We received a new game to review this week. It’s called Jishaku. Jishaku is the Japanese word for magnet. Not only is this game played with magnets, but it’s so much fun it’s attraction is almost magnetic.

Jishaku is a game for ages 8 and up that requires a bit of strategy. The box says it’s for 2 or more players. The game is played on a square board made of egg crate type foam with 18 small smooth and shiny magnetic stones. The strategy in the game is trying to figure out which stones pull which way and which way they’ll go when magnetized. You can’t tell what’s going to move where on the board and the board changes as more pieces are added to it. I played it first with RB and we had fun. TJ then joined us and it was even more fun, the three of us couldn’t stop laughing. We played the 1st of 3 variations that instructions are provided for, where each player starts with 6 magnets and the one to get rid of their magnets first wins. It’s not as easy as you’d think to get rid of 6 pieces when on any given turn the piece you’re setting down picks up 2-4 more pieces, which you now also have to get rid of. Poor RB, he didn’t win at all! TJ and I discovered in cleaning up that you can play on your own too, by trying to put all 18 pieces on the board yourself.

Our family really enjoyed Jishaku. I recommend the game highly. It’s not electronic, so you won’t constantly need to put batteries in it. It’s not violent, so parents won’t hesitate to let their children play it. It’s small and portable, so it doesn’t require a lot of room to play and would travel nicely. Jishaku is available for sale for $19.95 on the Jishaku website. It can also be purchased from Amazon or from select stores in the US (use the store locator).

Tags: game, review
Posted in Reviews, Toys |