About the Contest

Here is a contest hosted by OCD on behalf of the Toys on Hive Community. This is in line with their idea of supporting communities on Hive. This time the contest is on the topic “If money is not an issue, what types of toy would you buy.”

If you fancy participating, you can do so here.

Introduction

If money was not a problem, I would love to buy a Bugatti Chiron, the hypercar. For sure, that would be my toy. But then again, that was my need or my toy from a later part of my life. Not as a kid. So, I would like to go back to my kiddy days and talk about the toy I would have loved if money wasn’t a problem.

Back in those days, there used to be a board game that my friend got from his aunt who visited him from the States. That was some cool stuff. Forget the money - even if I wanted, I couldn’t get it since it was not available in my country. Years later, I found the game over here and bought it for my daughter. What a turn of events!

This is the game that I would be talking about, which I can afford now, though it was something out of my reach when I wanted it back in my childhood. The board game is “World Safari,” and we will take a closer look.

World Safari | An Engaging Board Game!

World Safari is an interesting board game that ties up the aspect of learning with that of fun. This is more of a family game, and it does not disappoint.

So, how do you play the game? It is a simple board game that allows multiple players to play at once. The look of the board is quite nice, and the game does not require dice to play.

The start of the play is based on rolling the arrow that we see in the below picture. That acts as a dice.

The dial is printed on the board while the arrow is fixed on the board. It is done quite well. Those who think that the board could be bulky because of the arrow – no, it is not. The fixed arrow does not make the board too thick. You can see the backside of the board where the arrow fixture is seen.

Like I said, not much bulk there, and the board folds well.

So, how do we start playing? Each player will spin the dial and note where the dial stops. For example, this is where the dial stopped when I spun.

The arrow is pointing to 1. Now, the player who gets the biggest number on the board in the initial spin starts the game. Next would be the one with the second-highest and so on. If there is a tie for a spot, then the one who got the number first automatically starts first (as compared to the other player who got the same number). That’s pretty simple, right?

There is a rule booklet that is provided along with the game.

As you can see, my daughter has really used it much. 😊

Fair. Now, we get on with each players’ coins and place them at the start. Players can choose their favorite colors, much like in any game.

To start, the player spins the arrow on the dial. Wherever the arrow stops, the player will have to identify the country on the map.

In this case, the arrow is pointing to India. The player has to show the country on the map.

The countries are given a numbering so that players can cross-check. Here we see that India is numbered as 21. The same is provided in the rule book checklist.

There you go, India is shown as 21, which players can check if they have a doubt. Only if the player identified the country correctly would he/she be allowed to continue. Else, they lose their turn, and the game passes to the next player to take a spin.

If the player identifies the country correctly, then the game proceeds. If you see, the arrow pointing to India on the dial is also pointing to “3” at the dial's edge. That means the player has to move 3 places on the board.

Now, coming to the board, if you observe, instead of numbers or alphabets, there are some images in each box.

Each of those images corresponds to another image on playing cards. I will come to the card part in a moment. So, when a person spins the dial and gets three, he moves three spots from the start. The player lands on the “eye” image. The eye stands for the visual card. How do the visual cards look?

That’s how they look. So, a player can pull out one of the cards and hand it over to the other player. The player will then show the picture and ask the question. For example, here is one question to be asked of a player.

The players are shown the image of the tower and asked the question. He/she has to identify the tower. And here is the answer behind the card.

If the player gets it right, then he can continue to spin and play again. The “eye” image or the visual cards are the only ones to have a separate bunch. All other images on the board correspond to the images on a single card in a different bunch. Here is how those cards look.

Each of the images on the board will correspond to a question on the card. The player pulls out one of the cards and hands it over to the next player. The next player then asks a question corresponding to the image on the board. Here are one typical card and its questions.

Let’s take, for example, that the player got the globe image which is on the top of the card. So, the corresponding question is, “Warsaw is the capital of what country.” The player has to respond. The answers are given behind the same card.

If the player answers the question as Poland, he/she continues to keep his/her turn. They can spin again and continue with the game. The person keeps turn till he/she gets the identification or answer wrong. Once any of the two happens, the turn passes on to the next player.

That’s basically how the game works. Now, you’ve got to admit that the game is quite interactive, helps with learning about the countries of the world, and then helps learn about each country through the cards. That’s why I love it and why I loved it back in my childhood times. 😊

That’s About It

So, there you have it. World Safari is one of my favorite games that I would buy if money was not an issue (at least back in my childhood). I am pretty sure the original game back then was not called World Safari. It had a different name which I don’t remember.

But then again, the game and its idea still remain the same. I had fun playing it with my family after a long time. It was no different than playing it as a kid with my friends. Lovely times! 😊

 

Image Courtesy: World Safari board game pictures.