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Game Review: WORDICAL {Spelling}

January 20, 2020 by Katherine Wolfe 34 Comments

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{This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our Disclosure Policy for details.} 

Wordical is available on Amazon HERE.

Read on for a detailed REVIEW. 

 


We’re not full-blown gameschoolers by any means, but we do incorporate a lot of  educational games into our homeschool so we’re always on the hunt for something fun to add to our game collection.  But we also have some fairly rigorous educational requirements which means we don’t just select something new without assessing the game’s educational value. But, of course, it also needs to be FUN!

Amazon is my best friend when it comes to shopping {for most things} but the reviews don’t always answer my questions and I often hesitate to buy because I’m not totally “sold.”  If you’re like us and want thorough reviews on educational games, then you’ve come to right place!

Below is a full review of our latest favorite spelling game, Wordical. 

In addition to reviewing the

FUN FACTOR and the

EDUCATIONAL VALUE, I will also include info on the

ORGANIZATIONAL COMPONENT {because I like things neat and tidy},

TIME COMMITMENT {because life is about more than just games},

CLARITY LEVEL {because frustration is no fun}

and an OVERALL SCORE.

 


NAME: Wordical

PUBLISHER: Educational Insights 

CATEGORY: Spelling

TIME COMMITMENT: Moderate {30+ minutes}

PLAYERS: 2-8

AGES: 8+ {or really anybody who can spell basic words}

HOW TO WIN: Score the most points by spelling words using vowel dice and consonant cards {and the quicker, the better!}

CLARITY LEVEL: ♥♥♥♥♥ The instructions are simple and explain the game perfectly. We only needed to reference the instructions once after we started the game and that was because we only had two players. {We did choose to modify* the game slightly, which was super easy to do but not necessary at all.}♥♥♥♥♥

FUN FACTOR: ♥♥♥♥_ This is a fun, little game! Turns are quick and easy. There is little room for debate/arguing {just have a dictionary handy for potentially “made-up” words.} We only scored it 4/5, though, because it doesn’t provide a lot of opportunities for laughter or hilarious moments. But, it is fun!  ♥♥♥♥_

 

EDUCATIONAL VALUE: ♥♥♥♥♥ It’s all about spelling so the educational value is high. And, if you take the time to discuss words that could’ve been created after a turn is completed, the educational value increases {as does the time component, obviously.} There is also a teeny bit of addition practice as the points are added. ♥♥♥♥♥

ORGANIZATIONAL COMPONENT: ♥♥♥♥♥ It comes in a cute little tin which I LOVE,  both for the size and the sturdiness. The tin contains a stack of consonant cards, two big vowel dice and the instructions. That’s it. You can keep the cardboard insert or not….either way, the game stays organized!  ♥♥♥♥♥

 

OVERALL SCORE: ♥♥♥♥_ Both my son and I enjoyed this, which is saying something because he is a HORRIBLE SPELLER, but we did modify it slightly to make playing with only two people more fun.  I think if we had not modified it, neither of us would’ve enjoyed it as much because I would have slaughtered him {score-wise}. This game does require some spelling ability and, if you play by the actual rules, players’ spelling skills should be basically on par with one another in order to make it a fair game. ♥♥♥♥_

If you are ready to offer your kids a really fun way to learn some general science facts with a bit of hands-on activities mixed in, you can buy it here on Amazon.

If you would like to read detailed instructions {with pics,} continue on….

 


HOW TO PLAY:

{per the instructions….our modified version* is below}

1. Open tin, unpack contents and shuffle cards. 

2. Deal each player five cards and put the draw pile in the center. 

 

3. Player One rolls the dice.

 

4. ALL PLAYERS use their consonant cards and the vowel dice to create words {without showing others}.

5. Each player chooses one word with the highest points and lays those cards down {leaving spaces for the vowel dice} to create the word. The vowels can be used as many times as necessary. 

 

 

6. Once all players have played a word, scores are tallied.

7. Each vowel is one point and each consonant has the assigned point value in the corner. 

8. Misspelled or made-up words are dismissed and no points are awarded for those words. 

9. The first player that laid his/her word down {assuming it was spelled correctly,} gets a BONUS of three points. 

10. The last player to lay his/her word down, only gets ONE point {regardless of the word spelled.}

11. Cards played are added to the dismiss pile {we put them back in the tin}.

12. Each player then draws additional cards until they have five cards again. 

13. Player Two rolls the die. 

14. Repeat Steps 4-12 until the Draw Pile is gone. 

15. The player with the most points at the end, wins the game!

 


OUR MODIFIED VERSION:

{The instructions allow for two people but we decided to modify it anyhow. Our way seemed more fun with only two…especially considering we were not equally matched in spelling at all.}

Play per the instructions EXCEPT instead of awarding the last player only one point, both players receive the points on their cards {and the first player gets the three point Bonus.}


Please check out my other GAME REVIEWS!

Totally Gross {science}

Math Dash {multiplication and division}

Flip It {multiplication}

«
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Filed Under: Games, Literacy, REVIEWS Tagged With: Educational games, Game Recommendations, Game Reviews, Homeschool, spelling, spelling game

Comments

  1. Susie says

    January 27, 2020 at 10:53 am

    Love Educational Board Games! this one looks great! Thank you for sharing, will try this soon!

    Reply
  2. Sydney Delong says

    January 27, 2020 at 12:03 pm

    This sounds like a fun game! My mother in law loves spelling games like this, she would love this too

    Reply
  3. Debbie says

    January 27, 2020 at 12:44 pm

    I haven’t seen this one. Thanks for sharing. My grown kids still love games!

    Reply
  4. jen says

    January 27, 2020 at 1:12 pm

    this actually looks like a great time! We will have to look into it for next family game night

    Reply
  5. Lora Rovegna says

    January 27, 2020 at 1:14 pm

    I have never heard of any of these games. It’s great to see some educational ones out there. Yes you can learn and have fun at the same time.

    Reply
  6. Tricia Snow says

    January 27, 2020 at 1:48 pm

    I so agree with you about finding quality educational games! This looks great! Thanks!

    Reply
  7. Linu says

    January 27, 2020 at 2:01 pm

    Ahh this will be so great during family holidays too!

    Reply
  8. KENDRA says

    January 27, 2020 at 2:46 pm

    Great review. I love good word games!

    Reply
  9. Lisa says

    January 27, 2020 at 3:51 pm

    We love games too. This looks like a fun one!

    Reply
  10. heather J jandrue says

    January 27, 2020 at 6:58 pm

    These look like fun games. I will keep them in mind for gifts during the year.

    Reply
  11. Lucy says

    January 27, 2020 at 7:33 pm

    We have game night all the time! Will have to look into this game 🤗

    Reply
  12. Kareena says

    January 27, 2020 at 8:36 pm

    This looks like a great game for game night! Thanks so much for the review!

    Reply
  13. Lisa says

    January 27, 2020 at 9:27 pm

    These sound really fun! We are definitely a game loving family and I hadn’t heard of these.

    Reply
  14. Lora says

    January 27, 2020 at 9:42 pm

    Sounds like a great little game for helping with spelling while having fun

    Reply
  15. Jennifer says

    January 28, 2020 at 1:54 am

    Thanks for sharing a different game for word playing

    Reply
  16. Lee Anne says

    January 28, 2020 at 4:27 am

    I have never heard of this! It looks really fun and would be a great learning tool for my son in 1st grade! 🙂

    Reply
  17. Karen says

    January 28, 2020 at 8:06 am

    This sounds like a fun game to take along in the car or to appointments where you might need to wait.

    Reply
  18. Jasmine Hewitt says

    January 28, 2020 at 8:21 am

    i havent seen this before but it looks really engaging!

    Reply
  19. judean says

    January 28, 2020 at 9:12 am

    I have never heard of this game before! Do you think it would be fun for adults too? Also – the way you laid this out in your post is awesome – fun and easy to read and stay engaged!

    Reply
  20. Cathy says

    January 28, 2020 at 2:38 pm

    It looks like a fun game! My 88-year-old mother loves to play games! Thanks!

    Reply
  21. Tonya | the Writer Mom says

    January 28, 2020 at 5:03 pm

    Sounds like a fun, educational game!

    Reply
  22. vanessa says

    January 28, 2020 at 6:22 pm

    This looks pretty cool. I like word games and its super helpful in switching kids to the learning mode.

    Reply
  23. Brianna says

    January 28, 2020 at 6:37 pm

    This is a great post! My kids love board games and I’d never heard of these ones before. Thank you for sharing

    Reply
  24. Justine says

    January 28, 2020 at 6:38 pm

    I’ve never heard of this game. I’m always searching for some educational ones! It’s great to see there’s another one out there.

    Reply
  25. Lisa says

    January 28, 2020 at 11:22 pm

    I love board games and will have to check this one out.

    Reply
  26. Suzan says

    January 29, 2020 at 6:22 am

    Such fun learning games!

    Reply
  27. Maria Gustafsson says

    January 29, 2020 at 3:06 pm

    Finding ways to make it more fun and challenging without it seeming like it is terrific!

    Reply
  28. jody says

    January 29, 2020 at 7:01 pm

    Looks like this is a fun game.

    Reply
  29. T.M. Brown says

    February 2, 2020 at 4:01 pm

    This looks like fun! My boys are HUGE when it comes to word games and we love to play board games as a family. Will have to check this out.

    Reply
  30. Cindy says

    February 24, 2020 at 12:36 am

    My kids and I would have enjoyed this game when we homeschooled! I was always looking for fun educational games to try.

    Reply

Trackbacks

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