | | Package Height:
| 3.0 inches | | Package Weight:
| 2.15 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 9 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 9 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 found the following review helpful:
Exceptionally well-made game for kids (and adults)Oct 20, 2007
By Daniel L Edelen
Gulo Gulo is the genus and species name of the wolverine, a rapacious beast. In this game, your wolverine is dying to eat the vulture's eggs. Not wanting to lose her brood, the vulture has set an up an alarm to tip her off to clumsy wolverines. In addition, she's kidnapped and hidden the baby wolverine.
Which brave wolverine will rescue that little guy?
THE COMPONENTS
Rio Grande Games doesn't make chintzy products. This game is beautifully made, even down to the sturdiness of the cardboard box! The vulture's nest is a carved wood bowl filled with wooden eggs in five sizes and colors. The board is a randomly assigned set of thick, two-sided octagonal tiles: one side with grass, the other with wolverines clutching an egg that corresponds to the egg colors. Wolverine player pieces in six colors accompany the set, and even those are painted in just the right places.
PLAYING THE GAME
The playing board tiles are arranged randomly, grass side up, leading to the vulture's nest. (The random element means no two games play exactly the same--nice.) A set of five tiles, also grass side up, is placed as the last set before the vulture's nest. An egg atop a slender stick--the egg alarm--is inserted vertically between the eggs in the nest.
The hungriest player goes first, turning over the first tile, revealing a wolverine clutching a colored egg. The player must then grab the corresponding colored egg from the nest without toppling the egg alarm to the playing surface. If successful, the player can move atop that tile. Subsequent players can elect to turn over the next hidden tile or simply move to a tile already turned. (That latter strategy can be based on the state of the eggs in the nest.) A player who fully topples the egg alarm must move back to the previous tile that represents the color of egg whose attempted removal set off the alarm. The eggs and alarm are then reset.
On reaching the final pile of tiles, a player removes one tile on the pile and its corresponding egg (without setting off the alarm) until the baby wolverine tile is uncovered. A player must then successfully remove one of the two purple eggs in the nest to win the game.
PROS:
* Well-made and durable game components.
* Random game tile placements changes the play each game.
* Good blend of play options for both aggressive and cautious players.
* Players who makes a mistake (or even several) are rarely left out of the endgame.
* Because little fingers can more deftly remove the small eggs, kids can beat their parents.
* Though a children's game, adults will definitely enjoy playing.
* Clever game play mixes strategy with dexterity.
* To prevent setting off the alarm when removing eggs, anxious and boisterous kids must still themselves and concentrate--a good skill to learn.
*Once played, the game is simple to later explain to others.
CONS:
* Cost is a bit steep compared with most children's games of this type, but that's almost a spurious con considering the quality of the components.
* At eight pages, the instruction book is daunting on first glance, but it contains instructions in three languages.
* In the beginning, the rules may seem complex, but running through one game will prove how easy it is to play.
My son loves playing this game and so do my wife and I. Outstanding quality, excellent design, a changeable board, and easily explained rules make every aspect of this game top-notch. Even if you've never heard of it until now, you won't regret purchasing Gulo Gulo.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
A fun game for a 5 year oldJun 08, 2007
By Blair Macintyre
I bought this to play with my 5 year old daughter. She loves it (the "nest and egg game"). We've played it a bunch of times, although not as much as we like (we can only play when her 2 year old brother is napping, since he tends to be a little disruptive in his desire to do whatever his sister is doing!).
This game and Kids of Catan are our favorite games to play. Both have nice wooden pieces and a fun theme, and are a great balance of randomness without feeling purely arbitrary (unlike, say, Candyland or games like that).
I would recommend it to anyone.
(ps. I only gave it a 3 for educational value since I'm not sure it, like any game of this sort, has much educational value. It does teach all the usual things; rule following, turn taking, etc. But, it is not designed to teach anything additional.)
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
At last, a game you can play with your pre-schooler and loseJun 17, 2009
By Bernard Dekoven
"Major Fun"
First of all, just saying "Gulo Gulo" is fun. Especially if you're a kid. In addition, there are the six little, kid-appealing, bear-like playing pieces. And the funny illustrations on the 23 thick, octagonal tiles you use to make the board. And the 22 colorful (five colors) wooden eggs with the wooden bowl you put the eggs into and the wacky "alarm pole" that you stick into the egg pile. And the velvet drawstring for eggs and bowl storage. All in all, everything looking like fun.
Then there's getting the game ready, which is also kind of fun. There's no board. Instead, you make a track out of all those lovely octagons (first you have to find the Gulo Junior tile, and set it aside). This is also kind of fun because there are at least four different edges you can use in connecting the octagons. And you put them face down, which makes you wonder what color they'll be when you turn them over. And just before you finish the track, you take the last four tiles, add the Gulo Junior tile, shuffle them, and place them face down as the last space on the track leading up to the wooden bowl nest. And either now or sometime before, you also put all the eggs into the nest, and stick the alarm pole deep into the eggs so it's as close to standing straight up as you can make it (this itself is challenging, and especially fun in retrospect).
Then there's the game. You start at one end of the track (the stack of 5 track pieces and the nest are at the other end). You turn over the first tile. That tile has a color. You "steal" the egg of the same color from the nest. Did you set off the egg alarm (make the pole fall)? No? Good. Now you can move your Gulo on to that tile. The next player can either steal an egg of the same color, or turn over the next tile, and try to steal the egg of that color. As the game continues, the players who are still closest to the start have the most choices - since they can move to any tile that has already been turned over and is the same color as the tile they are already on. Some of the eggs are smaller. They are harder to remove (especially for those of us who are fat-of-finger). Some of the eggs are larger. They are easier to remove, but also are more likely to cause the pole to fall. The player who reaches the last tile without triggering the egg alarm draws tiles from the tile pile. If she draws any tile but the Gulo Junior, she has to remove another egg. If she manages to free the Gulo Junior, she has to steal the purple egg. And if she manages to do that, without, and the alarm pole is still in the nest, she wins.
Recall the observation about the fat-of-finger. Compare the finger width of a 5-year-old to that of a 30-year-old. That explains why Gulo Gulo is such an excellent family game - it is one of the few children's games in which adults are actually at a disadvantage - just enough of a disadvantage to make playing with a 5-year-old a meaningful challenge.
Brought to the US by Rio Grande Games, Gulo Gulo was designed by Hans Raggan, Jürgen P. Grunau and Wolfgang Kramer (with noteworthy art by Victor Boden). Gulo Gulo has lasting play value, especially for families with children between the ages of 3 and 7. The design keeps everyone involved. Because of the increasing number of tiles that get exposed during the game, players who are behind have a good chance to leap forward, while players who are furthest ahead and set off the egg alarm have to move all the way back to the nearest tile of the same color. The game is easy enough to learn, at least to start. And the rest of the rules become clearer as the game progresses. And if not, don't worry. The mechanics of the game are fun enough and strong enough to keep the game fun, even if you don't use all of the rules. And if the game still proves too challenging, there's a set of easier rules for younger children. And for those adults who are terminally thick of finger, consider asking your kids for help.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Absolutely perfectJun 27, 2009
By MzzLizzy
"LionLibrarian"
I have grandchildren all ages. The older ones have always loved board games, but I wanted something for the younger set when they visit this summer. Couldn't have made a better choice. The three year old loves it and asks to play every chance he gets. All of the rest of us love to play with him and, yes he can beat us, but doesn't always.
Kids love itJan 11, 2011
By Wuss912
this game lets our 3 year old compete with our 7 year old and he even wins from time to time.
it really does a good of being easier for smaller fingers who are less dexterous.
See all 9 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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