ThinkFun Rush Hour - Traffic Jam Logic, Brain & Challenge Game - STEM Toys for Boys & Girls Age 8 Years Up

Rush Hour has to be one of our best toy discoveries of the year - it's a portable puzzle game that has everyone who has played with it in this house from age 6-70 enthralled. The game consists of a plastic box with a 6x6 grid on it, 42 game cards and, as the name of the game would suggest a number of vehicles (4 trucks and 12 cars) that fit onto the grid and are the pieces you play with. Everything is compact - the grid is about 13.5cm by 16cm, and fits into a small drawstring bag, making the game very transportable and quick to set up. Game play is simple but engaging - in theory it's for one person to play at a time but we quite often find that one person will play and several more will get involved leading to co-operative puzzle solving and much discussion and scratching of heads. The basic idea is to use one of the cards to set up a traffic jam of trucks and cars, these being variously 2 or 3 squares long of the grid, and then to free the red car and let it "drive" out of the gap in the grid, a bit like the illustration on the packaging as seen above. The cards show in pictorial form how to lay out the cars and lorries horizontally and vertically. To make it easy the pieces are all totally different colours and made of a hollow, light, but robust plastic. Once you have the game is set up you move the vehicles forward and backwards, but in no other direction, as much as you want until you find the sequence to free the red car. It's a bit like tetris in reverse and instantly addictive. I like the fact that there is a little drawer in the grid to store the game cards and the game itself is expandable as you can buy more cards and special vehicles. We have just stuck the basic game so far, the cards come in three different challenge levels and have kept members of this house amused for hours. A card can take seconds or up to an hour to solve, it depends on the complexity of the card and the skill of the player. The solution is printed on the back if the jam becomes too much, when playing you really do have to think about how to work out the puzzle it's great fun but also can get quite frustrating as you wonder how a few pieces of plastic can have you so stumped! The set is pretty well made and well worth the purchase price in my opinion, it's definitely a great item to fill an ideal five minutes or the tricky time for children in a restaurant when colouring no longer appeals. I like the fact that it is so tactile - the game is available on i-Pad also but somehow in 2-D, though it is to all intents and purposes identical, is much less involving than having to physically push real pieces around a board. I'm not a huge board game fan in general but this game is great, and it's a real must-have for holidays. There is a junior version available Rush Hour Junior but this one is suitable for anyone aged 4 or above who will be able to access it in different ways, with the very youngest setting out and pushing around the cars and older players enjoying the very real challenge that such a fun looking game can provide. Highly recommended.

This game is brilliant. We really do love it. My sons are 6 and 8 and they have great fun trying to slide the red car out. It's challenging. But even if they are stuck, they can keep randomly moving the cars and eventually crack it. There are many levels I have tried the hardest configurations and they are not easy - they took me a while too. So this toy has legs, it will be one that will last for years and years. And its incredibly fun. As soon as someone starts it, someone else comes along to watch, then wants to help, then wants to do it. It's for all ages. Highly recommend!

Bought for 9 year old boy. He loved it and played first 10 cards( beginner level) of40 cards with right amount of fun and frustration. Highly recommended. Good quality pieces. Handy storage bag included. I played the last card to test difficulty progression - managed it with out ease confirming the difficulty increased. Answers are on the back of card - require a little deciphering - which means ‘cheating’ is less likely given it’s going to require less fun. No negatives - not sure how often you might repeat the game though. But at its price point don’t see that as a huge problem

Bought as a stocking filler for my grandson and he loves it. Well made, not flimsy. The cards give you lots of challenges at different difficulty levels to keep all age groups entertained. Don’t worry if you can’t resolve one as they give you the solution too.

Great puzzle game for the whole family, with a range of scenarios this is a great game for the family. Tough enough to frustrate adults and kids alike. Whilst the puzzle cards probably start for age 5, the game is simple enough to set up very simple puzzles for even younger members as my three year old has enjoyed. Nice little game.

Like many of the reviewers here I bought this game for a kid's birthday, in this case my 9 year old niece. On the day I spent more time playing it than she did (which she wasn't entirely happy about!). The game itself consists of a plastic gameboard, the size of a desk calculator, in which there is a drawer holding the puzzle cards. The board and game pieces (around 20 pieces) come in a handy carry bag. You'll need the carry bag to keep everything together neatly, but you don't need to tip the whole contents out to find the pieces you need, since there are not many of them and they are not tiny. As a side note, since the pieces are not tiny and are brightly coloured you can easily find them if they fall on the ground. As the playing the game, well it really makes you think and is also very fun. You get a smug feeling of superiority when you finally manage to figure the puzzle out. The puzzle difficulty ranges from very easy indeed to ferociously difficult. The hardest puzzles had me stumped and I am supposed to be pretty clever! But don't worry, the puzzle cards also have the answers (on the back) so you can figure it out like that if you need to! Although there are 'only' 60 cards or so, they are easily replayable as you are not going to remember the pemutations of every one. I recommend this game, fun for all ages, intelligent and easily portable. I'm already looking forward to visting my brother again so I can have another go...

Quality is very good. Its a super hit with the kid and even adults.

wunderbares spiel, genial zum abschalten ohne einen bildschirm einzuschalten oder sich berieseln zu lassen. die erweiterungen sind knifflig und eher für erwachsene oder ältere kinder geeignet.

C’est vraiment une superbe invention toute simple mais ludique pour développer des stratégie, un peu comme aux échecs, d’avoir une vision du coup suivant. Sinon on ne s’en sort pas car la chance n’a rien avoir dans cette histoire. Vraiment à conseiller pour les enfants pour meubler les longs trajets ou les moments d’attente c’est l’idéal. C’est aussi une bonne idée cadeau d’appoint même si le prix est assez cher pour de simples cartes et des voitures simples en plastique.

Juego de diseño sencillo pero de distintos niveles de complejidad. Para niños a partir de 10 años y adultos. De pequeño tamaño, fácil de guardar. Divertido, engancha

Muy buena calidad, igual al de la imagen, muy satisfactorio de usar y resolver. Lo único es que una parte de la caja llegó un poquito rota pero nada grave, si están pensando en comprar uno, compren este.